# Get rid of urine odor?



## ashleybodbyl (Apr 15, 2013)

I have two females. I literally spot clean their cage daily and wipe up any urine on the cage levels. But I can still smell the urine. They are somewhat litter boxed trained... they poo in the litter box but still pee on the levels. I use care fresh bedding... I was wondering if anyone had an tips on reducing the urine smell. I am too afraid to bathe them because I have had rats in the past and every single one hated water ..


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## PurpleGirl (Oct 12, 2012)

You'll rarely find that the urine smell is coming directly from the rats, they wash all the time and keep themselves very clean, so a bath probably wouldn't do much for the pee smell; if you actually sniff their fur, the boys usually smell faintly like tortilla chips, a musty but not unpleasant boy-smell, while the girls have a softer, more discreet scent. I don't know if it's just coincidence but in my experience, females pee on their ledges far more than males. My three girls do it and it smells a bit icky, I wipe up after them often but the smell is never entirely gone from the air; as much as it bothers me for visitors coming to the house, I pretty much just accept now that having pets who pee indoors means there will be that slight pet smell. Most people get used to it. Remember to check that they aren't peeing out of the cage onto a carpet/table/surface or the wall, that can create a bit of a pong (my girls also pee out onto the table they're sitting on, I'm forever scrubbing it and the dark wood coating has actually eroded to white!) and make sure their material things are washed quite often too (hammocks, fleece, etc.)


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## Rumy91989 (Dec 31, 2012)

I'd get rid of the carefresh and change to either aspen shavings or recycled paper litter like Yesterday's News. I've found carefresh tends to trap the smell and make it much, much worse. I've been using recycled paper litter for the past couple of months and my smell problems have basically disappeared.


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## 3 ratties (Apr 6, 2013)

Ive been having this problem too, I mean i don't spot clean the cage everyday, but i think I clean their cage about twice a week which should be plenty. I'm glad you suggested a different bedding Rumy. I use Carefresh bedding. I need to look into Yesterdays News. I hope it's easy to find in my area


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## Limouri (Apr 19, 2013)

I use care fresh and right now using towels as my liners, I haven't noticed any smell really with care fresh unless I sniff their litter box lol to see when it needs changing. I have used fleece and not really a smell with that either. 


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## PurpleGirl (Oct 12, 2012)

I use cardboard litter and it traps the smell very well on the occasions when they pee on the floor of the cage instead of on their big level.


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## WinonaGun42 (Feb 2, 2013)

I changed my Carefresh litter to a Yesterday's News. I also tried aspen shavings. The yesterday's news style of litter is more expensive but keeps the smell down a little better because of the baking soda. Aspen works better than the care fresh for me. 
Placing one of those "Refrigerator boxes" of baking soda near the cage helps to get rid of smells in the air and is safe to have around the rats. I use two.
One of my girls tends to trail pee wherever she goes. I have to wipe down everything she can pee on, almost every day.
Changing the fleece liners almost every day cuts down on the stink as well. I bought a small garbage can with a securely closing lid (and use a garbage bag as a liner) to toss them in until I can get them into the wash. It isn't the fresh pee that stinks as much as the pee that sits around on the fleece after a couple of days.
My rats tend to pee in the corner of their ledges. I tried putting a very small litter pan, with a bit of yesterday's news, where they liked to pee the most on each ledge. (B)rats then peed in the opposite corners.  I just bought a whole bunch of small litter pans so they are going to have one in EVERY CORNER now. We will see how that goes.

My rats didn't like baths either. I figured out it wasn't the water as much as it was the soapy "bath" part they hated so much. Every two-three weeks or so, my rats get playtime in my tub. I put some flat rocks in the tub so they have a space to get out of the water and put some plastic toddler toys in with them. I also didn't fill up the bath as much the first couple of times. It was barely an inch at the deepest part. I wore a plastic glove so I could remove the inevitable poops and put them in the wastebasket I had nearby. 
Since they have gotten used to water play time, the bath part isn't as traumatic an experience now. The girls mostly stay clean enough with just the water playtime so a bath is really rare for them. My boy who loves to wallow in and sleep on things he shouldn't, has to get one every few weeks. He is such a slob.


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## Rumy91989 (Dec 31, 2012)

3 ratties said:


> Ive been having this problem too, I mean i don't spot clean the cage everyday, but i think I clean their cage about twice a week which should be plenty. I'm glad you suggested a different bedding Rumy. I use Carefresh bedding. I need to look into Yesterdays News. I hope it's easy to find in my area


Yesterday's News, Exquisicat, and Planet Petco are all the same idea--just recycled paper bedding. Depending on where you shop you will find one of those brands or a similar product at any store that sells cat litter.


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## Moonferret (Apr 13, 2013)

If you have changed your bedding but still get a bit of smell you could try putting a spoonful or two of baking soda in a little dish and keep it in the same room as the cage, I think someone mentiond it but now Im looking back I cant see .... the soda neutralises smells for a while, just change it once every month or as necessary. there are also cagefresh granules you can put in the litter tray the pellets (its like a sand that smells faintly of talc) which safe for rats and will also neutralise the urine smells. I used only the soda when I only had two rats but since I got a third the smell got a little stronger I am trialling the granules, so far so good.


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