Expert: Jana Connell RVT, CVT - 2/7/2011

Question
Hello-
I would first like to thank you for being a volunteer. Anyone that volunteers their time and energy to help other people are truly wonderful in my " book". I hope that you are having a great day. Thank you again.  :)

My little dilemma is-We have purchased a mobile home as an investment. Recently, i kept getting " whiffs" of what seemed to smell like cat urine. My husband thought i was nuts, since no animals have ever lived in this home, and we have never smelled anything that would indicate one had in the past before we acquired the "property". Well, I am not nuts. ( My husband still thinks i am in general, lol ) A momma cat had a nice, huge litter of kittens under the mobile home. And, there are some stray kitties that roam the area. My husband located where the cat(s) were accessing underneath the home, and has fixed that issue. BUT-i have a bad gut feeling that the urinating under the home, has been going on for quite some time, because now, the entire home reeks of urine. It is unsettling, and pewtred! It smells so bad, you would swear we had 20 cats living in this mobile home running wild. The odor, as well, is noticeable as soon as you get out of your car, before you even reach the front door! We are positive that the cats no longer have access to underneath the home. I have researched a few ways to " neutralize", or get rid of urine odors. Moth balls, vinegar, borax, even chewing gum with dish soap is stated to " eliminate pesky odors." Common sense tells me that it seems too easy, to be able to crawl under a mobile home with a four foot clearance, spray or toss some item around and " poof"-odor gone. Problem solved. ( although, i do wish it was that easy ) I am concerned that this smell will never go away no matter what we do, i am going to guess its pretty bad. This was an investment purchase, and i am afraid it wont be feasable anymore if we cant fix this problem. I also am wondering if there are any " health concerns" for living above a 72' by 36' cat box. ( a little humor there-technically-thats what it is right now underneath this mobile home) The idea of someone living above all this, it cant be healthy! Can you help us? I need someone to leave off the sugar coating and give me the cold, hard, facts. Is the underneath of the mobile home ruined? Is there something we can use that will permanently get rid of the odor, and not just " cover it up?" ( We own stock in Febreeze now.) I know that cat urine contains an enzyme that has to be neutralized, how do we do this with tons of dirt and grass under a mobile home, if its possible at all? I have heard of using lime, which is caustic-but does it really work? Sock it to me-I can take it. ( gulp)

Sincerely,

" Urineit4thelonghaul"
Shawn and April  :)

Answer
Well it is very possible that cats have been urinating in that dirt for a long time but they will normally not have a litter of kittens in an area that smells of or is full of urine, as that would  be dangerous to the kittens health and the momma cat knows this.

It is quite possible that there are other reasons that the smell is there- including wild animals using the area, or the soil being sour, etc.

Normally, the smell of urine will come from the rugs and the flooring, not from outside. You may have been told that no animals ever lived there but I doubt if that was the truth. The smell will permeate the subflooring if it's bad enough and in a mobile home that is easy to do. (I live in one). Now mine doesn't smell because my cats never peed on the floors but usually this is from dogs doing this, not cats.

You will have to tear out all of the carpeting and subflooring to remove this smell unless you soak the subflooring with an enzymatic odor remover, such as Zero Odor.

(http://www.petproductadvisor.com/store/mc/zero-odor-cat.aspx?utm_source=petplace...)

There are many types on the market and here is a list of them:


Urine-off
Nature's Miracle
SeaYu Petrotech Odor Eliminator
Nilodor
Odornil
Odorban
Anti Icky Poo (AIP)

As a vet tech I know the frustration of having this smell to deal with. We use chemicals in the hospital that you don't want to use at home for every day cleaning but for odor removal like this we would use one of the above products as well.

However, from experience I can tell you that what you are smelling is not coming from outside but from in the house. It would take about 20 cats urinating in that soil every day for a year for you to be able to smell it that strongly. If the cats are not able to get under the house anymore then the smell would dissipate in a very short time. Soil is the perfect filter, so urine smells are gone pretty quick from it unless it's used in one spot for years as I said.

If that is the case then you will probably need someone to steam clean under the house then apply a few gallons of the one of the above to remove the smell. Bleach won't even cut it. You have to break down the chemicals in the urine with the enzymes.

I don't know if lime will work or not. It is acidic and I think that would be counter-productive as would using anything with ammonia in it.

From one vet this is their treatment:

First, it is important to remove the wet urine with soda water or seltzer. Second, use a chemical, enzymatic or bacterial based commercial cat urine odor remover to remove the molecules or breakdown the molecules that cause the cat urine odor. Avoid products that contain ammonia.

Good luck!!