Cat Odor Coming Inside House

Updated on October 29, 2008
S.G. asks from Mesa, AZ
7 answers

This is my first request for help but I have seen a lot of good advice here so I thought I would give it a shot I apologize in advance since it is a little long winded...

I have a neighbor who is one of those "cat collector" people who has like 100 cats and quite a few of them live outdoors. In the past 2 years I have had 3 of her sick cats die in my yard and I have heard similar complaints from other neighbors. Many of us have adopted at least one ( I actually kept one for a few years as an outside cat since I am allergic ) This brings me to 2 questions:

1- Does anyone know of a way I can report her to someone because all her animals are sick and running the neighborhood and they don't appear to be taken care of. (in her defense there is food in bowls outside her house) The cats literally are spilling out of her yard into everyone elses and they all have the rough gravely sounding meows like they have respiratory problems or some kind of sickness. They all sound the same, and they are all very emaciated looking despite the food I have seen outside her house (I checked to make sure she was at least feeding them). You can always see the hip bones etc. (that's how all the neighbors know where they came from)

2- Whenever I water the area in front of my daughters nursery window a very strong cat urine smell comes into her room. (Thanks again to the crazy cat lady) I have tried to wash down the house and the windows thinking it would dilute it somehow but it only gets worse the wetter it gets. It also happens when it rains and I don't know how to neutralize the smell outdoors. It is so strong that it comes in through her window and I think it might be saturated in the soil so its not like carpet that you can replace... I need some advice and am wondering if anyone else has had this problem ? I KNOW there is no way the smell is coming from inside the house because I am super allergic and there has been no cat in our house ever.

Again Thanks for reading my long message and I would appreciate any advice!

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J.C.

answers from Phoenix on

Wow, you must have bought our old house! Congrats ;)

First of all, everyone we tried to contact about getting the cats out of there (er, helping the cats) said that because they A) were outside and B) had no tags or registration, they were 'feral' cats, though we all knew who they belonged to and she too kept food and things for them quite obviously on her front porch. It was horrible - we even tried to contact someone for her health as she was quite elderly and her entire house reeked of cat urine and there was feces on the carpeting everywhere inside her home. But no can do, as she was determined competant and able to live as she pleased.

So....
After much trial and error about what kept cats away from the yard, the neighbors who had lived there longer then we had told us to use moth balls in our yard. Worked amazingly well. Since we have little guys and pets, we just bought a couple of boxes, which have the moth balls inside a plastic bag, and threw them around the cat's favorite areas rather then taking them out of the bag. They lasted forever, we probably did that a year before we moved and never had to replace them.

Best of luck!

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R.K.

answers from Phoenix on

call the spca or the rabies animal control. that situation is bad for every one.

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K.S.

answers from Phoenix on

Hi S.,
It sounds like you've already gotten some advice on what to do about the cats. I have an idea for the smell though. Our dog goes to the bathroom on the side of our house where it is just rocks. We are good about cleaning up after him, but when it rains, there is a strong urine smell over there. We have started putting a mixture of bleach and water into a spray bottle and spraying the area really well. Not sure if the area under your daughter's window has living things in it - if it does, this may not be a good idea. Good luck!

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H.S.

answers from Phoenix on

http://www.azhumane.org/artman2/publish/programs/cruelty....
you can report her to the az humane society and they will take care of the cats. You may just need to dig up the top few inches of soil under you daughters window and replace it with some new topsoil.

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M.T.

answers from Phoenix on

hi- sorry I don't have any advice on the urine smell- but I would like to suggest you call AZ cats They have a trap- fix & release program- where they come and set humane traps- bring the cats in to a vet who spays or nueters them & then after 24 hrs they return them- at least they would quit multiplying

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D.D.

answers from Phoenix on

To report her I would try contacting the CITY. And for the odor can you poor a couple of gallons of vinegar water in the soil. Not sure if that will really help but vinegar takes a lot of different odors out. Get the gallon jug you may have to repeat.

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D.E.

answers from Phoenix on

Go to Petsmart and buy Nature's Miracle and pour it outside where you are smelling the urine. Or try and clean up the cat poop and get a couple boxes of Baking Soda and dump it all around the area where you smell the urine and poop.
Also you can lay out Moth Balls and that helps keep the cats away.
I know that you are upset about the cats but if people would spay or neuter their animals there wouldn't be a cat problem or when people get tired of having a pet dumping it outside and leaving it.
My neighbor and I have been feeding strays becasue we feel bad for them. We have also found homes for about 20-30 kittens too.
Your neighbor is trying to do a good thing but it sounds like there are a lot of cats.
Try the Nature's Miracle, bakining soda and moth balls. Hopefully that will help your smell.

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