Smell is overpowering; Need Advice

Hollandgirl, great big hug.

As I read your post I am transported back to when I was called to help my dad.

Only his situation involved dogs and their stink. As well as his incontinents with failing kidneys.

I too spent days washings everything because it stunk. I had to wash things sometimes 4 or 5 times to get the multilayered stench out. And I was having to wash all the linens on his bed everyday. I am busy and an extra 5 loads of laundry a day with a little dog that I had to watch every minute just wore me to a wreck. White vinegar is my BFF for laundry. It kills the enzymes that cause the odor. The challenge is dealing with items that have been washed and dried, setting the odor. Breaking down the bond between the fabric and filth is sometimes difficult. I threw away quite a few items, he never missed anything.

I was blessed that my dad ended up in the hospital and I got some breathing room to figure out what to do. I couldn't have him in my home, long story.

I found a board and care facility that he could afford and he went straight from the rehabilitation facility to his new home.

As hard as it is, sometimes we have to step back and let them be cared for by professional caregivers. I was then able to provide enrichment activities to his life. At my house he got fed and that was all I had time for because he needs were greater than my time.

He is now independent and thriving. He just needed away from his abuser and the care to get better.

Please consider that you and your husband may not be the best solution. And consider the situation with a sick cat. It's not worth a ton of money to pursue treatment if it is old or has something highly contagious. I am going to catch flack for that, but she comes 1st and you have to consider the financial aspect of the situation.

My heart goes out to you. I remember the feelings I experienced and I was so overwhelmed with all of it. One day at a time and you will get through this.

One caution:  lemon juice.   One of my contractors uses orange based cleaners and told me that lemon juice works too, but that it interact with some substances.   I learned that the hard way when I used it to clean the bathroom sink.

The plumber's putty, or whatever was used to seal the sink to the wall, turned greyish.    The metal around the base of the sink drain turned black.   Scrub as much as I could, I couldn't restore the original shade and sheen of the metal.

Toss it all and replace from a thrift store imo. Shouldn't be too pricey. Store photos and irrellaceables in airtight plastic tubs or somesuch.

I discovered an enzyme laundry product that actually "digests" biological stains such as feces. It's called Puracy, and I buy it on Amazon.com. I simply spray it on the stain and wait from 5 to 30 minutes before washing the garment. It has worked every time.
It's possible that you could mix a little Puracy with water and use it as a solution to wash things that can't be laundered. Just rub it on, wait for the recommended time, and rinse with a cloth dipped in water.

Also, don't forget that the sun is an excellent disinfectant. You might try washing things and then placing them in direct sun for a whole day. It would probably remove a lot of the smell.

If you can fund it without going broke, I’d turn the job over to professionals. Have as many of the photos as you can duplicated, and throw away the originals.

The wood furniture may benefit from refinishing with Polyurethane varnish, that may be able to seal the smell, after being soaked and scrubbed with Nature’s Miracle. See if an online search or a big local pet store can suggest anything better.

We took care of a really wonderful person many years ago, who chain smoked 24 hours a day. Not as bad as cats though.

My mom is not big on bathing, but she is fastidious about using baby-wipe type products. We buy a brand on-line that is wash cloth size (easier to handle) and is a type used in hospitals and nursing homes.

My uncle was an old bachelor and his house was a mess - dogs, rats, litter. There are some papers I kept that still have traces of that distinctive odour almost 15 years later, IMO you will never get rid of it on anything that is porous/organic. If there are things you can not wash and can not replace you can seal furniture with paint or urethane, cover her mattress with a good water proof cover, photos can be scanned and the originals discarded.

Borax powder was a life saver for me. It took out both human and cat urine odor from clothes, sheets, blankets, rugs, etc. I found that tip here on the forum and it works great. You can also mix it with water to make a spray. You can Google to find the correct proportions. You might try spraying the bed several times letting dry between sprays. Or find out what is so special about the bed (firmness? softness? sentimentality?) and see if you can find a suitable replacement.

Those poor cats!

Shelters are slap full of cats and kittens and here this nut job is breeding more. Intentionally.
Gah!

An air filter with a charcoal insert would help too. It will circulate the air in the garage, assisting any newspaper and/or baking soda solutions you use to re-mediate the smell, as well as removing cat dander and other smelly particles from the air. A HEPA filter removes the finest particles, but is also a bit more expensive. Maybe a couple of cheaper filter and one HEPA?

Dust can contain smells all on its own. Taking a moist cloth and just gently dusting/cleaning things like your FIL's portrait can help a lot. There are companies that can scan all the old photos onto a DVD, which may be a better option for everyone anyway because it's so easy to copy and share the DVD full of photos. Later you may want to load several into a digital photo frame for your MIL. BTW - you might want to ask for paperwork to be scan instead of just photocopied too.

Wood is porous and can hold smells really well. I doubt anything will get a cat urine smell out of unfinished wood, but smoke smells can be handled. I recommend cleaning with a solution including baking soda and white vinegar and allowing to air dry several times, maybe alternating with a pine-sol solution. Using steel wool to lightly roughen the surfaces and applying a clear lacquer spray (available in cans from Walmart and home improvement stores) can both improve the finished surfaces and seal smells from the unfinished surfaces.