Products to Clean Cat Urine Messes Several products can help neutralize cat pee odor, including vinegar or baking soda and enzymatic cleaners. Here are some options to help you get rid of the cat pee smell.
Baking soda is excellent for removing odors. Sprinkling some baking soda on the carpet or other surfaces after absorbing most of the cat urine will help eliminate the smell for the long term. Just be sure to let it sit for at least half an hour before vacuuming it up.
Baking soda is famous for neutralizing odors. After you've finished soaking and blotting using vinegar and water, sprinkle the area with baking soda. This will ensure that any odors left behind on floors or carpet are eliminated over time.
Leave the baking soda in for about 15-30 minutes and then vacuum up the area thoroughly. *Note: Even with a nice suctioning vacuum, it is impossible to remove all the baking soda, so don't overdo it! This is probably the most helpful step, and you can do this in a variety of ways.
The hydrogen peroxide will remove stains and eliminate the cat urine odor. You can also give baking soda and white vinegar a try. These ingredients are a safe way to get cat pee out of floors and furniture because they won't damage most wood — but spot-test an out-of-the-way area first to ensure your finish is safe.
Enzyme-Based Cleaners
The enzymes in these products actually break down the acid in cat urine, helping to get rid of the smell at the same time. The natural enzymes and helpful bacteria help get rid of the bad bacteria that's causing the unpleasant odors.
Neutralize it!
Then you're going to want to douse the spot with an enzymatic cleaner or simply make your own cleaning solution by combining (white or apple cider) vinegar and water in a 1:1 ratio. Because the vinegar is acidic, it will neutralize the bacteria in the cat pee, offsetting its odor.
Baking soda naturally neutralizes odors. Sprinkle it liberally on the damp area or even an old urine stain, and work the powder gently into the fibers of any fabric, rug or carpet. Let the baking soda sit overnight for maximum odor absorption, then vacuum it up to remove the smell completely.
Let the baking soda sit overnight, and then vacuum thoroughly. You may have to go over the area several times to vacuum up all the powder, until the area feels clean to the touch. Another method adds one more household staple, vinegar.
Step 1: Spray the soiled area with an enzyme cleaner for cat urine. Step 2: Launder it immediately, separating it from other clothes. Gibbons recommends placing one cup of enzymatic cleaner in the washer with your regular amount of laundry detergent and washing on a deep clean setting.
Some of the most effective household cleaners aren't meant to be mixed. You probably already know never to combine harsh chemicals like bleach and ammonia (or really, bleach and anything). But common pantry essentials that are often used for cleaning — like baking soda and vinegar — shouldn't be mixed either.
Wet a sponge with tap water and rinse the area again. Soak the area with club soda for ten minutes. Blot up the club soda and place fresh paper towels or a fresh towel over the area.
Baking soda and vinegar mixture: mix one part water and one part vinegar with some baking soda and apply it to the affected area. The scent in vinegar is actually an acid that will get rid of the scent of cat pee as it fades!
A solution of 1 part white vinegar and 1 part water can be used to neutralize the smell of cat pee. Soak the area then let it dry. The smell should disappear over a few days.
How Long Do You Leave Baking Soda on Carpet? When cleaning your carpet with baking soda, let it sit for at least 15 minutes. The longer the baking soda stays on the rug, the more odor, dirt, and oil it will absorb, for a more thorough clean. Try leaving baking soda on the carpet overnight and vacuuming in the morning.
While the spot is still wet, sprinkle baking soda on the affected area. Pour a little of the vinegar solution on top and mix. Right away, you'll see and hear it fizzing and crackling as it starts to lift the pet stain and urine smell from the carpet.
4. Apply and Vacuum Up Baking Soda. Baking soda is a powerful, odor-eliminating solution that has many versatile uses like getting rid of odors in boots and deodorizing a gym bag. It will not cause discoloration and is effective against odor in carpet fibers and other porous surfaces around the house.
Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate, a fine white powder that has many uses. You may wonder about bicarbonate of soda vs. baking soda, but they are simply alternate terms for the same ingredient. If your recipe calls for bicarbonate of soda, it is simply referring to baking soda.
Traditional household cleaning products such as vinegar, baking soda, soap, and the like seem to work at first because they eliminate some of the components of your pet's urine. White vinegar in particular is highly alkaline, which means it can act as a deodorizer for spaces marked with dogs' urine.
Febreze Odor-Fighting Air Freshener
This GH Seal-star spray quickly tackles airborne cooking odors, smoke, must and more with its cyclodextrin technology that surrounds odor molecules and pulls them from the air. And all this performance comes at a great price, making it our Best Value pick.
First, the bacteria and ammonia in the urine reactivate. Second, the water causes the urine to spread out further. If the cleaning chemicals did not include products designed to treat urine problems or the wrong amount of such a product was used, it can actually make the situation worse than it was prior to cleaning.
Cat urine contains uric acid, which can last in carpets, fabrics and wood for years! Although baking soda, vinegar, soap, and hydrogen peroxide may neutralize the odors temporarily, a humid day can cause the uric acid to recrystallize, and the infamous "cat odor" will return.
No matter how good your detergent is… cat urine is exceedingly difficult to remove, so the heat can help even if it's not the most energy efficient thing for regular use (*this is a special case!). Inspect your garment with your nose when it comes out.
Overexposure to Ammonia
Cat pee is full of ammonia, a toxic gas that can cause headaches, trigger asthma attacks, and even result in serious respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia. Children, older adults, and people with weak immune systems are at particular risk of illness due to overexposure to ammonia.