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  for Metal Finishing since 1989
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Aluminum Reaction with Cat Urine

2005

I am trying to find a solution to above problem on internet , so far without success, and am not even sure this site is the correct place for my query?
My wifes (tom) cat is locked in our garage at nite (to save the huge Nos of nocturnal nitelife ino our area (pygmy possums etc). Instead of using the provided litter trays he continues peeing on base of aluminum roller shutter door - which is reacting by continually creating large deposits of white crystal on the surface. I have wire brushed, hosed off etc but keeps returning - even when I know the cat has not recently 'done the business' - is there some readily available substance which can be applied to halt this reaction?
Many Thanks

Ron Bennett
homeowner - Sydney, NSW Australia

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We used to have a similar problem in the UK with dogs peeing against steel lampposts. They left a ring of corrosion around the post and unless it was regularly painted, it would ultimately fall down. This was overcome by going to concrete ones, but that is not feasible for your situation! You could try regularly painting the roller shutter or try to get it coated in plastic.

Trevor Crichton
R&D practical scientist
Chesham, Bucks, UK
2005

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Hi Ron,

Good ole Trevor hit it on the head. 1) Yes, paint the damned door. 2) Get a different cat, maybe? 3) Put a small electric current into the door ... to give the cat a shock!

Urine is quite toxic ... a dog (breed, bulldog) used to always urinate on the base of a certain small tree. Eventually it, the tree, died ... and that's no bull !

Try, if you can get it, a two component urethane paint.

Freeman Newton [deceased]
(It is our sad duty to advise that Freeman passed away
April 21, 2012. R.I.P. old friend).
2005

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The cat will continue marking it's turf as long as it can smell itself. The trick is to deodorize the spot, Kilz [affil links] worked for me, it's a stain covering primer. If you clean the area again real good and get a couple of coats of primer on it before he does his business, you might have some success. Don't use the low-odor kilz, it doesn't work.
Another thing you might try along with painting is move the cat box so that it is up agaist the area of the door that he using as a urinal, try to make it so he can't physically go on the door and has to use the litter box, after a few nights it might change his behaviour enough so that when you move the box back to it's original position, he will(hopefully) follow it.
Toms are hard to train, but thinking about that electric shock thing is giving me cold sweats...

Sheldon Taylor
supply chain electronics
Wake Forest, North Carolina
2005