Cat, carpet, landlord, advice?

[gement]

The cat established a new de facto litterbox behind the Christmas tree. Including the time it took to realize we'd actually have to lock her in her room unless supervised, the problem lasted daily about 2 weeks.

We have done home surface scrubbing and poured a lot of vinegar over it. It's still pretty strong. We invited Carpet Guy to come out and clean our carpet with the giant steam cleaning van. He said he'd do it if that's what we wanted, but what will actually fix it is picking up half the carpet, replacing the carpet pad, and nailing it back down. Instead of $200, we'd be looking at about $600.

If you have dealt with cats and carpets as a tenant, landlord, or homeowner, I'd appreciate your take on this. We'll do it if we need to, but we want to make sure he's not overselling us on the magnitude of the necessary cure, given that this was 2 weeks and not 2 years.

Secondarily, we're trying to figure out if we tell the landlord we're doing the work or not. He has said on multiple occasions, "There are no bad pets, only bad owners," which means we could hypothetically establish ourselves as the good responsible sort of owners, but we could also just let him never ever ever know, which might be the better part of valor.

Secondary factor to consider: We've lived here almost five years, and the landlord is very responsive to actual immediate "it's leaking, fix it" concerns and nearly immovable on anything else. We'd like to negotiate a "hey, it's been 5 years, how about you pretend you have to get new people in because we're starting to have trouble finding subletters because the place is a wreck," deal.

We've done some pretty significant work ourselves (repainting a bathroom, removing a dangerously rotting fence). We don't know if either response to the cat situation would be a better tactical move in light of the need for this discussion.

Comments

[sprgtime.livejournal.com]

I've heard great things about a product named Bac-out
The green crunchy parents in my attachment parenting group use it for when their babies/toddlers pee/poop on the carpet... and found out it works fantastic for animal accidents as well.
You can get it in spray bottles... from what I understand, a lot of places carry it. Might be something to try just to see if it will do the job.

For more info on it, I'm including this link:
http://www.naturallysafecleaning.com/spotcleaners.html

[dianthus.livejournal.com]

My landlady wasn't going to replace my carpet, and I'd been there 7 years. But my friends involved with the move have agreed she's basically a slumlord, or as close as it gets in Redmond, anyway.

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

ugh composed response and lj ate it.
I've had bad results trying to just clean cat pee. The last time I did this, the cat had been using the spot for less than a week, and I ended up having to pull the carpet, the pad, and cut out the cheap MDF flooring underneath, where the urine had swelled it up.
I've heard that some of the antibacterial odor-treatment additives sold for consumer-grade hot water carpet cleaners (that call themselves steam cleaners) do a pretty good job. I'd be tempted to try that and wait three months and see if it still reeks.
I also think $400 incremental is a lot to pay for a partial pad replacement but I'm not sure about labor for such a job out where you're at.

[dianthus.livejournal.com]

We just sanded down the water-damage swells in my new place before we put down the laminate. But it wasn't cat pee, so there wasn't a smell to get rid of, to boot.

[maribou]

1) Having had many issues with this with my cats (mostly furniture), I bought a steamcleaner at Costco. It cost less than 300 bucks for a large-sized home steamcleaner and it has been a HUGE help. You may know someone with a steamcleaner who would lend it to you, or be able to rent one (though I am skeevy of renting them for some reason).
2) Simple Green is the kindest, less stinky, less awful, less allergy inducing of the enzyme products I have found. I use it instead of recommended steam-cleaner products and it works great.
3) I really think your carpet guy is overselling things. I honestly think if you steamclean that corner with simple green several times, it will go away. If it doesn't go away, and you still need to spend the 600, well, it was worth trying, IMO.

I would *NOT* tell the landlord, and I would wait to deal with the negotiable bit until it is sorted.

[maribou]

(And I mean, I have successfully done SOME carpets, it wasn't all furniture. Maybe it depends on a) the cat and b) the carpet)

[annissamazing]

I HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH THIS!

Seriously, Sabby's diabetes made him incontinent. I've done everything. I've tried everything. I've found what works. I've gotten my deposits back from every apartment Sabby had ever peed in.

Get yourself a gallon of Nature's Miracle (available at most pet stores, fine or otherwise). Completely douse the area. Soak it. Don't be shy. Don't try to save the product. Let it dry. Direct a fan on it to help it along if you're worried about damage to hardwood underneath. It will smell worse at first, but the smell will be gone when it's dry. Even kitty won't be able to smell it.

You'll also have to deal with the behavior issue that caused the problem in the first place. I suggest going to and reading all of their articles. Dr. Jean Hofve is the vet who helped me with Sabby's diabetes and I have the utmost respect for her. She works with and recommends Jackson Galaxy's advice on pet behavior. Here's his article on litterbox issues: Litterbox Secrets.

There's no need to tell your landlord about the cat pee. I'd actually recommend against it.

[annissamazing]

Huh. Really jacked up my html code there.

Little Big Cat

[garillama.livejournal.com]

I dumped a quart of Nature's Miracle on the area already, and that didn't help, or at least not for long :-( But I got the gallon size today and used the whole thing. Now we have a Nature's Miracle swamp back there ;-)

Kitty hasn't seemed too interested in the corner for the last week or so, we're hoping that if she's not peeing back there and it stops smelling like pee she'll forget about it. I also moved her litter box location to a friendlier one, and got a more ergonomic litter box, and we've picked up one of the Feliway defusers, so fingers crossed that we'll head off the behavior!

Thanks for the tips!

[annissamazing]

That sounds great! I'd also recommend having her tested for a UTI if you haven't already done so. That's usually the cause of inappropriate urination.

[gement.livejournal.com]

We think she was eating pine needles and injured herself, provoking a negative association. Or maybe she was just stressed by rearrangement of the living room. Cats, you know?

[annissamazing]

I'm not cat behaviorist, but it's my understanding that a negative association with the tree would have caused her to avoid the area. They usually pee in places that they like.

For example, when a cat has a UTI, it's painful to pee. They associate the pain of the UTI with the place they're peeing (usually, the litterbox) and find another place.

When the UTI clears up, they'll return to places that smell like urine and keep peeing there.

Also, if you were using a tree skirt or anything around the tree, she may have liked how the fabric felt on her paws as she was digging around. I couldn't have rugs in my bathroom or throw towels on the floor for that reason. Sabby couldn't resist them.

In any case, I hope the situation is easily resolved. :)

[gement.livejournal.com]

Right, we thought she was enjoying the eating half of the experience and then it was catching up with her at the litter box. No tree skirt, but she never really liked going into the bathroom, because the fan was loud and sometimes people wanted to come in and sit right next to her, which was clearly upsetting. We're workin' on it.

[artdreams1.livejournal.com]

Ooo -- I hadn't thought of the "replacing the carpet with Pergo" (or its ilk) option. I <3 the lack of carpet at my house now, so easy to keep clean.

Have you otherwise found a solution?

[gement.livejournal.com]

Plans, hopes, dreams, and no accidents in a while, but she's still supervised. We want to phase her into a hallway closet litterbox, so she'll have her own space and not have to worry about sharing the bathroom.