Hello all! I have a cat that doesn't seem to like the litterbox. We thought we had the problem taken care of, but we recently pulled up one of my oriental rugs when we moved furniture and found out that she hadn't stopped after all. I have a half-dozen spots in my living room where the hardwoods are almost stained completely black from cat pee, and most are about a foot across. The house is over 100 yrs old, and the floors are the original oak. They need to be refinished eventually, but I was hoping I could do that without having to replace any boards. Furthermore, the rug is wool, and might be a total loss too. I tell ya, it makes me sick. :af: So, aside from making up a family sized portion of Tabby Cordon Bleu, does anyone out there have any suggestions? o No: I'm looking for suggestions on both preserving/restoring the wood, and on fixing the problem with the cat. I've got some ideas already, but I'd like to hear yours. Thanks! - Freed
Hey Freed, I hear cats make great shark bait. :grin: Seriously though, I had a dog that used to pee on the rug all the time, I mean soak it to the point that it would seep through the floor boards and into the basement. Thank God we found another home for her. I recently got new carpet and the area near the front door I left uncarpeted to expose the original hard wood floor. This is not Oak though, much to my surprise, it is an evergreen of the pine or fir persuasion which is amazingly dense. You can smell it when you cut it. I still don't know exactly what kind of wood it is, maybe some wood afficianados would know. Anyway, it was right in the area where the dog used to pee all the time, but it all sanded out ok and looks awesome now. The guy did like multiple oil coats and a few poly coats. It really came out better than I thought it would. You may be surprised how it cleans up. Oak is not porous, it's like steel, I would bet it sands right out. Anybody else? :Comp:
My first wife and I had a cat that did the same thing to nearly 100 year old hardwood floors. :blast: While it looked like the wood itself was stained, it was only in the finish and sanded out. we discovered what the cat had been up to when we pulled up the old carpet to take a look at the floor a couple of months after moving in. The floors weren't the best to begin with so new carpet went back down. I'd love to get them sanded and refinished some day! The cat found itself at the Humane Society shortly thereafter.
Thanks for the info I heard that it is a smell thing with cats, in as much as they only like to pee where they already smell pee. If they can't smell it, they won't go there again. By that rationale, what I'm trying now is cleaning the spot with a lemon-scented disinfectant and a scrubber to get up all of the smell (hopefully) and then sealing it with some shellac once it dries. I figure that shellac is a good sealant, and it's one that won't be too hard to get off when it comes time to redo the floors. Any thoughts on this technique? On a related subject, I got the cat from a shelter in the first place. I signed a paper saying I would keep her, so I would feel really bad taking her back. I guess I know now why she was at the shelter, though. - Freed
Well, my cat found her way behind the bookcase and sprayed my entire Buick library. Had to throw it all out. Some of the collection can't be replaced. :ball: Cat wasn't happy when she found the empty bookshelf. :ball: But she got over it and found another portion of the house spray. :TU:
Well this one really hits home(pardon the pun) for me! My wife and I purchased a home where the last (erderly woman) had 19 cats living in the house. The house smelled soo bad you could not stand to be in it for any lenght of time. I got such a good deal I couldnot pass it up. The hardwood floors were stained soo bad I thought I would never be able to leave them exposed. I can't remember the name of the stuff. I found it on the web. It is a powder based enzyme pet odor/stain remover. Two words -IT WORKS. Similair premixed products are availible at your local pet stores, and may be good enough for a small area. The problem is the enzymes start to break down as soon as they are mixedand thus are not as effective off the store shelf. 1st. I used this stuff on ever surface (including my oak floors) 2nd Once everthing was dry I cleaned everthing with a general household cleaner. 3rd. I reapplied the enzyme cleaner. (the smell was almost gone!) next I applied bleach to the dark stained areas of the floor. Then I sanded all the floors and masked off any remaining urine stains and reapplied some more bleach. The next step was a reccommendation of a older coworker who used to refinsh floor for a living. He told me to use a lacquer based sanding sealer. and top with 4 coats of a oil based polyeurothan (sp?) He said the supplier would tell me you can't do that. But not to listen. I took his advice and my floors are still beautiful 2 years later. Only the worst stains remain (where the litter box was, I think?) but the rest are not noticable. Hope this helps Jake
Great advice on the floors...glad to see some of our folks can work with wood along with the steel our cars are made from. As far as the cat...I bet she has a uric tract infection. We inhereted a feline from my folks...she did the same thing. Pee on everything she could. Took her to the vet and he did some tests and it turns out she couldn't help herself. Special food was all it took along with an antibiotic injection. She is MUCH better now. Try the vet...
Cat Whiz Cleaners/deodorizers I have used: Nature's Miracle Stain & Odor Remover (get at most pet warehouse type places) I put this in my carpet steam cleaner solution. Atmosklear (www.atmosklear.com) Odor Eliminator (I have been using this in my vehicles also.) Don't use anything with ammonia in it to get rid of pet "stuff" as of course ammonia is a key ingredient and will encourage them to do it again! Deterrents-confinement for a period of time. Immaculately clean litter boxes. Plastic mousetraps placed on areas/things where pet isn't wanted. I will gingerly drape a sheet of newspaper over the trap, cat jumps up on digital cable box, *pow*, right to the moon with Alice! It just scares them, never had one get snapped. After the Vet eliminates disease as the cause he/she may offer more suggestions. I am currently treating one of the cats with Amitriptyline-0.1 ml applied to the upper inner ear. Real easy to do, just squirt in on and rub it in. Mood altering substance absorbed through the skin.
