Cats Under a Mobile Home

I live in a mobile home and cat sometimes squeeze through the skirting and go to the bathroom under our house. It is starting to smell. How to I remove the smell? It is all dirt under the house. Please help!

Shannon from MN

Answers:

Cats Under a Mobile Home

You didn't mention how they are getting under there. Do you have skirting around the underneath and they are getting in in the gaps? Or are you completely "un-skirted"?

I have done a lot of research on repelling cats because of problems with them leaving me "presents" in my garden/flowerbeds.

You can lay chicken wire around the areas they are getting in and under the trailer itself. Supposedly they don't like stepping on it (works for repelling raccoons, as well).

I have also heard that they hate the smell of citrus. So I take my used citrus rinds and grind them in to small pieces in a coffee bean grinder or food processor. Or you can just dice them with a knife into small pieces and then spread them liberally in the area they are getting in and under the home itself.

In addition to that I've heard that they don't like the smell of coffee grinds. So that might work for keeping them out and maybe deodorize as well.

Never use ammonia (use vinegar) for cat smells. Cat urine contains ammonia and they will continue to spray or "go" there in an attempt to mark their territory.

Thorny plants work well too like roses. They don't like the smell of lavender and rue plants either! So maybe some landscaping to keep them out and this works great as some more "curb appeal". Good luck!

And another thing, as a last resort, you can call animal control. Wild cats can be dangerous around children. (04/30/2008)

By J

Cats Under a Mobile Home

We also used lime, under the trailer, and under the deck, also around the perimeter of the trailer. And it not only helped with the smell, it helped with fleas and ticks that were being tracked inside. I put a handkerchief over my mouth area, and just cupped it out and broadcast it freely. I had to get a 50 pound bag of lime.

We had a lot of cat problems under the trailer, and they also crawled and dug up into our insulation in the colder months. But, putting the lime down about every couple of months during the spring and summer really helps.

Our problem cleared up all the way when we got small dogs that policed the area, around and under the trailer for cats when they went outside. No more cat problems. No more stink problems. (05/02/2008)

By Glinda