Any ideas on how to remove the smell of a dead rat which is somewhere inside interior walls?

Question

I have a dead rat somewhere in my walls. I have no way to find where out where it is. Any ideas on what to care of the smell?

Answer 1

The only way to remove the smell immediately is to remove the dead rodent.

If you rent, ripping out the drywall piece-by-piece is probably not an option.  If you own, it will cost you some money and effort.  The smell usually dissipates after a few days.  I'd wait two weeks and re-evaluate.  

Answer 2

pinning down a smell is very hard--odors drift.  I don't think you can deal with the smell without locating the animal and getting the body out.  It can decompose and smell for a long time in there.

A wildlife control company can sometimes locate the animal, and there is equipment which can trace odors, and items in walls.

Products to consider are Expel, and OdorXit, and you will see others sold on the web.  I had dead mice and years of effort and many products never totally cleared the odor in masonry.  Good luck

Answer 3

This happened to me back in 1999.  For me it was easy because their were flies on the wall where it was dead.  We had to cut the wall and remove it. Very, very gross!