Cats are amazing pets, aren’t they? You love your cat, but not so much when she pees outside her litter box (especially when she relieves herself on a rug or carpet where it is hard to remove the urine smell).
You hate it when the cat pee makes your house smell bad. So, when you find out that cat pee is the reason behind that lingering smell, the first thing you should do is clean everything that stinks.
If you don’t clean up clothes, carpets, tile, or furniture with the right cleaning products and techniques, the smell will stay. So, act immediately if you notice something unpleasant in your house. Take simple actions to get rid of those stains and odors.
In this guide, we’ll explain step-by-step how to get rid of cat pee smell using easily available household items.
How To Get Rid of Cat Pee Smell
First of all, it’s important to know that cats peeing outside of their litter box is a widespread problem. Almost every cat has litter box problems at least once in their lives. As a cat lover, you should not only clean the mess your cat creates but also encourage your cats to use the right place to pee.
If you allow cat urine to sit, the odor will become stronger and your cat will return to pee at that spot again. Don’t let that happen. Bacteria and uric acid in cat urine create a strong smell that keeps returning. Here is how you can clean different parts of your home to get rid of the pee smell.
How To Remove Cat Urine Odor From Clothes and Bedding
Pets may accidentally or occasionally ruin your bedding or clothes with pee. It doesn’t happen often but cat pee smell is hard to get rid of especially when left unnoticed. The good news is that you can remove the cat pee smell from any washable piece of cloth. Here is what you need to carry out an effective cleaning process:
- Baking soda
- White vinegar
- Oxygen bleach
- Paper towels
- Enzyme detergent
Pretreat the urine
It’s a mistake to mix your urine-stained clothing with your regular laundry. Urine-contaminated clothing is likely to contaminate the rest of your laundry. So, make sure to pretreat them first before doing anything else. What follows is a step-by-step guide on what you should do:
- Use some clean and cool water to rinse out the pee stains. And then use a paper towel to dry the stained area. You might feel like scrubbing is a good idea. However, it can drive the stain deeper into the fabric. The first step is all about removing urine as much as possible before you go to the next step.
- Prepare the cleaning solution using half a cup of oxygen bleach and a bucket of water. Mix them well.
- Soak the contaminated clothing in the water for a few hours.
A quick tip: try to avoid using those chemical-based odor removing products containing harsh elements like ammonia. The smell of ammonia might make your cat urinate in the same spot. So, try to rely on recommended cleaning products.
Wash With vinegar
Pretreatment will help you remove most of the urine from your clothes. However, you can try one more process before moving to your traditional way of washing clothes.
- Prepare a mixture of three cups of water and one cup of white vinegar.
- Apply the mixture to the stained clothes and let it sit for a few minutes.
- You can also add some baking soda to cover the stained spots to neutralize smells.
- Now wash these clothes in washing machines using normal water and without using any detergent.
- Let the clothes air dry.
These two cleaning processes will clean your clothes and get them ready for a traditional wash. Now you can wash them using an enzyme-based detergent. Wondering why enzyme-based detergents? Because these detergents can eat away organic elements such as cat urine.
Air dry your clothes again and see if you still feel any odor. If you still think your clothing has a lingering odor, wash them again.
How To Get Cat Pee Smell Out of a Couch
It wasn’t tough to get rid of the pee odor from washable clothes. What about your cat marking their territory on the couch? Your couch is expensive and you don’t want to ruin the ambiance of your home with a pee smell. Let’s see what you can do to get rid of that unpleasant odor as soon as possible.
Blot the stain
Rubbing or scrubbing is the first thing households do when their cats pee on a couch. It’s not the right thing to do because rubbing your couch or clothes spreads the odor and pushes the stain deep into the fabric.
What should you do? Simple. Blot the stain using a rag or a paper towel. Press the paper towel on the stained area to blot it. Don’t press against the stain too hard or you might end up spreading the stain. Once you blot the spot, cover it with something such as a paper towel or your cat might return to repeat the mistake.
Try Vinegar and Baking Soda
You probably have used DIY techniques to clean your house. It’s a good thing to use environment-friendly, less expensive cleaners to get rid of stains and odors. If you want to get rid of the cat pee smell from your couch, you can try vinegar and baking soda. These are some of the best kitchen items people use for cleaning.
To remove the odor from your couch, you need half water and half white vinegar. You can take a small amount of this mixture in a spray bottle and spray it on the stained spot.
Wait overnight but make sure to hold the spray bottle away from the fabric when applying the mixture to avoid an intense vinegar smell.
The next step is to use another amazing household item, baking soda, to further clean the area. All you need to do is sprinkle baking soda generously on spots that produce the cat pee smell. Let the baking soda for an hour or so and then vacuum it up.
If you still feel the smell, repeat the process. Make sure to clean all the dirty spots such as pillows and cushions. Check out the rug underneath the couch to see if it is odor-free.
You can use the same process to get rid of the cat odor from your mattress or other such items.
Apply All-Natural Spray
Azuna produces some of the best, all-natural odor elimination solutions for households. Once you’ve cleaned your couch with vinegar and baking soda, apply some Azuna All-Natural Spray to clean and neutralize the surface against bacteria that produce a bad odor. You can use this product as your default odor eliminator and surface cleaner. Check out a complete range of our antimicrobial odor eliminators.
Don’t Use Ammonia
It might be a good idea to use harsh cleaning solutions such as ammonia, but it wouldn’t be a wise move to clean cat pee smell with ammonia. Cats may take ammonia as a pee odor, a threat to their territory thinking that another cat has marked the territory.
Also, strong cleaning products can damage your couch fabric. Try to clean cat odor using natural items like vinegar, baking soda, and our all-natural odor eliminators.
Observe Why Your Cat Pee Outside the Litter Box
Removing pet odor from your couch or floors isn’t something you want to do often. So, take a moment to find out why your cat is peeing outside of their litter box. Here are some reasons cats break the rules:
- Your cat wants to communicate a health issue or feelings about some changes in your house. Or, cats even pee outside their assigned spots to show their displeasure with the litter box.
- Unneutralized male or unspayed female cats spray urine to mark their territory or convey how they’re feeling. This is normal behavior.
- The litter is dirty and your cat doesn’t like the idea of using it again.
To avoid odor-related issues, fix these problems. Take your cat to a vet if you feel your cat is having some kind of health issue. Keep the litter box clean. If your vet thinks your cat has no medical issues, try to figure out the cause behind your cat’s behavioral changes.
Conclusion
We’re sure this blog will help you learn how to get rid of the cat pee smell from your house. Vinegar, baking soda, some water, a paper towel, and Azuna’s All-natural Spray and Room Odor Eliminator are some items you need to get rid of pet odor from your house and restore its freshness. Don’t delay if your house or a part of your house is smelling bad.
Source:
Smelly Cat | Sun Vet Animal Wellness
Causes of Bad Odors in Cats | Pet MD
Cleaning with Vinegar: 9 Eco-Friendly, Inexpensive, Multipurpose Uses | Healthline
