My house stinks…. Help!

[PilgorTheGoat]

On Sunday we came back from a week away. We have 5 Cats. My “friend” was meant to be looking after them. When we got home we found the house stank.

On investigation we found that although they had cleaned the litter trays, they hadn’t cleaned around them and urine had soaked down the back into the boxes the trays live in. We cleaned this up and downstairs smelt much better.

Upstairs continued to smell. We aired the rooms and things got better but my daughter’s attic room still stinks. I’ve pulled everything out, gone round on my hands and knees to sniff the carpet and I cannot find the source of the smell.

It’s driving us mad. Any tips on getting rid of a smell when you can’t find what’s causing it?

PS…. I know 5 cats = smelly to some people but this smell isn’t cat smell and if they had made a mess somewhere it’s usually easy to identify.

I don’t know why I’ve done a poll or why this has ended up in AIBU. I am desperate though!

Perhaps your house with 5 cats does generally smell. if you’ve become used to it

so when you go away on holiday and come back…. you walk in and smell what everyone does

I thought this but we had been on holiday last month and employed a professional cat sitter and when we came home the house did not smell. I can smell the litter trays when they are dirty and sometimes the food itself smells a bit but this smell is not my usual house smell.

Also the smell is now very localised to one room. If I’m downstairs I can’t smell it, only in my daughter’s room. A generally stinky house would smell everywhere.

You can get rechargeable neutralisers, they seem to work but apparently only in small rooms.

Whatever she did, I think it's no air for a week in August with 5 cats, not your friend tbh before you're too peeved at her. We only have 2 and it ponged after a warm weekend of having a cat feeder and litter tray picker in.

Give it a good airing and clean.

Did you give clear instructions and was she paid? She may have just thought it involved feeding, watering and poo picking. Definitely be clear you want a full litter change and rinse next time.

On investigation we found that although they had cleaned the litter trays, they hadn’t cleaned around them and urine had soaked down the back into the boxes the trays live in.
I have never cleaned around litter trays (except hoovering up litter) but if you normally do it then that suggests your trays aren't big enough or high sided enough. Might be worth changing them.

If it's localised to one room then either your DD left something to rot, or a cat took something up to play with. Time to move all furniture and sniff carefully. Look behind/under/inside wardrobes or behind headboards etc. Check the curtains in case something got attached to them. Don't be too focused on floor but higher up.

EDIT - you mentioned attic room. Has something died in the chimney or under the eaves? A baby bird perhaps.

Could a cat have pee’d on the bed or other soft furnishings in your daughter’s room?
I caught my cat peeing on my duvet once. No idea why he did it!

Did you check behind the radiator?
Under the bed and behind the bed?

Enzyme cleaner (can get on Amazon) and a Lampe Berger for general freshness plus lots of airing out with fresh air.

You also need a stainless steel litter tray, they are amazing and don't soak up smells like plastic ones.

Can you smell it well enough to locate the area that the stink is coming from? A cat may have pissed somewhere out of sight, eg behind or under some furniture. (I once had a cat that went through a phase of crapping under a large antique dressing table, it took me ages to find it.) And give the bedlinen a good sniff in case one of them has pissed on the bed and it's subsequently dried, ditto any clothes or shoes lying around.

If you can locate the stinky spot, you can give it a damn good clean.

If you can't, give the whole room a massive clean, and shampoo the carpet in there.

One has probably wee'd in your daughter's room. Check bed, rug, any open wardrobes. One of ours pees on the bed occasionally if visitors com he doesn't like the look of. Unless you have any mousers?

Do your cats go outside? Could one of them have left a “present” for your daughter. Decomposing nice/birds smell revolting.

if it’s not that, could you get a blue light to see if a cat has peed/sprayed somewhere in the room?

When I come into my house after being away it has quite a strong smell. Not horrible, or dirty smelling. But it's the smell strangers would get when they go round yours. Everyone's house does smell different. But usually you get used to your own house smell after an hour or so of being back there.
But the fact it's localised to your daughter's room. I'm presuming it couldn't be rotting food she's stashed and forgotten about? Or I guess a dead rodent somewhere. The cat might have brought in a bird or something.
There must be an area where the smell is stronger? You might need to open the floorboards?

Dead decaying rodent perhaps? This happens to us once in a while with 2 cats.

I don’t think it is cat wee. It smells bad but not like cat wee.

I’ve literally sniffed everything in the room, every soft toy, cushion, item of clothing 😂 I’ve pulled out every bit of furniture and sniffed the carpet up close. There doesn’t seem to be a spot it is coming from.

I’ll have a look at some of the odour neutralising things.

An ozone generator will get rid of the smells.

You can buy them cheaply on Amazon but please be careful - they are not toys and can be dangerous if misused.

The UV light suggestion from @TwoBlueFish is also a very good idea.

Dead mouse? Does the attic have eaves?

Has one of your cats killed something and brought it home, left it upstairs and it's died? That smell is dreadful!

Yep, could it be a wee mousey corpse?
We usually find them decomposing at the back of the fridge 😳
For such small things they absolutely reek - you can practically smell them from outside the house 😶
I usually have a good clean and mop/hoover with a bit of bicarb.
Mind you, being a cat person you probably know that smell too OP😬
No other suggestions really, sorry!

Do you use peewee?
The boxes use wood pellets and when cat has been.. they scratch and the urine soaked pellets goes into the bottom tray.. hence no smell.
You only have to scoop out the poo.
You hardly use any pellets because can keep the clean ones in.
Also use a neutralising cat spray for the smells.
You might have to clean everywhere.

Ops forgot the photo.

My little rescue girl will do this. If in her opinion, the litter tray is not clean enough for her. I only have space for 1 litter tray for 2 cats who are both indoor so I work really hard to keep it clean but occasionally I'm out or busy and the litter tray is not clean enough and that's how she lets me know.

OP I would think one of the 5 cats has peed somewhere in your daughter's attic room and it might be difficult to see. But then probably then would be a stain somewhere.

If your cats go outside, it sounds as if they have brought in a small rodent and it has escaped and quietly died. I find they sometimes go under skirting boards and then under flooring. Alternatively if there is a large piece of furniture you haven't moved, it could be behind/under that. The smell will take about a fortnight to disappear.

If it's just in your DD's room could she have spilt milk or something before you went away?
Or the cats have left a "present" in there?
My friend once discovered their cat had used the top of a wardrobe as a litter tray....grim!

As the house smells its possible they have found a new place to use. Have you any house plants? I would shampoo all the carpets and wash everything as much as possible anyway.

Really if you have 5 cats your house must stink most of the time. You just went away so were not accustomed to it when you came back. I cannot believe you expect a neighbour to clean around the trays as well. I hope you paid her well for cleaning out litter trays.