How To Remove Cat Urine From The House?
The strong smell released by the cat’s urine is one of the characteristics of this species. Anyone who has a cat knows perfectly well how unpleasant it is to clean the litter box. And when, for various reasons, the animal starts urinating outside the indicated place, it is a real challenge to eliminate the cat’s urine and its smell.
Getting your pet to stop doing this can also be quite complicated. As with dog urine, completely eliminating bad odors and the pet’s habit of urinating around the house seems virtually impossible. Following that, in this My Pets article we tell you how to get cat urine out of the house.
How to get rid of cat urine
Why is my cat urinating outside the litter box?
Cats, from an early age, begin to do their business without the attention of the mother to be clean ; they look for a place to defecate or urinate.
It is for this reason that it is very easy to teach a kitten to use the litter box, just put the animal in it immediately after meals. In addition to that, we can stimulate the genital area with a soaked washcloth.
Likewise, if you adopt an adult cat used to living on the street, when you get home, you just have to show him where the litter box is. In the beginning, if you have the right sand and the litter box is in a quiet area, the cat will have no problem using it.
Given the ease with which cats learn to use the litter box, it is not common for them to go to the toilet elsewhere. If this happens, you need to analyze the situation, try to find an explanation and, of course, take the cat to the vet. The different reasons why a cat urinates outside the litter box can be as follows.
Unsterilized males
When an unsterilized male reaches adulthood, he will begin marking territory by excreting a pseudourin. This behavior is correct and it is not a urination control issue. If you don’t like it, you’ll have to sterilize it.
Unsterilized females
Like the males, the females also mark the territory. Unlike the former, however, they only do it when they are in heat. Because they are seasonal polyesters, they typically have recurring heats, one after another.
On the other hand, an additional problem to the non-spaying of females is the increased likelihood of them suffering from urinary tract infections.
Diseases of the urinary system
Due to their nature, cats do not need to drink a lot of water, as they are able to concentrate a lot of their urine to avoid any leakage.
As a result, this animal species tends to suffer from kidney and urinary tract problems, such as kidney stones, but also urinary tract infections and other ailments.
When a cat has any of these conditions, pain and difficulty urinating will cause them to urinate anywhere.
Behavioral disorders
Stress is one of the main causes of a cat urinating outside the litter box. Changes in the home, the arrival of new members, a move, a different diet, and other factors can make your cat feel deeply uncomfortable, as a result they will urinate out of the litter box.
How to get rid of cat urine: composition of urine
In addition to the possible damage it can cause to different surfaces, the strong smell of cat urine is determined by its low pH. This makes it a very acidic substance.
On the other hand, the penetrating odor of this animal’s urine is due to its high concentration of uric acid and urea, a consequence of its 100% carnivorous diet, together with the high percentage of ammonia.
In the following table, extracted from a study by Cottam and Weller (2002), we can observe the various values, in males and females, of the different substances present in cat urine:
| Male | Female | |||
| Mean ± SEM | Values | Mean ± SEM | Values | |
| pH | 6.37 * ± 0.07 | 5.73–7.39 | 5.97 ± 0.10 | 5.54-6.57 |
| Specific gravity, g / L | 1.048 ± 0.002 | 1,017–1,065 | 1.045 ± 0.002 | 1,016–1,064 |
| Osmolarity, mOsm / kg | 2084 ± 99 | 665-3178 | 1911 ± 130 | 638-3124 |
| Creatinine, mM | 16.2 * ± 1.0 | 4.8–32.3 | 12.0 ± 1.3 | 3.3–27.8 |
| Total nitrogen, mM | 3085 ± 185 | 634–5411 | 2816 ± 243 | 746-5491 |
| Protein, mg / L | 375 ± 39 | 30-1152 | 305 ± 51 | 73–978 |
| Urea, mM | 1386 ± 83 | 253–2235 | 1295 ± 109 | 315-2255 |
| Uric acid, mM | 0.52 ± 0.05 | 0.01-1.35 | 0.39 ± 0.06 | 0.01–0.98 |
| Ammonia, mM | 118 ± 9.2 | 16.9–292 | 121 ± 12.2 | 31-262 |
| Football, mM | 0.69 ± 0.08 | 0.10–2.90 | 0.82 ± 0.11 | 0.20–2.80 |
| Magnesium, mM | 3.11 † ± 0.29 | 0.65–7.22 | 3.94 ± 0.37 | 0.99-10.94 |
| Phosphate, mM | 81 ± 5.3 | 6–164 | 77 ± 7.0 | 16-150 |
How to remove cat urine from the house
When we want to clean something thoroughly, most of us use products like bleach, also known as sodium hypochlorite. If we use this compound to clean cat urine, we will partially achieve our purpose, as we will disinfect the area.
However, there is a deep love relationship between bleach and cats. While it may seem like a joke, bleach causes cats to react very similarly to catnip or valerian.
It occurs, however, in only 75% of cats, as this reaction is mediated by genetics. It is therefore advisable not to use bleach to clean cat urine, also because it is very toxic to felines.
Another product not recommended at all for eliminating cat urine is ammonia. Despite properly disinfecting, as we can see in the previous table, cat urine contains high amounts of this element. Consequently, using it would make the cat urinate in the same spot.
Finally, if we want to achieve an effective cleaning and that the cat does not urinate all over the house again, we must use enzymatic detergents or active oxygen. These products break down urine, thus preventing the cat from recognizing it as such.
Even so, as we said, if a cat urinates outside the litter box it is not normal (if it is sterilized). For this reason, it is necessary to take him to the vet.
