HELP!
House REEKS of cat pee!
They won’t stop SPRAYING!
Help!
My ENTIRE house REEKS of cat pee!
I can’t keep it clean and there are old, set in stains everywhere.
I have 8 cats (ALL fixed)- 10 litter boxes.
All cats have been vet checked and cleared.
A couple of them started spraying when my son took his cat to college with him.
(He was Alpha).
Now the others have followed along and it’s an all out pissing contest!
They have peed/sprayed on countertops, every floor – carpet, hardwood, ceramic tile, on doors, furniture.
Literally everything.
And I can’t keep up.
I have used Feliway spray and diffusers (3600 sf house so that gets expensive), calming collars, prescription calming cat food (at 120/bag), prozac and now amitriptyline.
I have cleaned with Nature’s Miracle, Oxyclean, Angry Orange, My Pet Peed, and Rocco & Roxy.
Their litter boxes get cleaned daily and are spaced on both levels of the house.
Any other suggestions on how to get them to stop spraying?
It’s clearly behavioral as I never had any issue until last year when 1 left.
.How can I get OLD urine smells out of hardwood floors, granite countertops, ceramic tile, walls, wood baseboards, and carpet??
(Basically the only thing they have missed at this point is the ceiling fans!
😩).
Replacing everything is not an option at this point.
Our house is only 6 years old.
We know we will have to replace a LOT if we ever want to sell.
Until then, I just want to try to get them to stop (vet is out of ideas) and get the smell under control.
Brief Answer:
Your situation is an extreme, stress-induced territorial crisis among a large, multi-cat group following the removal of a key alpha leader, turning your 3,600 square foot home into a highly scent-marked warzone.
Since medical and most basic behavioral/pharmaceutical options are exhausted, the solution requires an aggressive, two-pronged strategy: intense, structural cleaning and deep environmental reorganization.
For cleaning, you must move beyond consumer-grade enzyme cleaners for the set-in contamination.
You need a high-concentration, professional-grade enzymatic product like Anti-Icky Poo or Odoban, paired with a blacklight to find every soiled spot.
For deep penetration on hardwood, ceramic grout, and baseboards, repeated saturation and dwell time are critical.
For behavioral stability, the primary, cost-effective intervention is radical environmental enrichment focused on creating abundant, high-value, separate territories (vertical space) and utilizing the core principles of ‘Cat Spray Stop’ – specifically addressing the anxiety and resource competition.
You need to re-establish a sense of structured, secure territory for all eight cats to diffuse the “pissing contest” and halt the costly cycle of remarking.
Detailed Answer:
It is clear you are facing a severe, multi-cat, stress-driven territorial marking issue, not a simple litter box aversion.
The departure of the “Alpha” cat created a power vacuum and instability, triggering a crisis of confidence and territorial claims among the remaining eight cats.
This mass spraying is an attempt by them to collectively re-establish boundaries in a large 3,600 sq ft home now perceived as chaotic and vulnerable.
Since you’ve exhausted veterinary and common pharmaceutical/pheromone routes, the focus shifts to environmental structure and total scent eradication.
For the cleaning challenge, your consumer-grade enzyme cleaners are not penetrating the depth of contamination, especially in old, set-in stains on porous surfaces like hardwood, baseboards, and carpet padding.
The residual odor is acting as a massive, constant trigger for remarking.
You need a shift to a professional-grade solution.
On hard surfaces (hardwood, ceramic, baseboards, walls, granite): Use a high-concentration enzymatic cleaner, such as Anti-Icky Poo or a professional pet odor neutralizer found at janitorial supply stores.
Identify all marks using a UV blacklight.
For hardwood, the urine has likely soaked into the finish, potentially the subfloor.
You must saturate the area repeatedly, allowing the cleaner a long dwell time (up to 24 hours under a damp towel) before thoroughly rinsing.
For baseboards and walls, you may need to clean, allow to dry completely, and then apply a primer/sealer (like Kilz or BIN shellac-based primer) before repainting, as the urine salts penetrate deeply and can leach through standard paint.
This aggressive cleaning, while time-consuming, is the only way to avoid immediate, multi-thousand-dollar replacement costs.
For carpet, if the padding and subfloor are saturated, only professional extraction or, eventually, replacement will suffice.
However, to manage it now, rent a commercial extractor and use the professional-grade enzyme cleaner for maximum saturation and removal.
For behavioral change, you must implement radical environmental restructuring, which is the core of the ‘Cat Spray Stop’ methodology for multi-cat homes.
Your current resource ratio (10 boxes for 8 cats) is good, but the quality and distribution of other resources are lacking.
Given the 3,600 sq ft size, each cat must feel secure in their own territory.
You must significantly increase vertical space in high-traffic, conflict-prone areas: install cat shelves, floor-to-ceiling scratch posts, and tall cat trees, effectively turning your horizontal home into a 3-D environment.
This creates new, stress-free ‘high ground’ territories for them to survey and claim without resorting to urine marking.
Furthermore, adopt a strict schedule of divided feeding and play.
Feed in multiple, separate locations to reduce mealtime competition.
Engage in structured play with each cat, or small groups, using wands and feather toys to burn anxiety and satisfy their predatory drive.
This environmental and resource restructuring addresses the core instability better than any medication, offering a low-cost, high-impact behavioral solution to stop the spraying cycle.
The only way to stop this “pissing contest” is to give them so many undisputed, high-value personal territories that they no longer feel the need to use your furniture and walls as shared, contentious billboards.
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