Hi,

We came home from work today to find the flat (and lobby outside) really smelling. We thought it might our cats litter tray at first but there was very little in it.

It was only a few minutes later I found fluid right at the door of the flat. I thought the cat must have wee'd at first but it seemed to have dried very sticky on the floor, and smelled quite a lot like vinegar up close.

Any ideas what it could be? I'd noticed a very small patch of this outside her litter tray earlier in the week. It was barely liquid at all - it had dried as a very sticky, hard, vaguely yellow patch.

Maybe its wee, but could it be she might have sprayed?

Any thoughts welcome!

Have a look in here (http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=253498&highlight=urine) I'm sure that you will find some relevant advice :)

Have a look in here (http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=253498&highlight=urine) I'm sure that you will find some relevant advice :)

really we were after finding out what it was, rather than how to clean it (thanks for the tips though). if she is spraying we want to know why.

To me it sounds very much like cat sick. When mine are sick it goes like a yellow patch, really smells and does go sticky if they done it whilst I was out and it's dried. It sounds very much like you are describing. Have you changed her food or anything lately or could she be eating something on the sly? Cats are sometimes sick when they get fur stuck, furballs, one of mine is a nightmare for it! But, if she is spraying, has anything changed recently at home? Moving or new furniture? New working hours? Anything that would change her routine at all or yours? Have you changed her food? If it is wee, could it be possible that she has an infection of some kind? It might be worth just asking a vets advice, describing what you have on here and see what they say.

I hope you find out what it is. :)

Female cats can and do spray, although normally it's something brought on by stress, illness or living in a multi-cat household where a cat that lacks confidence feels the need to mark territory, much as they like to rub their faces against door frames and scratch furniture to transfer their own scent to another object.

If it's dried yellow and crusty (and smells) it most probably is urine, rather than dried sick or bile. You should clean the area thoroughly but dont use bleach or disinfectant which only encourages a cat to re-mark. A Feliway diffuser may help Emily to chill out and not feel the need to mark.

Does she ever come into contact with other cats? I wonder if she senses a possible intruder on the other side of the door? Maybe she's anervous around people and frets when there are noises at the other side that she cannot understand? I doubt she's protesting about her litter tray, knowing how fussy you are with her so I'm sure you keep it well scrubbed and clear.

It's possible she has a urine infection and has chosen to wee near the door rather than her tray- keep an eye on her , see if she's straining to wee, in which case, off to the vets for antibiotics. Other than that, I'm flummoxed- might be that she's testing things out because she must be reaching sexual maturity about now, right? If you wash the offending area using biological washing powder/warm water, you should be able to remove all signs and smells and plugging in the Feliway will hopefully deter her from further marking, if that's what it is.

Well the liquid itself was very watery. In fact I thought it was water at first as it seemed clear against the laminate floor, but when wiping it up it appeared to have dried almost hard/sticky against the floor. This is what made me wonder whether it was urine..as I've not known it to dry like that.

Whether she has an infection or not I don't know. I would have thought infected urine would be a stronger yellow/dirty colour? This seemed almost clear until it dried.

The smell in the flat was pretty bad - almost like really sweaty feet....urgh!

Maybe we're worrying about nothing. There are no other cats in the flat or nearby (she is a house cat). One thought was she might have sprayed near the door if she is stressed about being kept indoors???

We'll see if she repeats it over the next few days. We're concerned that other residents might complain about the smell if she keeps doing it.

You don't say if your cat is spayed. If she isn't, it's possible that an un-neutered male has got in and can smell her coming into season. His urine will have this distinctive strong odour.

Getting her spayed may be the answer.

could be straight forward bile - my dogs puke it up occasionally, often after digesting unchewed hide chews or even something that didn't agree with them.
tends to sniff a bit, nice yellow egg yolk colour - further upchucks tend to appear like "snot" and a little frothy on the edges.

if it's inside and outside i'd hazard a guess at cat urine though

Was it like milky tea? and smelled of strong gone off fish? If so it is probably anal gland secretion, some cats can expel their glands when feeling threatened or distressed.

It is probably the most horrendous animal smell you will ever come across, much worse than dogs anal glands.:gag: