Removing Pet Smells...

[njc]

I was wondering if anyone had any good ideas/methods for removing the smell of cat pee.

FI and I just bought a townhouse and the previous owners had several older cats. We rented a steam cleaner from the grocery store this weekend and it worked well, except for in the guest bedroom. It seems this is where they kept the litter boxes, but the cats didnt always use them.

 

[yellowfan]

Hi njc,

My SIL uses X&O and she has tried many products and feels this is the one that works the best. I think she just sprays it on and it drys and she also pours some into her carpet steamer when she cleans the carpets. I can''t smell any pet odors in her home.

 

[movie zombie]

i am an extreme cat owner [currently 8 as my old 22-23 year old cat died april 17]. if there is one thing i know about, its cat pee and carpet.

the problem is that it isn''t just in the carpet, its gotten into the pad below and possibly onto the floor itself. if you don''t get to those areas, you won''t get rid of the odor. there are enzyme products out there that are useful but don''t go deep enough. you need the enzyme action to ''eat'' the odor causing elements in the pee.

pull up the carpet in that area, treat the floor with bleach and then seal off with a primer. then replace the pad in that spot. clean the carpet with the enzyme treatment. that should do it.

i also found vinegar just as effective as the enzyme products as it also created a smell that the cats didn''t like.

your only other choice is to replace the pad and carpet. but while you''re at it, make sure to treat the underlying floor.

i am now a floor tile person......

peace, movie zombie

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Hi,

You don''t necessarily need to remove or clean the subflooring, but definetly the padding and carpeting. My mom bought a house that was treated terribly by a dog and I helped her clean the place up and w/new padding/carpeting the house was fresh again.

One product I''ve found that''s worked nicely for superficial odors is Oxyclean. My son had the flu and threw up on our rug and I used oxyclean in a steam cleaner and went over the spot five or six times and this worked like a charm. (my friend wrecked her steam cleaner this way so I rented a machine from the grocery store just to be on the safe side

)

Michelle

 

[AChiOAlumna]

I''ve used "Nature''s Miracle" to clean up spill and cat hairballs (thank goodness no pee problems!!). It works wonders and realy cleans out stains!! Leaves no odor...

 

[njc]

Thank you for all the suggestions. A co-worker mentioned Natures Miracle, although she hadnt used it. I'll give it a try i think.

I am really hoping i can save the carpet and not have to rip it up, which is what FI wants to do. The carpet is less than a year old and honestly, we dont have the money right now, but the smell has got to go... its invading the rest of the house! I am hoping my "attention to detail" approach will work better than FI just spraying some pet deoderizer and steam cleaning (he can be a true male... if it cant be fixed in 10 minutes with minimual effort, it must be broken).

It is in the basement so i assume there is concrete under the carpet and pad. I did try and pull the carpet back last night, but it is sealed to the floor i guess. Im just going to try and soak the cleaner all the way through. Ive also read where it will take a couple of days for the enzymes to "eat" the smell away, is that true?

Yellowfan - Do you know where you can get X&O?

 

[momothree]

Cat pee is tough! Once upon a time, we had a cat with *serious* kidney issues. Luckily, he did most of his unauthorized peeing in the basement so at least our whole house didn''t stink. We tried so many different things to remove or mask the smell but no matter what we did, the stink was never really gone. Once he died, though, it was another story -- as he was making his way up to kitty heaven, Service Master was making its way to our house. As with Movie Zombie, our carpeting and padding was scrapped and the underlying subfloor was disinfected and sealed before we laid down the new carpeting. It was an expensive but very effective way of eliminating ALL traces of odor.
P.S. Our next pet was (is) a goldfish.

 

[fire&ice]

As Movie Zombie states, you need some sort of enzyme spray. They sell a variety at the pet stores. Make sure you get one that will neutralize (not mask) the odor. Believe it or not, they work quite well. I was surprised. The best one I've used is called "BP's" pet odor eliminator. Sadly, I haven't been able to find it locally. I hope it is still being made. Bottle says "100% natural Vegetable Enzyme Complex. No artifical coloring or perfumes."

Beaumont Products
Kennesaw, GA
1-800-451-7096

Since I couldn't find it last time I looked, I believe I did buy Nature's Miracle. It doesn't work as well - but does the trick.

