to think the smell will never go?

[ADishBestEatenCold]

Laundry basket was too full, so someone had heaped a small pile of clothes in the bath.

One of the cats has peed on them!!!!

The cats have never done such a thing before (besides the point, I suppose), so maybe one of them is harbouring the early stages of urinary infection, because it stinks!

What can I do? (Besides watching for an ailing cat I mean.) I rinsed all the clothes as soon as I realised, then put them through a long wash.

Still stank!

Put them through another long wash (bio powder) and I just emptied the machine. Not quite so bad, but still bad. I can definitely still smell it. Rancid!

What now? These aren't things I can boil wash or bleach.

[ivykaty44]

Put outside on the line, stop washing don't wash again but get outside in air and sun light and leave on line for a couple of days

[AwkwardSquad]

Try soaking in solution of bicarb, and if that doesn't work, you need a pet 'soiling' neutralising spray. It's got some sort of active agent that tackles the proteins. Or something. Anyway, it worked on my laminate flooring!

[tshirtsuntan]

Put some vinegar (white) in a wash as hot as the things will take, then line dry if possible, that should help.

[ADishBestEatenCold]

Thanks, will try that, ivykaty.

Will do it now, it'll be good to get the smell out.

(possibly will be a dozen stray cats in the garden by morning , but they won't be able to reach the line!)

[tshirtsuntan]

Plus, it'll clean your machine

[ADishBestEatenCold]

Okay, that's them hung out (clothes, not cats). It's raining a bit, so that might help. Then I can try the vinegar or bicarb tomorrow.

Does vinegar really clean the machine?

[tshirtsuntan]

Descales things apparently (no guarantee,I've never seen the insides of my washing machine )

[NigellasDealer]

Try a really hot wash with soda crystals and zoflora

[HadABadDay2014]

White vinegar and bicarbonate of soda is very good.

I use that to sort out most problems.

[whereisshe]

Vinegar should counteract the ammonia in the urine as pp have said. If it still smells try this.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Cats urine on my clothes is a daily occurrence just hung them in the machine it will wash out it's just wee. Blood on clothes is also a daily occurrence that also comes out in the machine doing nothing special.

[tshirtsuntan]

lonecat whatever do you do to get cat wee & blood on yourself daily? (Intriguing)

[Lonecatwithkitten]

I'm a vet add faeces and anal gland matter to my daily grind.

[ADishBestEatenCold]

One would have thought so, lonecat, but twice through the washing machine!

Still, on the line now and will see what tomorrow brings.

[enriquetheringbearinglizard]

Lonecat you have all the fun!

I second soda crystals added to the wash - apparently also good for the machine. Otherwise Borax substitute (pharmacy or Morrisons)

[Lonecatwithkitten]

What washing powder are you using? Persil non-bio never fails.

[Pasithea]

Sometimes when that happens I think you convince yourself that you can still smell it.
Wait til tomorrow and get someone else to have a sniff lol

[MostWicked]

You need to use biological washing powder/liquid.
The enzyme will remove the smell.

[ADishBestEatenCold]

Thank you, everyone. Almost all of the items had 'lost the smell' after a night on the line, except one pair of trousers and they really smell! The nearest village shop didn't have any bicarb this morning, so I'll leave them out for a day or so, until I get something to try.

On the plus side, I found the culprit! One of my neighbour's cats had managed to get shut in my house (I don't know how) and managed to stay completely hidden until I heard him in the middle of the night.
I can imagine that he was very wary of using my cats' litter trays, and the poor thing was probably absolutely desperate.
Quite clever of him to use the bath, so it could have been much worse, and I'm very relieved to know that my cats haven't started peeing round the house! (Am also very relieved that neither of my cats is suddenly producing urine with such an incredibly stench!)