Ooohkay.

We were away walking (it’s like cycling – slower and more boring, but with better views) in Wales last weekend and Ms Spanner hadn’t got round to cleaning her boots yet. The boots were almost new and had only been worn once.

She picked them up last night to find them slightly moist with a distinct aroma of cat pee clinging to them.
Yep, a cat has p****d in her shoes.
Not mine, you notice, but hers – this makes me happy 😀
Everyone’s a critic these days aren’t they?

Now, our cat, an older female, has never, ever done this before and despite waterboarding is saying nowt, not even with a lawyer present.
We do however sometimes leave the door open (mowing lawn, loading car etc), and a neighbours male cat has come into the house and sprayed in the hallway, where the boots are kept, once before.

So, what do you reckon:
The boots were covered in all kinds of animal by-product before the pwning, could the smell of other animals have caused this?

Happened to anyone else?

Should I castrate the neighbours Tom myself with an elastic band and a small toffee hammer?

And would anyone like a lovely, very affectionate, black 11 year old female cat, answers to the name of Liquorish? (Usually) house trained but now very scared of Marzocchi Bombers?

My parents have cats, as they have gotten older (a bit older than your cat) they have taken to peeing in shoes – never used to do it.

Could be your cat.

kill, skin and make cat into new boots for Mrs Spanner

I always thought you could make the comfiest pair of slippers if you could collect sufficient cats’ noses.

John Wayne had a similar problem… but only once.

I thought it was more of a male thing, no expert though.

Hmm its possible the smell of cat pee is just her smelly feet smell, my friend has this smelly feet smell, it’s rank.

Should I castrate the neighbours

I stopped reading at this point and wondered how this would help!

It’s almost certainly not cat pee. I thought my cats had got to my latest pair of SPDs, and I was very puzzled by this cos they were smelling grim after their first ride, straight out of the box. Then I encountered someone who doesn’t own a cat at all, who had the same problem, with no way they could have had their shoes peed in by anything feline.

So we concluded that some shoes just end up smelling that way when they get wet, it’s probably to do with the type of glue or something. Now I stuff mine with newspaper when I get in to dry them out, and they don’t really smell much any more. Apparently bicarb of soda is good too, not tried that myself though.

My dogs (well, one of them) ate one of my shoes yesterday. Literally, the whole leather upper. Given that it’s a Church shoe, that’s £300 to replace the pair. Bit miffed, but to be honest it’s my own fault. Dogs like to chew.

My cats (I’ve got three of these) will very occasionally have a pee somewhere in the house, usually when stressed or if they’ve seen a fox in the garden and don’t want to go outside. It happens, and regardless of anything else, you took them on and therefore have to accept them as they are.

Simple thing is to put shoes (especially if seen as valuable) in a cupboard or in a room they cats/dogs don’t have access to.

The hardest thing is the chickens, who like to eat the rhubarb; as I’m not digging that up, they have to stay in the pen a bit more than I’d like. They don’t wee in shoes, though they do tend to sh*t on the kitchen floor if you leave the doors open.

Bottom line: they’re part of the family. Make it harder for them to repeat the incident, but it’s hardly their fault, so don’t blame them.

I should add that I’m not labouring under any delusions as to my cats’ general levels of innocence. I once yelled at them and locked them downstairs after they woke me up at 5am, and one of the little monsters got revenge by peeing in my laptop bag. (Fortunately the laptop wasn’t in it, still cost me a good bag though.)

Ta for the ‘advice’ folks, I think.

Definitely cat pee, only one boot was actually targeted in the attack, although the other received slight collateral damage.

Might set up a webcam, just to rule out infiltration from next door.

If it’s definitely her and it happens again, I’ll be peeing in her litter tray, just to show her who’s boss. I have a feeling this may escalate.

Church shoe, that’s £300 to replace the pair.

For a pair of didgery doos? Are you havin a laugh?

get the wife to kill and eat all domesticated animals with a 2 mile radius, that’s what I’d do.