Why does my house smell of cat!!!!

[despondentatwork]

We have 2 cats, 2 dogs. House never smelled 'off' until we got the cats. It's the kitchen I can smell...it's not bad per se. Nothing really offensive. It just has a slightly 'off' smell. The cats are in the kitchen during the day, but at night sleep in one other room-which incidentally I don't notice the smell in!! No wee AFAIK. They are both neutered. I took the rug out & I do think the smell decreased a bit. There is s soft sofa (ie-not leather) that all the pets lie on. It does get hoovered & covers washed regularly. I spray Febreeze/burn candles & have resorted to Febreeze Plug-ins-which I HATE. Hate fake nice smells, but it's marginally better than the off one. No-one else can smell it. HELP!!!!

I'm not Poirot but I will have a guess it's because you have cats.

Thx Mrs R.. insightful. .but they don't actually seem to smell! Whereas if the dog is dirty it's the dog I smell IYSWIM. So I can wash her & sort it. Job done. Not the issue with the cats. Do cats scent mark, eg. Is that what I smell????

I find Neutradol works quite well, there's a block thing that works all the time which I find better than a spray.

Be careful with the fabreeze etc, cats don't like artificial scents and may start marking the room if they find them stressful. I find biological sprays / washing powder on cat bed helps a lot.

Rspca wee away £2 in b&m neutralises pet smells

Have you recently had Covid? It makes all manner of things, particularly cooked food, smell very odd indeed for some people.

Cats don't have a smell. Well, they do if you're another cat, or a dog, but not one that we humans can detect. Litter trays can smell of course. Where are they? Or if a cat is peeing somewhere in a corner/plant pot and you haven't yet discovered it that's a possibility.

Other than that, if you're the only one who can smell it, my guess is it's your sense of smell that has gone wrong.

They must be marking somewhere. Is it possible a curious neighbourly cat is popping in to pee?!

They must be marking somewhere. Is it possible a curious neighbourly cat is popping in to pee?!

That what I was thinking, otherwise they just don’t smell. At least, not in my experience.

Get a UV torch and check for patches of wee. It glows in the dark under UV light.

In my first house what I thought was a cat smell turned out to be damp.

Do you have litter trays in there? Because cats use there paws to cover up and dig holes in it then get out and walk on the floor with those same paws 🐾

But yes if you have just noticed and you have had covid it's probably the covid

IME cats really don't leave a smell unless they've just used the litter tray. Their food can smell but it's pretty obvious that it's the food rather than anything else, iyswim. So I suspect someone is marking.

I would stop using Febreeze around the cats - I hate to be "that person" but cats really don't like artificial scents and it could be that that's causing them to be stressed and mark.

If you get a uv torch off eBay and use it at night it’ll show up any cat urine.

I could smell cat piss for a week but it was my husband's wet football boots in a carrier bag...

Is it litter trays?
Are they only in the kitchen during the day? Do you lock them in??

My cat used to pee on the dog bed. I presume to cover up his smell.....

Hmm. Interesting re Febreeze. Do you see cats marking? I've never seen them/known they were doing it. (Newish to cats). No interlopers; just our two.
I must get a UV torch-that's been my concern but I've searched high & low-no obvious wee.
They have two covered litter trays in the room they sleep in; interestingly it doesn't smell as bad as the kitchen. They have access to the litter trays at all times but now seem to toilet outdoors. I check the trays daily. Nada.
They like to lie in the dogs beds...I wonder if they're scent marking there??

Oh-no Covid. I've never had it.

No interlopers; just our two

Do you have a catflap? When we noticed a smell, we had a stray sneaking in, eating their food & being stinky