Talk:Chimerical/@comment-1671931-20150908165646/@comment-24101790-20150908230006

The full line is: "One byproduct from the methamphetamine cooking process is anhydrous ammonia. It distinctly smells like piss (which contains ammonia) and is often misidentified as urine." Two important things in that statement: "(Ammonia) is often misidentified as urine." Meaning person smelling that would likely draw an analogue to something they are familiar with. (Not everyone can differentiate between ammonia and urine, but most are aware that ammonia is present in the breakdown so they would draw a ling between the two.) It could be that the police procedural guides on identifying meth labs that I read for research was just simplifying the concept and drawing analogues for people not accustomed to the scent of chemicals.

The second thing is that we are also dealing with the protagonist's recollection here. He is told to investigate the source of a smell. It's pretty likely he's going to focus on it and over-exaggerate statements about it and be more focused on it than it actually is. (We're dealing with a fire fighter remembering events that happened while in a burning building, chances are there are going to be some discrepancies.) As for the smell, the likelihood that all her pets peeing on the carpet which is soaking up and breaking down in the summer heat would build-up over time and produce a smell that someone could misconstrue as ammonia.

As for the presence of the other smells. "The smell was atrocious, but luckily for us, her stomach hadn’t ruptured, which typically housed the worst of the decomposition smell." The smell of decay is present, but as the gases are trapped in the stomach, this is not as powerful (until the stomach ruptures later in the story). It's a relatively small focus in the story and the fact that people in the story are drawing conclusions based off of their knowledge/experience seems more than likely to address the distinction between urine and ammonia.