Cat Urine On The Carpet? Oh, No…


by Virginia Sutherland

Trying to get cat urine out of carpet is for some people in the same category as having a root canal.Yes, it is distressing and it is easy to get angry with the cat. Who wants a smelly house?

Removing cat urine is one of the more challenging cleaning tasks. Not only is it very pungent, the urine actually bonds with fibers in your rug. The biggest mistake when cleaning the cat urine is to not use proper cleaners.

Not only do amino acids bind with the carpet, so do salts. Salts cause a bond with an ionic charge that is increasingly difficult to dissolve the longer the urine has been on the carpet. Steam cleaning, or home made cleaners will not dissolve these strong bonds, actually steam cleaning the carpet may make the problem worse.

Some cleaners available at the store are nothing but “odor maskers”. Other products attempt to absorb the foul smell.

These products, along with the home made remedies, may have short term results, but in order to completely eliminate the odor, (and to not encourage your cat to soil in the same place) every trace of the urine needs to be removed by cleaners that can undo the strong bonds between the fibers of your rug and the urine.

So, you got cat pee on your rug? What is the first thing you should do?

1. Remove as much urine you possibly can by using absorbent towels. The spot may have seeped through into the padding of the carpet, so blot a larger area than what is visible. Do not add too much water to the spot, it may make it spread into a larger spot in the padding.

2. Use an enzymatic cleaner that you can inject into the padding underneath the carpet. Inject the cleaner in order to cover a spot 1/2 a foot in diameter, then spray the surface of the spot with the cleaner.

3. When using a proper cleaner, that is all you need to do. No rinsing needed. Keep your cat away from the area until it is completely dry which can take a few days.

Even though it can be easy to let the frustration out on the cat, remember that cats do not eliminate outside the box without some, for them, good reason.

When a cat eliminates outside the litter box it is a sign that something is amiss. Frequently a medical issue such as a urinary tract infection is the cause which would need medical attention. The cause needs to be discovered and corrected to ensure future success.

Armed with the correct information and the proper products cleaning the urine from your carpet while preventing the behavior to re-occur, you are well on your way to have a happy purring kitty and a clean smelling home.

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