Why Does Cat Urine Smells So Bad?

Cat urine odour is truly unique, especially when compared to all the other smells that we are familiar with.

Another question that pet owners alaways ask themselves, is just why the smell of cat urine is so hard to clean up and remove?

Well….
Cat urine is composed of five different bacteria strains. Two of the bacteria strains are associated with the cat’s marking scent. The other strains are in the cat spray, urine, and uric acid.
The sticky, unpleasant part of cat urine is called the urea. Urochrome is where the pigment of cat urine comes from, and then we have the uric acid salts and crystals.
The first two components are not difficult to clean. The uric acid with its crystals and salts are what we continually see and smell, long after we’ve tried to clean the cat urine spot.
The crystals are insoluble, and they bond tightly to any surface they land on. This is why cat urine is immune to common household cleaners. Any type of moisture that gets on the crystals reactivates them. This is why we smell cat urine odour more distinctly when the weather is very humid.
The only way to completely and permanently clean up cat urine odour from any surface in your home is to use an enzyme cleaner. These cleaners are special formulas that actually eat the bacteria and crystals in cat urine.
Common household cleaners don’t contain enzymes. If they do, the enzymes are probably specific to cleaning up blood. Pet odour and stain removers use enzymes that attack and get rid of urine bacteria.

The worst type of cleaner you can use on cat urine odour puddles is any ammonia cleaner!

Cat urine contains ammonia. Pour one of these cleaners onto that puddle, and its calling kitty’s name to come over and mark the spot again!
Now you know more about cat urine and its’ odour than you probably wanted. However, if you or someone you know has a cat urine odour problem, this is why it’s so difficult to get rid of.