Removing Pet Urine Stains from Carpet
If Fido or Fluffy has an accident in the house, it is important to treat the stain as soon as possible. You can remove pet urine stains from carpet by mixing one part of white vinegar with four parts clean water. Mix in a spray bottle and apply liberally to the stain. Cover the stain with dry paper towels or a folded towel and cover with a heavy object. Wait until it pulls all of the liquid out of the stain into the towels and repeat if the stain still exists. If the stain is still there, clean your carpet with our carpet cleaning tips! The pet stain is only part of the problem, removing the pet urine odor is going to be a whole different process. You will also need to treat the urine odor differently depending on if the perpetrator was a cat or a dog.Dog Urine Odor Removal
Dog urine usually does not have too strong of an odor, if it does you dog is probably sick and should go see the vet. Needless to say dog urine doesn't smell nice so you will need to take some extra steps to remove the odor. The first thing you need to do is determine exactly where the stain is. A black light works great to find where the actual pet stain is located. Now that you know where the stain is, you need to treat the odor. For dog urine odor I like to use plain baking soda. After you have cleaned the stain using the above method and the area has dried you should sprinkle a generous amount of baking soda over the area and let it stand overnight. Vacuum the area thoroughly the next day. The baking soda should have removed all of the odor. If there is an odor left you can move on to the cat urine odor remover as it works on much smellier cat urine.Cat Urine Odor Remover
Cat urine is one of the worst smells. Our cat has gotten ill several times where he could not control his bladder. Needless to say it took quite a bit of work to get that smell out of our carpets. We had a couch but decided to just get rid of it because we couldn't get the cat urine odor out of it.So what makes cat urine smell so bad? Several different types of substances are in cat urine. The cat’s scent marker is made up of a unique chemical compound, called the spray, and uric acid. This is what makes cat urine smell so bad. Even after clean up the liquid and pigment portions of the urine, the crystals and salts from the uric acid remain, causing the odor. The crystals are insoluble and will attach to anything they come into contact with. Using most normal cleaners actually makes the smell worse because any type of liquid will reactivate them. Even humidity in the air can bring out the smell.
To get rid of these crystals you need to use an enzyme cleaner. Enzyme cleaners break down the crystals and bacteria left from the urine. So unless you use and enzyme cleaner you are never going to be able to completely remove the cat urine odor. Whatever you do never use ammonia on pet stains as it will react with the crystals and attract your pet to go there again.
To use an enzyme cleaner you will need to thoroughly soak the area with the cleaner and let it work it's magic. It may take several days for the wetness to go away, but during that time the cleaner is breaking down the bacteria and crystals that are buried deep in your padding and carpet. If the area still smells a second dosing has always gotten rid of the odors in our house.
Commercial Odor Removal Products
Enzyme cleaners take about three months to make on your own. They sell several at you local pet store, but they can be pricey since they are relatively hard to make. Enzyme cleaners are actually very environmentally friendly cleaners. Here are a few that we have tried:- Zero Odor - is a non-toxic odor eliminator. I have only seen it sold on-line and that is where we bought ours. It is pretty pricey but does work. It did not take us very long to use it up. We have not bought any more because several of the other products are available locally.
- Urine Gone - This product was first pitched as a As Seen On TV product. You can buy it at Target and Wal-Mart. It works really well and comes with a battery powered black light which will help you find the stains, even the ones from last year.
- Nature's Miracle - We bought this at our local pet supply store. The advantage to this cleaner is that you can buy it in bulk for a relatively cheap price. If you have lots of old pet stains around the house, buy a gallon of this. We use Nature's Miracle the most because it is readily available and priced well. When buying it at the store check which enzyme formula you are buying. They make several different formulas for specific jobs like blood stain removal or urine odor removal.
- Odoban - We used to use this a lot, but unfortunately they changed their formula by adding a scent to it that my wife and I really don't like. It does work, and we would use this the most as it is by far the cheapest, but the new fragrance is not to our liking. You can buy it at most stores. If you want to buy it in bulk they sell it at Sam's Club.
