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How to Remove the Smell of Cat Urine

If you need tips on How to Remove the Smell of Cat Urine, keep reading as we discuss how to remove the cat urine odor smell from your carpet, furniture, and other surfaces in your home.

How to Remove the Smell of Cat Urine

How to Remove the Smell of Cat Urine

Whether you’re a cat lover or not, it’s always nice to come home to a fragrant and fresh house. Unfortunately for cat owners, their feline friends can sometimes turn their home into a place that smells less than friendly. While many people enjoy the natural scent of cats, others may find the cat odor coming from their litter box to be quite unpleasant.

Cat urine contains uric acid, which is why it has such a strong odor and is so hard to remove. Some natural cleaning agents like baking soda, vinegar, soap, and hydrogen peroxide may neutralize the odors temporarily but on a humid day the uric acid can recrystallize and the cat smell will return.

Why Does My House Smell Like Cat Urine?

Cats that have health problems such as urinary tract infections or kidney disease typically urinate outside of their litter box. It is necessary to take your cat to the vet to determine if it is a medical issue or if there are behavioral issues causing your house to have that cat pee smell.

Quite often litter box issues can simply be because you have adopted a new pet. Also, some older cats don’t like change if you suddenly changed the brand of litter or placement of the box or the cleaning process of the litter boxes could be making your furry friend grumpy.

cat in litter box

Does Vinegar Remove Cat Urine Smell? 

Vinegar is the magic, all-purpose cleaning solution that you can use to clean pet stains and sanitize almost every surface. It’s also a pet-safe and kid-safe cleaning option, as it’s non-toxic and doesn’t leave behind harsh chemical residues.

You can use vinegar to remove the bad smell of cat urine because of its acidity, which neutralizes the alkaline salts that form in dried urine stains.

First, to eliminate cat pee odor with vinegar, blot up as much urine as possible with paper towels or a cloth. Then soak the area with undiluted white vinegar for several minutes and blot it dry again.

Homemade Enzyme Cleaner for Cat Urine Stains

Enzymatic cleaners are powerful all-purpose cleaners that can be used safely on most surfaces. These environmentally friendly cleaners are easy to make at home. Here’s a great one from wikihow:

  • ½ cup (100 g) brown or white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon (3 g) yeast
  • 4¼ cups (1 L) lukewarm water
  • 2 cups (300 g) fresh citrus peel
  1. Chop the citrus peel. Rinse and scrub any citrus peel (lemon, lime, grapefruit or orange) to remove dirt and chop into 1/2-inch pieces to fit into a soda bottle. Make sure the fruit isn’t dried out or rotting.
  2. Every day for two weeks repeat this process THREE TIMES: unscrew the top to vent the gasses. Put the cap back on, shake/swirl the mixture gently and then unscrew the top again to vent the gasses once more to prevent the bottle from exploding. After two weeks, you can mix and vent once a day. It’s important to leave the cap on tight during this time so the yeast can ferment properly. Oxygen will allow bacteria and mold to grow.
  3. Place the bottle somewhere warm to ferment (top of a refrigerator). The yeast will take about two weeks to ferment, but you can leave it up to 3 months.
  4. After two weeks, the mixture will be opaque and ready to use. Pour it through a strainer. Transfer the strained cleaning liquid to an airtight container for storage. Exposing the mixture to oxygen will cause it to lose its potency, and it won’t clean as effectively.
  5. For a stronger all-purpose cleaner to clean cat urine, and pet odors, mix one part apple cider vinegar with four parts homemade enzyme cleaner. Transfer the mixture to a spray bottle and use to clean kitchens, bathrooms, and tough stains.

What Scents Will Neutralize Cat Urine? 

Cats hate strong citrus scents. You can use lemon, orange, lavender, peppermint or eucalyptus oil in an oil burner or a few drops mixed with water in a spray bottle to cover up cat urine smells around the house.

If you have a method of steam cleaning your carpets, adding a few drops of one of these essential oils to the water will help get rid of the smell. For example, lemon is an effective cleaning agent and has antibacterial properties.

To absorb some of the odors, try putting an open box of baking soda near your cat’s litter box. You can also sprinkle baking soda on any additional unpleasant locations and vacuum it up once it has absorbed some of the aromas in the room.

{ Read More: DIY Natural Carpet Freshener }

natural carpet refresher

Does Baking Soda Help Remove the Urine Smell from the Carpet? 

A baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) rinse can also aid in the removal of urine odors from carpet.

Combine the following in a mixing bowl:

  • 1/2 cup baking soda
  • 1/4 cup salt
  • 1/4 cup vinegar in a mixing bowl

Then add 1 cup warm water.

Blot the stain with the mixture, then thoroughly dry the area. Once the baking soda residue has been removed, vacuum the area.

You can also use a solution of hydrogen peroxide, dish soap and baking soda to clean urine stains from the carpet.

Does Lemon Juice Neutralize Cat Pee?

Lemon juice is acidic. The acidity of lemon juice is what makes it so useful when it comes to cleaning things around the house. It has natural antibacterial properties, and it can help with stain removal and grease buildup.

lemon juice

What Does Lemon Juice Do?

Lemon juice is effective at removing stubborn stains — like those left behind by urine — because of its acidity. It neutralizes the compounds in urine, rendering them odorless and colorless.

Cat urine has a very pungent odor, which is why we can smell even small amounts of it. When cat urine gets on a carpet or any other fabric, it attracts bacteria, which feeds on the proteins in the urine and causes a lingering smell even after the accident has been cleaned up.

In other words, if your cat has urinated on your carpet, you need to clean the fresh stain immediately. You can try renting a carpet cleaner (many grocery stores rent these for fairly low fees) and take care of it yourself. Just make sure the carpeting is dry before your cat has access to it again.

More Posts about Cat Urine and Care

How to Use Essential Oil for Cat Urine Odor

How to Remove Cat Urine Smell Naturally

essential oils for cat urine odor kitten on carpet

References

https://www.homemadesimple.com/pet/how-to-get-rid-of-cat-pee-smell-a-guide/

https://www.armandhammer.com/articles/ways-get-rid-cat-urine-odor