How to get rid of smell of cat's pee?

[MaryHuff]

We looked after our MIL's cat four months ago when she went on holiday. Lovely cat, but he decided to mark his territory...by pissing up inside our fireplace . It is a gas fireplace and the area is like a ledge that sits behind inside behind the mantlepiece - therefore VERY hard to get to in order to clean.

So far we have used every spray/solution we can find in the pet shops, and have tried burning it away by putting the fire on for a long stretch. But still the smell lingers, and in the hot weather it is getting unbearable.

Does anyone have any advice on what else we can try? The smell is so bad today that we can't sit in our living room.

Thanks.

male cat? my condolences.

My only suggestion is to try a small amount of washing up liquid (a few drops, for smell) or essential oils if you're in to that, mixed with hydrogen peroxide. You could also mix some baking soda in with it to make a paste that you can leave on the tainted surface.

the smell is proteins in the urine and the most effective cleaners are the ones that have an enzyme that will break up the protein chain. I suspect that it is the getting the cleaner down to where the urine has soaked that is going to be the trick of it. Heating the surface may have made it worse, but repeated applications should do the trick. Wash, wait, repeat.

Good luck.

Thanks marenmj. Will try everything you suggest.

Bicarbonate of soda mixed with cold water and lemon juice should help! i sympathise.

Thanks Devendra. Have tried bicarb already but not with the lemon juice, so will give that a go.

Dilute biological washing powder/liquid apparently.

White vinegar works on cat wee - though you do have to put up with the room smelling like a chippy for a while.

We got through gallons of the stuff when our old cat got a bit stroppy in her old age and decided that the front room rug was a far better place to do a wee than the garden.

Yup, vet told me treat with white spirit or white vinegar and then biological washing powder.

Great - thanks for all these suggestions. Am now hopeful we can finally get rid of the smell!