The mystery of the cat-wee smell

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As I’ve mentioned before we recently bought a new (to us) house. We looked around the house several times before and it all seemed fine. After we moved in it was still fine, and we started working our way around decorating and cleaning the rooms. My partner worked hard painting ‘the den’ (as the previous people called it) and cleaned the carpet with a carpet-washing vacuum cleaner, and I put up new curtains and unpacked all our books onto the shelves. We felt quite pleased that that room was finished. Then, about a month ago, we suddenly noticed a strong smell in that room – that distinctive ‘tom-cat’ smell. We don’t have a cat, and neither did the last people who lived there for 19 years. We have seen a few cats around recently, so I guess it is possible one might have run inside, done the deed and then run out again without being seen while I had popped into the garden, naïvely leaving the door open, before I knew about the danger. My partner has cleaned the carpet twice more but it’s as bad as ever. I tried researching on the web for solutions but most advice seems to revolve around finding where ‘your’ cat has been as soon as possible and treating the spot. Since we didn’t know anything about any cat that’s a bit tricky and of course it’s now several weeks old. One recommendation was to use white vinegar on the carpet, and another was to use a cut raw onion to absorb the smell – now the room smells of pickled onions as well as cat wee! It’s really quite nasty and we can’t invite anyone in. I don’t know what to try next. I’ve even tried crawling all round the room on my hands and knees sniffing the floor, walls and shelves to see if I can find the source of the offending smell but I can’t find any smelly area, and yet the smell when you walk into the room is overpowering. The floors are concrete so there can’t be anything under the floorboards. Does anyone have any other suggestions? All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2016.