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Question for dog/cat owners

evident

evident

Lifer
I went house hunting yesterday and looked at about 8 houses. Two of them smelled awful and it was clearly the smell of dog. One of the first things i wanted to do soon after i got a house was to get a dog and/or cats, but i'm afraid of what the house would smell after a while.

I imagined that the owners didn't even realize that their houses smelled that bad since they were so used to it.

Were those owners just filthy and never washed or cleaned their pet? or is that smell inevitable? I noticed one house had a thick carpet in the living room, but the other house didn't have any carpets at all and smelled even worse than the house w/ the carpet, so i was wondering how the hell it smelled that bad?
 
Dogs smell worse than cats. As long as the cats don't pee on carpeting, the house should smell ok. Most dogs have a funk that isn't related to bodily functions.
 
Most likely the animals pissing into the carpet and the owners not cleanign it or addressing it. I have had cats nearly my entire life. The only time we had problems with them not going in their litter box is when we got 3 barn cats. 2 of the three simply let loose where ever they pleased. When my family moved into our new house the cats went back out to the farm.

Otherwise I have two cats right now and it doesnt smell like urine in my house. You cant get used to that smell. Even if you live in it, when you come home it hits you like a brick.
 
I've smelled it before too..I think it's from people who have dogs that pee on the floor. I've been in many pet owner houses with no smell at all (mine included).
 
If you have pets they will have accidents. When they do if you are diligent about cleaning them up using something like Simple Solution to remove all traces there will be no smell. Like other posters have said it is all about the cleaning, it is part of the responsibility you take on with a dog or cat.
 
Linflas said:
If you have pets they will have accidents. When they do if you are diligent about cleaning them up using something like Simple Solution to remove all traces there will be no smell. Like other posters have said it is all about the cleaning, it is part of the responsibility you take on with a dog or cat.
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I disagree. I had hardwood floors on my entire mainfloor at my last house with the exception of the stair landing. The landing was carpeted and that's where my dog chose to lay 90% of the time. She didn't leave messes there, she just laid there. No amount of vaccuuming would get rid of the "dog" smell in that part of the house when you came in. She was bathed regularly and frequently combed. She just smelled like a dog and so did the carpet.

You can try covering it up with some carpet powder but a lot of that stuff smells worse than the odor you are trying to hide.
 
thanks for all your responses. my gf's parents have a portuguese water dog but it doesn't shed and it's trained really well. their house smells fine and i wouldn't have even guessed that they had a dog. i guess some people are just dirty and not diligent about cleaning that type of shit up. how disgusting! One of the houses i was really interested in buying, but that smell really made me consider otherwise.

maybe i'll just stick to my childhood hobby of tropical fish when i get a house 🙂
 
vi edit said:
I disagree. I had hardwood floors on my entire mainfloor at my last house with the exception of the stair landing. The landing was carpeted and that's where my dog chose to lay 90% of the time. She didn't leave messes there, she just laid there. No amount of vaccuuming would get rid of the "dog" smell in that part of the house when you came in. She was bathed regularly and frequently combed. She just smelled like a dog and so did the carpet.

You can try covering it up with some carpet powder but a lot of that stuff smells worse than the odor you are trying to hide.
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Trust me I understand your point with carpet, we have 4 dogs and 8 cats and all the main level of our house is now hardwood or ceramic tile. Still in the carpeted places we regularly clean with Oxy and Simple Solution with a carpet cleaner and don't have that problem.
 
evident said:
thanks for all your responses. my gf's parents have a portuguese water dog but it doesn't shed and it's trained really well. their house smells fine and i wouldn't have even guessed that they had a dog. i guess some people are just dirty and not diligent about cleaning that type of shit up. how disgusting! One of the houses i was really interested in buying, but that smell really made me consider otherwise.

maybe i'll just stick to my childhood hobby of tropical fish when i get a house 🙂
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Pretty much any pet will stink up the house if you don't care for it properly, including fish.
 
evident said:
thanks for all your responses. my gf's parents have a portuguese water dog but it doesn't shed and it's trained really well. their house smells fine and i wouldn't have even guessed that they had a dog. i guess some people are just dirty and not diligent about cleaning that type of shit up. how disgusting! One of the houses i was really interested in buying, but that smell really made me consider otherwise.

maybe i'll just stick to my childhood hobby of tropical fish when i get a house 🙂
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It also depends on the breed of the dog, some have more odor than others naturally. We have Basset hounds and they have an oily skin/coat and it can get a bit smelly but febreeze/bathing usually takes care of it pretty well. Other breeds will hardly smell at all.
 
Clean cat box daily and be sure they don't find a "Piss spot" and you're house will smell fine. This is about 3 minutes of work at most per day for cats.

Dogs... Ugh, dogs just stink. You can wash them daily but they still stink. Wood flooring is great and all but are you going to sleep on a wood bed and have all wood furniture?

A good friend of mine has dogs and I just can't take it. Sometimes I have to sit through it just because he has Sunday Ticket.
 
surfsatwerk said:
Carpet is for suckers. Wood flooring FTW.
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Yep. This is why we're in the process of ripping out our carpet and going entirely wood. Our kitchen, dining room and entryway were already wood when we move in, with the rest of the house carpet. I really wish I would have made finding a house that was fully wood floors a bigger priority when we were house shopping. Oh well, it's just more money to spend now I guess.
 
FWIW, I think the dog smell comes from the natural microbiota in their systems. Dogs have a broader range of food choices compared to cats, thus are likely prone to more bacteria species. The smell is the product of anaerobic oxygen tolerant bacterial respiration.

If you smell a cat's breath, it will always smell bad, possibly worse than a dog due to their carnivorous nature. But their grooming habits is what keeps their fur from smelling terrible unless they have kidney failure. I guess it has to do with their saliva, there's probably more lipase in it than dogs have - just taking a guess.
 
ive asked friends if my house smelled like dog since one of our friends has 3 and their house is almost unbearable most of the time. the ones ive asked have always told me the truth so i have no reason to doubt, and have said it doesnt smell like pet. i have carpet in all the rooms but kitchen and bathrooms, and dont seem to have much pet odor. if i dont keep up on cleaning my lizards cage it will get musty in there tho. my dogs have full time access to the backyard, and have never had accidents in the house. no cats here, they are gateways to hell, hence evil.
 
I have multiple cats and when I come home I don't smell them unless my wife has not cleaned their boxes. However, I have a friend who's house reeks of cat piss. I think he just doesn't clean up after them.
 
The only houses I've been in that had a bad pet smell were either filthy or the pet was dirty. Having a pet does not mean that your house has to smell like crap, and I've had many experiences demonstrating this.
 
evident said:
Were those owners just filthy and never washed or cleaned their pet? or is that smell inevitable?
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Have you found that your sense of smell is keener than most others? If so, people like you live in a different universe than I do. My sense of smell is not that sensitive.

Even so, you may get acclimated to the smells any pets you acquire infuse your home with, as it will happen gradually -- organically, if you will -- over time.

Like a frog on the stove in a pot . . .



.
 
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