Depending on how deep the stain is, you may have no choice but to take up the carpet. Worth a try to soak the stain first.

Good luck!

 

[yellowfan]

njc,

its Don Aslett''s X-O plus odor and neutralizer cleaner, they have a pet kit. www.cleanreport.com is his site. My SIL is a true tester and has spent a fortune on pet products so I would try this.



best luck,

Lori

 

[movie zombie]

old cats with kidney problems seem to have very strong pee and it is very very difficult to get the odor gone, even out of cement. however, you could also seal the cement subflooring to keep the odor from oozing out.

you could also consider just sealing the subfloor and then replacing the pad and carpet in that corner only. put a big piece of furniture over it or a throw rug and hide the patch.

it doesn''t matter the carpet isn''t that old if its got cat pee soaked through it. i can tell you that i soaked the carpet through the pad to the subfloor. now you''ve got a really really wet spot that mold/mildew just loves underneath that carpet and attracts dirt. it got rid of most of the odor...notice i said most. friends with indoor pets didn''t seem to be bothered. those without indoor pets did notice..... and on a hot day i noticed!

also, something i learned: cat vomit stains because it is acidic and once that stain has set, its set. its actually dyed the carpet.

its hard to believe how much dirt works its way into the pad through the carpet and down to the subfloor. after having seen what i''ve seen, there is no way i''d go back to having carpet in my home. those of us with allergies and pets don''t need the extra allergy aggrevation. i digress [but my allergies are better!]

btw, i replaced the carpeting and pad in the entire home of my house i sold last year so the new owners wouldn''t have to be assaulted by my old cat''s old pee. then the new place reeked of dog and there was no way i was moving 9 cats into a house that had had 2 dogs! can you imagine the pee problems?! ugh!!! so i had all the carpeting and pads removed in this house and have gone tile all the way, except for hardwood on the staircase. no more fear of cat odor, hairballs, accidental peeing, or spilt wine! i love it.

peace, movie zombie

 

[canuk-gal]

GI:

I second Nature''s Miracle--worked well.

cheers--Sharon

 

[Jennifer5973]

I know this isn''t what you want to hear but if you can afford it at all, I''d replace the carpeting entirely. Cat pee smell just never goes away. We went through this when we bought our condo years ago. We actually put down Pergo laminate flooring allover except the bedroom, which got new carpeting, even though our dog (we only had one then) didn''t have issues with messing in the house. It was great...people spilled soda, etc--who cares???

Made entertaining and living much easier.

Good luck.

 

[movie zombie]

most indoor cats and dogs don''t have problems until they get old. then things happen beyond their control. cats get kidney disease and the cold also affects their ability to hold it until they get to the box or outside.

personally, i''d replace the bedroom carpet...this is a guest room right? a guest could take offense to the odor. even cheap carpet would be better than smelling cat pee. but i cannot stress enough the need to seal off that peed on subfloor or you''ll still get pee odor coming up through the new pad and carpet.

otherwise, you''ve got the info to proceed. good luck.

peace, movie zombie

 

[sjz]

The two products that I''ve tried that worked really well to eliminate the odor are Woolite Pet Stain & Odor Remover, and KIDS ''n'' PETS Stain and Odor Remover. They both say they are safe for use around both pets and kids and are safe for all types of carpeting and upholstery. The contact information for the Woolite is:

Playtex Household Products
P.O. Box 1400
Dover, DE 19903

1-800-451-RUGS



The contact information for the KIDS ''n'' PETS is:

PARAMOUNT Chemical Specialties INC.
P.O. Box 124
Redmond, WA 98073-0124

1-877-846-7826



I''d try one of these before I did anything drastic, like ripping up the carpet. I''ve used them both, and they both worked to eliminate any urine smell from both my cat and my dog. They also work well on blood and vomit, too. I found that out with the kids...lol.

