Pets are great. As wonderful as cats are at snuggling and offering comfort, they can sometimes lack in the litter-box-manners department.
When this happens, you’ll probably want to know how you can get the smell of cat urine out of your home furnishings, carpets, and clothing. Luckily, we have some experience with these situations and are more than happy to share our knowledge with you.
How to Get Rid of The Scent of Cat Pee?
On the Carpet
Cat pee has a distinct odor. It also tends to linger for months after the accident has been dealt with and cleaned up. This makes it one of the worst things to find its way onto your carpet. To get rid of the smell, you’ll want to follow these simple steps.
Learn about the dangers of cat urine
Locate the accident
First, you should try to find the accident site as soon as possible. Yes, this can be harder than it sounds, as you typically don’t expect your cat to be urinating all over the house and, as a result, are unaware that it’s going on. However, the sooner you find the smell, the better. By finding it quickly, you lessen the chance of the scent leeching its way into the deepest layers of your carpet.
Blot
Using a clean cloth, blot the area to soak up as much of the urine as you can. You could also use paper towels, but generally clean white, bath or dish towels are the best because you can see the urine on them. This will help you monitor how much is being soaked up, enabling you to keep blotting with clean towels until virtually no urine comes out of the carpet.
Use a cleaner
While you’d think using steam or other carpet cleaners would be the easiest way to deal with urine stains, this isn’t true. In fact, steam cleaners should be avoided in this situation. Instead, use an enzymatic cleaner. There are a variety of specific cleaners for cat and pet urine on the market. A few of the most popular include the Nature’s Miracle line, which works to break down the urine scent so it can be removed.
Alternatively, you could make your own cleaner from household staples. One great homemade cleaner is the classic but ever so effective vinegar and water solution. Combine equal parts water and white vinegar and apply it to the area. Don’t be afraid to douse the area. Let the mixture sit for 10-15 minutes and then, using more clean towels after scrubbing the area, blot.
On Other Surfaces and Furniture
Getting rid of the urine smell from furniture is much the same process as removing it from the carpet. However, it’s important to note that furniture is made out of a variety of fabrics and not all fabrics will mesh well with cleaners. Removing the smell from hard floors such as tile and wood, however, is a different process.
Blotting and Wiping
Start by blotting and wiping up the urine. If it is dried, this step doesn’t apply. While you could easily wipe up the mess, blotting it ensures that the urine puddle doesn’t spread. Here, you don’t need to use white towels, as it’s much easier to see the amount of urine in the area.
Clean
Next comes the cleaning step. It’s best to avoid using chemical cleaners on your hard floor not only because harsh chemicals can ruin hard floors, but also because chemicals have the ability to make the scent of cat urine worse.
Instead of using a classic cleaner, use your vinegar and water mixture that was mentioned above. Or, you can opt to use dish soap and water (approximately one tablespoon of dish soap per 2 cups of cool water).
After letting the mixture sit for a few minutes, use a clean cloth to clean up the mixture and mess. Then, you can either wipe the area with clean water or sprinkle a dusting of baking soda on top. The baking soda, although not necessary, will help to eliminate the smell further. When you use this, though, you’ll need to clean it up after a few minutes.
On Clothing and Beddings
If cleaning urine off of the carpet wasn’t critical enough, cleaning it off of clothing surely is. Your clothing, when not cleaned properly, can give off a faint urine stench for dozens of wears. Yuck! Here’s how you can get rid of urine from both clothing and bedding.
Remove the bedding
If your sheets and blankets have been soiled, start by removing them from the bed. You may also want to remove any bedding that is within the immediate area, even if it doesn’t appear to have been soiled.
Blotting
If the urine has gone through to your mattress, bring in the blotting. Use the same technique as above: a white towel or cloth and blotting until most of the urine is pulled out. If it is already dry, this won’t be necessary.
Clean
Cleaning is the next step. You can clean a soiled mattress using the home remedies previously discussed, or, you can opt to use a urine specific cleaner. Be sure to dry the area thoroughly.
Clothing
When it comes to clothing, it’s a simple process. You can just wash your clothing as usual, but add a bit of baking soda to the load, you may also want to use hot water instead of color or lukewarm. Afterward, dry your clothing as normal.
Why does my cat smell like urine
Conclusion
Cat urine is never a welcomed surprise. Although, it doesn’t have to be a total disaster, either. With a bit of careful attention, it can be remedied quite easily. So, with any luck, if you find yourself dealing with a puddle of urine on your favorite shirt or most expensive couch, you’ll now know how to handle it quickly and effectively.
