DIYbanter - View Single Post

time4tt

replying to , time4tt wrote:
bellmyb wrote:

Had a old cat with no control, and he decided it was a good idea to pee
down the floor heating vent. Didn't really catch on that this was
going on til the heat came on a couple weeks ago. Yikes, what an odor!
I called one of those duct cleaning outfits - but they seem kinda like
a scam. How are they going to get dried pee out of a duct with a
vacuum and some "sanitizing mist"?
Should I just have the ducts replaced? I did just get out the shop vac
and enzematic cleaner, we'll see if it did any good...
Sincerely,
Gassed

I had this problem and managed to solve it. I have two cats - one older
one and one younger. One or both of them (I believe the younger one) was
urinating down the vents. One cat was still using a litter tray, but one
was also pooping in the dining room. They had both used litter trays at
some point. I tried putting a litter box over the vent they used the most
often, but they would find another vent. I put pieces of wood with nails
through it over the vents (made from the stuff they use to hold carpets
down), but the cats still used the vents. I was also worried about a human
or our dog stepping on the nails.

What worked was to make covers for the vents out of cereal box packets. I
attached these with Scotch tape and it covers the vent so the cat can't
pee down them. I put them on all the vents in the house (which meant
eating a lot of cereal!). At the same time I got two litter trays and took
the covers off of them (so it was just a tray with litter) so the cat
wouldn't be afraid of going inside a small area. I left the tray which was
being used where it was and put the other tray one the spot where the cat
was pooping.

So far I've not had any problems (it's been a couple of weeks). My only
concern with this solution is hot air from the vents coming through the
vents and setting the cardboard on fire. You may want to get store bought
cowels which do the same thing, or try doing this in the summer when hot
air isn't coming out of the vents.

I hope this helps.

--