Pet Urine Odor Removal

Your pet is part of the family and you love them.

Regardless of how diligent you are about taking them out to go potty or keeping the litter box clean, accidents are bound to happen.

Maybe your pet is being house trained; is ill; simply refuses to go outside or doesn’t always utilize the litter box.

What ever the reason, dealing with pet urine odors can be difficult but not necessarily impossible. Below are a few cleaning tips to help you with this dilemma.

Never Use Ammonia to Clean Up Urine Stains

When trying to free your floors of the urine smell, avoid using ammonia. You will only be giving your pet an invitation to come back and urinate again and again in that same spot.

Cleaning Urine from Carpeting

When you notice the urine, work fast and soak up what you can as soon as you can.

Use something absorbent like paper towels or an old rag, replacing them when necessary.

Add a Cleaning Solution of Vinegar & Water

1. When you’ve finished soaking up as much of the urine as possible, mix a 50/50 solution of warm water and white vinegar then pour some on the urine stain.
2. Using clean paper towels or a clean rag, once again soak up as much of the liquid as possible, put your weight into it so you get as much as you can to help the area dry.
3. To help get the liquid up, you can even stand on the spot and don’t forget to use new absorbents when necessary.
4. Cover with a clean towel to keep others in the house from stepping on the spot you just cleaned.

This method can also be used to wet a pet urine stain that has dried.

Extra Urine Deodorizing

1. After the area has dried completely, you can further neutralize the urine odor by liberally sprinkling baking soda over area.
2. Gently work it into the carpet fibers with your fingers an old, clean toothbrush or something similar. Be careful, you don’t want to damage the carpet fibers by being too rough.
3. Let this sit for a few hours or as long as overnight. Again, cover with something to keep from getting stepped on.
4. Vacuum when ready.

Removing Urine from Wood Floors

With the exception of old, porous, real wood floors, most hardwood floors today come with a pre-finished surface. These are easier to clean-up since the liquid will bead for a short time on the surface instead of soaking into the flooring material. Regardless, you still want to get to it as soon as possible before it gets in between the planks.

Once you’ve absorbed the pet urine, it’s time to deodorize.

1. Mix 1 capful vinegar to 2 1/2 cups of water in a spray container.
2. Lightly spray the area with the mixture and buff it dry with a soft cloth. Be sure to dry completely.

Pet Urine on Marble Floors

Among other components, urine contains uric acid and uric salts. Uric acid is potent and can etch the marble and dull it. The texture of the marble will go from smooth to rough where your pet peed and can possibly cause a yellowish stain.

You may not even notice anything until the light hits the floor in a certain way and then you notice the stain and/or dullness. UGH!This is the worst!

I’m referring to the marble stain, because if there is etching it’s very likely permanent. But there is some good news – removing pet urine from marble floors is a breeze.

If your pet urinates on a marble floor, get to it immediately. DO NOT clean your marble floors with vinegar, it will etch it.

1. Use plain water, or a pH neutral cleaner specifically made for floors of this type.
2. You can also put a drop or two of dish soap in a large mixing bowl with warm water.

Use a sponge to clean the area and rinse with plain water to remove any soapy residue.

Keep the Litter Box Clean

Keeping your cats litter box clean helps tremendously in the odor removal department.

If your cats litter box smells really bad, it most likely needs to be cleaned more frequently. An icky smelling cat box will give your fluffy friend plenty of reasons to go elsewhere.

Today there is a large variety of cat litter on the shelves formulated just for your specific situation. Clean the cat box daily to cut back on pet urine smells.

If you have more than one cat in your home, litter box cleaning may need to be done in the morning and in the evening.

If Your Cat Urinates Around the House

If your cat has urinated around the house and they are still doing so and you have removed all traces of the previous accidents and you’ve been cleaning the cat box regularly, the problem could be caused by an illness and your feline friend is not feeling well. A trip to the vet for a medical check up may help the problem.

Now Just Love Your Pet

Whichever type of flooring you have, the trick is to act quickly and do a thorough cleaning. Accidents happen, it’s a part of life. Don’t stop loving you pet.