The downside of cats...

[Meowy Catkin]

... there is a dead animal smell in my room and I can't find the source!!! I've been down on my hands and knees looking under all the furniture with a torch, I've cleared the pile of stuff that I hadn't got around to yet and sniffed and sniffed trying to track it down - with no joy.

I now feel

 

[rachyblue]

Borrow a small terrier type - job done!

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Sadly that's not an option.

 

[asmp]

Is there any way a mouse could have got inside your sofa or chairs? Our cat used to bring in live mice and let them go. I used to find them all over the place and one chewed a hole under our sofa and went in it! If your cat brought in an injured one, it could have died.

 

[abitodd]

Oh how I know that smell and that frustration!It is one of the many times I wish I was tidy,then I would not have to pick through the pile of creased up clothes spilling out of the wardrobe. Yet the heap is still there!
I once spent days searching for the source of the horrendous pong,imagining a full grown rabbit,a pheasant,one of the neighbors chickens or even the neighbor himself. It had to be big to make such a lasting and invading stench.....no.....It was a tiny,baby pygmy shrew wedged under my music cupboard.I had moved the cupboard to give the terrier a chance at a squeaky thing a few days before and must have decapitated the shrew as I put the cupboard back....so terriers are no help at all. If it is any consolation,the smell subsides after 3-4 days and you will eventually find a desiccated furry blob which is easy to hoover up.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Yes, it could have hidden itself away and popped it's cloggs. I'm still looking.

ETA - 3 to 4 days!

 

[Sussexbythesea]

I know that feeling and that smell urggh! Have you checked behind the fridge? I found one chewed mouse that had escaped and then died on the motor unit of the fridge where the heat from is increased its retching stinkedness nicely!!

Twice I have come home to a swarm of blow flies that have hatched out of an escaped kill that I've not discovered - lovely :eek3k:

 

[9tails]

I once spent days searching for the source of the horrendous pong,imagining a full grown rabbit,a pheasant,one of the neighbors chickens or even the neighbor himself.

LOL! I'm lucky that most of mine are ancient and rarely bring anything in, but the new arrival is an avid hunter of pigeons. I've come home to what appears to be a ruptured feather pillow in the hall on a couple of occasions and him tearing into the poor victim with gusto.

The worst thing is when you walk into a room and smell freshly deposited cat poo. ALWAYS behind the heaviest and most awkward piece of furniture to move. After cleaning up the poo and scrubbing the carpet with zoflora (hyacinth), the smell still gets through the zoflora for hours.

ETA I had a strong smell of sick in my living room and hunted high and low for the source. I eventually tracked it down to an event a few weeks beforehand where I knocked over a cup of tea.

 

[Antw23uk]

*touches wood* Thankfully ours tend to kill and eat outside. I'm sure they know in there hearts that if i caught them with something in the house they would be skinned alive!

Most of the time its only Ollie who brings back things but they are mainly fluffy toys, towels, socks but alas no wallets or purses Although he did come home with a baby bird the other day and when he saw me he did a runner over the fence and shot off down the road the little git

Charlie is just a thug, they go down the hatch a second after he has caught the poor thing!

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I'm glad to announce that I finally found a tiny rotting organ (the remains of a vole or mouse, I think) and the small has gone! How can something so small smell sooooooooo bad?

To make me feel better, K caught and proudly brought home an Elephant Hawk Moth Caterpillar. It was the biggest caterpillar I've ever seen and I swiftly released it. The cat gave me a 'you bleeping ungrateful sod' look. I am a bad owner.

 

[Antw23uk]

I had a pile of straw on the lawn in the back garden whe i got home. We arent near anything or anywhere it could have come from other than be brought in by our eldest Ollie ... He has form for this type of thing!

This was taken before we moved, gosh thats three years ago now He just brought in this massive clump of grass and took some of it in his tunnel! He looks sooo small here

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Cats are so funny - going round killing innocent tufts of grass.

 

[rachyblue]

My youngest brought me part of a mushroom the other day... no idea where she got it from...