I just had to post about the wonderful new use I've found for the hated
deodorizing spray.  You might recall that I have used Crazy Dog brand
"Baby Dog" scent (baby powder) deodorizer on my crew occasionally, and
that the merest mist will inspire the "dance of indignity" and a hasty
retreat in any of my crew.
 
Well, one of my ferrets has been ill for some time now, and is on an
all-babyfood diet, so he has very soft stools and consequently has
to strain quite a bit to go potty.  Therefore, he dislikes using a
box becuase he can't get good traction (perfectly understandable).
Unfortunately, his solution is to continually potty on my rug (yes, I
have tried many solutions - towels and carpet runner, but he can't get
good traction on the carpet runner either.).  As a result, he has made
a stinky mess of a big corner of my bedroom carpet.
 
Encouraged by all the tales of the success with enzymatic pet stain
odor removers, I bought a big 32-oz. container of "Nature's Miracle"
and proceeded to douse the offending area with the product and the
recommended 5 - 10 parts of hot water, repeating at 12-hour intervals.
What happened was that I ended up with an ever-widening ring of horrible
ammonia smell that eventually extended well past the area that I thought
had been contaminated.  This went on for 5 or 6 days, with my buying
additional bottles of product and re-treating the spots that still
smelled.  Apparently the ferrets thought the smell needed covering, too,
because they would periodically come by and re-soil the areas being
treated (sometimes right on top of the towel covering the spot!) Finally,
I gave up and cleaned the area with odo-ban and my bissel little green
machine - the carpet had to be dried out because it was starting to smell
musty (in the places where it didn't smell like ammonia).  I swear, the
smell was better *before* I treated the carpet!!!
 
Well, anyway, I was trying to keep the ferrets from helping me by
potty-ing on the wet area, and that was not terribly successful, and the
whole thing still smelled like ammonia, even after the odo-ban.  So in
order to give my nose a break, late one night I searched under the sink
for a different, non-toxic deodorizer - and found the bottle of BabyDog.
I just spritzed a little in the general area, and enjoyed the warm baby
power smell (and absence of ammonia, at least to my nose!)
 
A miracle!  Not one single "deposit" has been made on the carpet in that
corner since I sprayed the deodorizer.  The ferrets avoid it like the
proverbial plauge!  I am *so* happy!  Finally, a new use for that bottle
of deodorizer I've had for so long!  Maybe others of you can "recycle"
hated sprays in a similar manner ...it's just so rare that anything keeps
them from returning to a favorite potty area, I thought I'd mention it.
 
Best Wishes,
Melissa Ince
[Posted in FML issue 3959]