I am cat-less! Now I need ATS members advice.

For the past few months, I have been the caregiver for three cats.
My ex-wife had been evicted from her apartment and needed a place to keep them for a short time. I kept them in my basement for her. A short time turned into a much too long time.

I harbor an extreme dislike toward cats and it was a horrible experience for me.
Two of the cats are un-neutered males. They apparently don't like to use a litterbox either.

She took them back this past Sunday.

I am relieved, but now comes the cleanup. I was forced to throw away many things along the way that had been sprayed with tomcat urine. Cardboard boxes that I had things stored in were shredded by their claws.

My main problem is getting rid of the cat urine odor. I have been using pine oil cleaner, but that isn't cutting it.

Does anyone have suggestions on what works the best? Thank you all in advance.

originally posted by: butcherguy
Does anyone have suggestions on what works the best?

Yes .... have a professional cleaning done and send the bill to your exwife.
Her animals did that. She should pay for it.
You did her a favor keeping them free of charge.
She owes you.

Now a question ... she's an ex-wife and you hate cats.
So why did you take them ?? The psychology major in me would like to know.

a reply to: butcherguy

This sounds like it is worth a try
Cat urine cleaner recipe

Cat Urine Removal From Carpets
Recipe:

Ingredients

Baking Soda
White Vinegar
Dishwashing Detergent (Dish Soap)
3 % Hydrogen Peroxide (10Vol)

When they clean the cars inside they use some kind of ozonizer devices, i heard those are quite successful for cat urine smell too.. maybe you should ask a cleaning/ car cleaning company for those, maybe they are willing to rent

a reply to: FlyersFan
I guess the best explanation is that I am a sucker.

She is a sociopath, as near as I can tell, I do not have any degrees in psychology. She used the children to manipulate me, saying that they would be devastated if she was forced to take the cats to the pound.

I also stored her household belongings in my garage the whole time, so in that case, I am just a sucker.

She has no way of paying for the cleaning. My lawyer wants me to take her for child support, as I am the primary custodial parent. She has them two days a week. I hesitate at paying more attorney fees to take her for child support when she can't even keep a roof over her head. She already has child support arrears for another daughter to another man of which she has no custody.

DO NOT use ammonia.

I would get a professional product, like Nature's Miracle Oxy formula and use it 4-5 times to get all the odor out. I think I'd also use the recipe mentioned before using the Nature's Miracle.

GOOD LUCK! (You're gonna need it!)

originally posted by: dollukka
When they clean the cars inside they use some kind of ozonizer devices, i heard those are quite successful for cat urine smell too.. maybe you should ask a cleaning/ car cleaning company for those, maybe they are willing to rent

I know that they use these for remediating odors after a house fire. I will look into this.Thank you!

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic

DO NOT use ammonia.

Yeah, I'll say.
Got plenty of that odor already!

Clean up what you can, for lingering smells, set out a pie plate full of vinegar. It will absorb bad odors in the room. Also in a smoke filled room, set out a pan of vinegar it draws the smoke and cleans the room of the smoke.There's around 1000 use's for vinegar, I mean we did clean our homes prior to Formula 409 and Fantastik. Got a soap scum shower? Spray it down with vinegar, let it sit a few minutes, put a little baking soda on your scouring pad and the soap wipes right off. Clean as a whistle when your done, zero toxins inhaled. low carbon footprint cleaning. Plus it really works well. And it's cheap cheap cheap. Wipe down your furniture with vinegar, dry it really well, watch how long it takes before the dust accumulates again. Fan blades, same thing. The air induction grille at the bottom of your refreigerator. 1000s of uses for simple vinegar. For the record I am owned by 8 cats, I may be a damn professional cat herder.

Make sure you find it All.

a reply to: butcherguy

Amazon sells a product called "Nature's Secret Weapon". It works very well! I tried quite a few different things but this worked the best for me.

a reply to: butcherguy

Why do you dislike cats?

originally posted by: trollz
a reply to: butcherguy

Why do you dislike cats?

1- Cat hair.
2- The smell.
3- The fact that they hop up onto tables, countertops and sinks after they have just finished defecating/urinating in a box of cat litter, then pawing around in it does not turn me on. Finding smears of poop on a window sill after they were sitting there tells me that they spread their feces through the house too.
4- The devastation that they wreak with their claws, including scratching my children. My ten year old had two cat scratches on her face last night after visiting with her mother.

To make matters worse, cats seem to like me.

originally posted by: dollukka
When they clean the cars inside they use some kind of ozonizer devices, i heard those are quite successful for cat urine smell too.. maybe you should ask a cleaning/ car cleaning company for those, maybe they are willing to rent

I see you are going to look into it already....but THIS ^^^

I work in a business where we have had to remove pet urine, general pet, food (like onion, etc), and smoke smells. The ozone machine is what you need.

You should have the rugs shampood, febreze all upholstery, and get an ozone machine. 12-24 hours in each room, and keep all rooms doors closed.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

You should have the rugs shampood, febreze all upholstery, 8

Thanks.
I will not have to worry about that, as the basement that they were confined to is unfinished. I had some old carpet runners down there that have been thrown out now.
I will not miss having to fend off three cats trying to run into the house every time I opened the basement door!

I have a menagerie at the ranch (including cats and dogs). I personally like this stuff:

resourceonefl.com...

Works great.

a reply to: butcherguy

200 insense sticks per day for a week.

You'll end up with a really nice smelling house......man

a reply to: butcherguy

If the floor is unfinished, the urine will be soaked into the concrete. You might need muratic acid to get that out.

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan
a reply to: butcherguy

If the floor is unfinished, the urine will be soaked into the concrete. You might need muratic acid to get that out.

Dirt covered with 6 mil plastic sheeting.

a reply to: butcherguy

Nature's Miracle.

You can find it at most pet stores. It's an enzymatic cleaner. Let it soak on the sprayed areas, and you'll need to find them all. If you have trouble doing that, use a black light.

We had a neutered male who started spraying once because he had territory insecurity.