Several weeks ago, my dog had to go and for whatever reason decided to go into my basement and drop some ones and twos in the train room. I put a stop to that by putting a barrier up, but now my cats have taken up the flag and are having a pushing contest needing to mark the territory the dog marked.
Every night now, each cat leaves a one and a two. The smell is getting into the carpet, which now means to them, this is the spot.
What do I do?
When our female cat started doing that, it turned out that she could no longer get in and out of her litter box - she’s 16 years old. We had a box with a top piece and when we took the top off she started using it again. Don’t know if that applies in your case or not. She’s also finicky about the litter so if you changed that recently then you should change back.
Good luck
Paul
I’ve had the same problem with cats marking under my layout. Those only sure fix I’ve found:
Cut out the carpet & pad where they’ve been going. Clean and paint the concrete with some Kilz and patch in a new piece of carpet and pad. Cover the area with foil or something else to make it inaccessible, and zealously clean the cat box.
And good luck.
Jim
Chip,
Been waging the same war with my 3 mini-daschunds
Not much you can do once the smell is in the carpet. Best I’ve done is wet the area wih water, scrub a little then vacuum with a strong vacuum (like my shop-vac), repeat once or twice, and then treat with one of the biological odor reducers that Kirby or Stanley Steamer sells. This will also get rid of some of the staining. I’ve had good luck with many stains using one of the “oxyclean” type substances directly applied on the area (be very careful and check colorfastness of the carpet first).
However, once you wet, vacuum, and deodorize, place one of the rubber backed play rugs you can get at home depot or lowes (you know the ones, made for little kids and have roads and things marked on the top) over the contested area. This may block the smell well enough that they don’t go there again, or if they do its rubber backed and protects the rug you have. If it gets soiled, it can easily be removed and replaced.
Jack W
Whatever you do, just don’t call Michael Vick. [;)]
Pine Oil Disinfectant, or Your turn.
Hey Chip! There are several products out there that can be used to repel kitties from using a given place to do their duty. Check with your vet or a local pet store to what they think would work best. Online Petsmart offers several different products that can be used.
I have a 20+ year old kitty that is now not using the litter box (even a very shallow one that she can climb in easily). She urinates there but does #2 next to the box on newspapers I put down for her. She can’t get positioned in the box without falling down anymore. As long as she can at least do it on newspaper, I won’t call Michael Vick…
this Nature’s Miracle stuff really works well to clean up the spots so they don’t have a marker to go back to
Just be careful with any products you buy. We got some highly recommended stuff called Nature’s Miracle that, when used in sufficent quantity to penetrate all the way through, did successfully neutralize the odor. Unfortunately, in a few places it reacted with the cat urine and turned my beautiful white carpet bright orange…
I recently heard vinegar and water work to get the smell out.
The Nature’s Miracle will neutralize the odor, to keep the cats away I’ve heard that spreading mothballs around will work. Of course, the cats may not know this[;)].
Smell’s the ticket, so make it an unpleasant one. Mix up some potassium metabisulphite solution and spray the area after proper carpet cleaning…commercial, duityourself,…
Mothballs might help if you can stand the smell. Critter Ridder is available at gardening centres and hardware stores that have gardening sections. It comprises ground peppers that do not meet the good housekeeping seal of approval for deer, rodents, and cats. It can be vacuumed at times and reapplied.
The best method, but the one that is very time intensive, is to watch and catch them in the act of moving up to that spot with intent. Scare the beejaysus out of them immediately. Repeat.
I had that problem with a kitten that we got dumped on us [grandkid]. I used grandma’s cure, Alum. Cats always sniff around before they do their thing and it kinda ruins the mood.
You need to give the cats the boot outside first before you bother with the smell or your fighting a losing battle.
how about closing the basement door ?
My two 6 year old (former male) cats, Ebony and Ivory use their litter boxes very well. [:)] Six months ago they took a liking to the train room (garage). [?] I didn’t mind except Ebony kept sleeping on a corner where I had a farm, knocking things over. [:(!] They suddenly seemed to prefer the garage (cement floor) to the den carpet floor. [%-)] I eventually found the remains of 3 mice (I don’t know if they were blind) [:D]on three consecutive nights. I then moved the farm to the other side of the tracks and allowed Ebony to sleep where he wanted. [bow] They spend most of the day outside and usually get their “business” done there. [^] Well done thou good and faithful servants![angel]
Walter
No door to close. Can’t put one in either.
Thanks guys. My plan is to put in new carpet eventually. Trouble is I’ll have the layout mostly built before the rest of the basement is ready for carpet.
I’ll try a few of the tricks suggested and get back to you.
Why not close the animals up in another room for the night?
Walter
I you can catch them in the act, a spray bottle works great for behavior modification on cats. OTOH, this is why I have fish.[:)]
I don’t mind sounding like Bob Barker on this one, but I’ve found that spaying and neutering puts the kibosh on the marking problem, not to mention a whole host of other problems.