You will need to soak the carpet really well with the cleaner, and let it competely air dry. If you still smell some odor, you may need to repeat the treatment. The secret is getting the cleaner down to the pad. That''s where the odor is coming from. You can usually get most of the urine and the smell out of the carpet with shampooing, but the urine that gets down to the pad (and sometimes the floor underneath the pad) isn''t going to get cleaned by shampoo or a steam cleaner. If anything, you might even suck some of the odor back up into the surface of the carpet with a shampooer or a steam cleaner. You need to get the enzymes contained in the cleaner deep down into the padding, where it eats up the particles in the urine that cause the odor. Shampoo or steam clean your carpet first, then after it dries, soak the area down with the enzymatic cleaner and just wait for that to dry. It may take several days even, if you soak it sufficiently enough. The odors should begin to fade as the carpet dries.

 

[njc]

Thank you again for all the suggestions. Last night i was finally able to focus back in on this task. After crawling on my hands and knees sniffing every inch of the room, i found out the smell was coming from one corner that was near where a litter box had been (rectangluar marks in the carpet and there was some litter between the base board and carpet).

I got some Natures Miracle at Pet Smart and was able to pull up the carpet in the corner. The carpet had almost no smell, but the pad... OMG... one of the most vile things i have ever smelled. While the top of the carpet has no visible stains, you can see them clear on the underside. I *soaked* the pad and the under side of the carpet. So we shall see in a couple days.

FI is rather upset i pulled the carpet up. It seemed like a no loss situation to me. Either i pull it up, try to fix the problem and put the carpet back in place or spend several hundred dollars paying someone else to pull it up and replace everything. Besides, if this doesnt work, we need to get the pad replaced any ways...

 

[movie zombie]

yep, it was a no brainer. start with what you can do yourself first. people pull carpet up all the time and it goes back down again. you may want to try soaking the pad and letting it dry several times. and don''t forget that subfloor!!!! gotta seal it!

peace, movie zombie

 

[Judi W]

Date: 4/25/2005 4

7:10 PM
Author: njc
Thank you for all the suggestions. A co-worker mentioned Natures Miracle, although she hadnt used it. I''ll give it a try i think.

I am really hoping i can save the carpet and not have to rip it up, which is what FI wants to do. The carpet is less than a year old and honestly, we dont have the money right now, but the smell has got to go... its invading the rest of the house! I am hoping my ''attention to detail'' approach will work better than FI just spraying some pet deoderizer and steam cleaning (he can be a true male... if it cant be fixed in 10 minutes with minimual effort, it must be broken).

It is in the basement so i assume there is concrete under the carpet and pad. I did try and pull the carpet back last night, but it is sealed to the floor i guess. Im just going to try and soak the cleaner all the way through. Ive also read where it will take a couple of days for the enzymes to ''eat'' the smell away, is that true?

Yellowfan - Do you know where you can get X&O?

I HIGHLY recommend trying Natures Miracle! I have tried everything and it totally works. The trick is to soak up the stain with paper towels first....and then TOTALLY SATURATE the spot with Nature''s Miracle. Then just put a piece of paper towel over the area and let it completly air dry for a day or two. It really does work. I am getting along alot better with my dog Rocky now because of this "miracle" !!!! BTW, I buy it in PetSmart. Let us know what you think after you try it.

 

[Jennifer5973]

You know, in our condo once, our toilet overflowed and although the water was "clean" I pulled up the corner of the carpet in the hall and replaced the section of pad that had gotten wet--all you do is go to a local carpet store and ask for a scrap of pad (check the thickness of the current pad)...cut out the bad part and replace with the scrap cut to the same dimensions.... this might be the best soltuion and turn out really well since the carpet itself seems to be okay.

 

[njc]

I keep hearing good things abour Natures Miracle... thanks Judy! I also may take Movie Zombies advice and do it a couple times. Unfortunately its an old stain, so its a little more stubborn.

Thanks for the tip Jen! I like the idea of just replacing the pad in that section for now.

Its still pretty stinky, but its still wet. Still got my fingers crossed!

 

[jorman]

Natures Miracle ALL THE WAY!
This is what my mom uses for her 4 disobedient weiney dogs.
Good luck!

 

[moremoremore]

My cats behave but my old landlord swore by Nature''s Miracle. I actaully purchased their "Best behavior" spray to stop scratching...funny thing is, I put some on my finger and my sick and twisted kitty Vinny actually liked the bitter taste LOL...although he also likes to lick a lemon