Hey guys,

My bengals are both house cats so we can't have the front or back door fully open or any windows fully open as they escaped a few weeks ago out of one of the conservatory windows! The only problem is that the smell is the house resembles a gerbils cage according to my other half! How do I get rid of this "cat" smell? I've changed their litter to crystal stuff as it's super absorbent and I change it regularly but still have that smell!

I regularly spray febreeze on all the fabric things downstairs & febreeze the air too. I also have an air freshener that sprays every 20 minutes but it's driving my other half crazy!

Thanks!

How are you disposing of the waste? It may not be the litter box with the problems, but the garbage. My bengal's litter box does not smell, even if he has used it! My husband has the nose of the cat and he can smell it rooms away if Raiden has pooped in there. I bought a litter genie for the waste and it does an extraordinary job of keeping the smell away. When the bag is full, I cut it, tie the ends and toss it in the garbage and pull down another bag and tie a knot at the end. The item is not expensive and a bag will hold two week's of waste for me and the entire thing will last me a couple of months.

Cat litters are supposed to suppress the odor. If you are having an issue, you may need to change to a deodorized litter. However, you say you are spraying fabrics. Why on earth would they need to be sprayed due to any cat odor? Air fresheners only mask an odor temporarily. It does nothing to actually take care of the odor. You're doing something wrong because people who visit my house don't even know we have a cat until they see him.

don't try to get rid of the cat smell

get rid of the other half


there seems to be some implication that the cats themselves smell with the fabreze and fabric thing, cats don't smell in general and if your partner thinks they do then they clearly aren't a cat person

Lol, I just had to chuckle at Hobbit Feet and Hassaan's replies

But in short... yes, he's spot on and most thorough. We got a Litter Locker - best purchase ever! Imagine having a baby and throwing the used up nappies in the bin, just inside a plastic bag... that'd be rank. This is the same concept, dispose of the stuff safely.

We also "burn a match" or a candle after the chipmunks have made their number 2s... how can such small bums produce such big and smelly... ahem, you get what I mean

If they are spraying it will indeed smell. We had a number of instances of that and it took me a while to find what the hell was happening. I do remember clearly thinking, the first time, "it smells of cat here, why?"... then I found they had sprayed on the hob (when I turned the hob on, the dried deposit started smelling and... we had to run around the house with incense sticks because that was like a bad chemical attack).

Our house smells, though: of the litter (a sawdust type smell) and of all the sisal wrapped toys and cat trees (took me a while to get used to that, and a number of antihistamines too), or the valerian toys (rank) or the kibble left out in the automatic feeders... Otherwise, as Hassaan said... the little chipmunks don't smell, at all.

:-) Iria

I use two baby gates, one on top of the other, in the frame of my back door - Take off the screw in wall attachments, and you can then use the screw bolts top and bottom only to tighten the fit inside the door frame - Safe as a bug in a rug! I then added a chain door curtain to stop the flies coming in for fresh food....
As Merlin used to try and climb over the top, I had to infill the remaining gap - Morgana hasn't tried that yet, so two gates high is sufficient...for now!

A black light to determine if a cat is spraying is quite inexpensive. Any phosphorous clearly shows up in the light. I've got one and use it around my house to determine where Raiden has sprayed. I use Nature's Miracle to clean up any thing. Thankfully, he usually sprays out in his enclosure or on our walks.

The cats, themselves, do not smell. I was carrying Raiden this morning in my arms and I sniffed him and he smells like fresh laundry! It sounds to me as if the litter is the issue. I know the hooded litter box in our enclosure smells due to the excessive heat and being enclosed. Thankfully, Raiden doesn't use that one much.

I'm guessing having three litter boxes might compound the situation -- mainly as to where to locate them. Keeping the litter picked up will help and having a place to dump it either with a litter genie or in the outside garbage will keep the smell down inside the home.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, very few people will chose a cat over a human -- so the kitties lose out. Much easier to rehome a cat than a partner who isn't a cat person.

The urine can be quite strong, especially in male cats. After trying many brands, natural and otherwise, I found that Tidy Cats with Glade does a really good job on the ammonia urine oder.

If that's not the oder you smell, it may be time to start sniffing your cats directly. A bad oder in the fur can indicate a health issue.

I use a litter Genie and it works great to control waste odors after scooping the litter box. Normally I use Dr. Elsey's Cat Litter, but it is heavy and not very good for the environment. It certainly controls odor great though. I can't lift anything over 10 pounds for a couple of months so I stocked up on a natural wood based clumping litter that is biodegradable and very light. It's great, but it does hang onto odors like urine. It does smell a bit like a hamster cage in their room with the wood litter. My cats themselves do not smell at all. They groom constantly and when it rains (like last night) they race around and play in the rain for hours getting a natural bath. This morning their fur is so clean and beautiful!

I installed a bathroom vent in an unused closet then put a cat door in the door. The open litter box is in the closet with the vent so....no smell. The other litter box is a litter robot and has the charcoal filter.

When I moved in my house the sliding door screen was missing. My set up is really close to jodonut99's except I used 2 PVC crate doors tied together with zip ties and the screen over all of it. Works well, the cats can't get out, the bugs can't get in and I can enjoy the outside air. The door I made wasn't to get rid of any type of smell in the house but to feel the breeze on a nice day. As everyone else has said. The smell isn't the cats so you need to find out what it is so you can fix the problem.

The smell of scented fabric softener or anything sprayed on fabric that has a scent will attract some (not all) bengals and they will pee or poo on or by it so be careful.