How to Go Rid of Cat Pee Smell: A Guide

Or, if we're beingness polite, eliminating that "inappropriate emptying" scent.

It's all fun and games until the true cat pees in your house. Kitty tinkle is one of the nearly unique and pungent smells on the planet, maybe rivaled just past the notorious durian fruit.

Cleaning cat pee isn't very intuitive either – it'south actually sort of similar a scientific discipline experiment. Whereas you lot'd instinctively use warm or hot water to make clean basically anything else, using hot h2o on cat pee is but going to set and amplify the stench. Then if you're having a cat pee-mergency, follow our guidelines below to neutralize that stinky urine.

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Full general cat pee removal guidelines:

  • Eek! Where's the pee?! First, rail down the source of the aroma. And practice information technology quickly. The longer the cat pee sits on your mattress or couch, the worse it'southward going to smell.
  • Blot with Cold water. In one case you've located the cat pee spot, you'll want to use cold water and paper towels or an old rag to blot the spot, arresting as much equally the true cat pee as possible. If you've got an extracting wet vac on hand, experience free to use that on the cold setting. Do not scrub, that will simply make the cat pee angrier and more resilient, rubbing information technology further (and more permanently) into the burrow, floor, or garment.
  • Neutralize it! Then you're going to want to douse the spot with an enzymatic cleaner or just make your own cleaning solution past combining (white or apple cider) vinegar and water in a 1:1 ratio. Because the vinegar is acidic, it volition neutralize the bacteria in the cat pee, offsetting its aroma. Let the solution sit down for three-5 minutes or carefully follow the instructions on the cleaning production's characterization.
  • Rinse + Repeat. Using a fresh newspaper towel or wet rag, practice one more quick one time over the stained spot. If you're using a wet rag, remember to utilize common cold h2o.
  • Freshen up! For additional freshness, try using Febreze Fabric Pet Odor Eliminator one time information technology's completely dry. You can as well employ Febreze Air Heavy Duty Pet Odor Eliminator around the litter box expanse to tiresome that lingering cat pee odor.

If your cat peed on the carpet, mattress, or couch:

Follow general guidelines then also sprinkle baking soda on the stain, letting information technology sit for an hour or so earlier vacuuming information technology up. This will help in neutralizing the cat pee smell.

If your cat peed on tile, sealed wood flooring or baseboards:

Follow general guidelines or apply a DIY solution of hydrogen peroxide and water (1:ii ratio) or directly up undiluted white vinegar on the stain.

If your cat peed on unsealed floors:

Well, that's a little more complicated. If your floors are not sealed, later you lot clean upwardly the true cat pee with cold h2o, scrub the stain with direct vinegar and rinse with more than common cold h2o. Blot stain with a towel until you can no longer observe moisture. Enzymatic cleaners could potentially damage your unsealed floors, so test some in a subtle location earlier liberally using on the stain.

If the cat pee stain and olfactory property don't get abroad, you lot may have to bosom out the sander because the urine could've soaked into the forest. We recommend sealing your floors, but that'due south a project for a whole 'nother twenty-four hours.

If your jerk cat peed on your clothes:

Time for a new true cat. So. Rude.

But seriously, a mutual mis-cat-ception is cats disruptive laundry baskets for litter boxes. Exercise not throw your cat pee clothes straight into the washing machine, no matter how tempting. If yous do this, the odor will set and your dress will be trashed. Think of the cat pee similar it's smallpox: The smell is super contagious and can exist transferred to other clothes in the aforementioned laundry load and then you'll need a whole new wardrobe.

Stop and breathe.

Rinse the cat pee stain on your clothes with cold h2o and absorb with towels, just similar you would the flooring or a piece of article of furniture. Remember to blot, do not scrub. Throw soiled clothes into a bucket with a ½ cup of oxygen bleach (not chlorine bleach!) for 2-3 hours. Next, remove clothes and soak in a bath of vinegar and water (one:3 ratio). Add together some baking soda direct to the stain, letting the mix sit for 10-15 minutes. Then and only then can you add together the cat pee clothes to the washing machine, ready to common cold, and run without whatsoever detergent. Hang clothes to dry, every bit the heat from the dryer may still cause the odor to set.

If this seems like a lot of piece of work to get rid of a stain, you're not incorrect. We would reserve this sort of intendance and diligence for your almost cherished manufactures of clothing, otherwise, information technology just might be time to get shopping.

The future is feline

To avoid future rogue cat pee incidents, exist sure to keep a clean litter box. Kitties loathe a muddy litter box. If your cat continues to pee outside of its box for no real reason (new pet, new house, change of scenery, alter of kitty litter), consider taking information technology to the vet for a check-upward.