Removing Pet Stains

If you’re a pet owner, you know the look. The one that says “Oops” while your pet is standing next to a puddle. If that puddle is on hard flooring, it’s not too hard to get it clean and any odors beaten. But if it’s on carpet, there are certain steps that you need to follow to prevent pet stain odors from setting it. And if you’re dealing with an old stain, removing pet stain odors can be the difference between using and not using a room in your home.

What NOT to Do:

I see some people recommend using ammonia to remove pet stains. I say: DON'T DO IT.

First of all, ammonia is highly alkaline, and is not good for carpet fibers.

Second, ammonia will leave a residue that that you will be unable to remove completely, and the sticky residue will end up attracting any dirt it comes into contact with in the future

Thirdly, and the most important reason of all, if you have never had the pleasure of smelling wet dirty diapers that have been allowed to sit for a few days... They smell just like ammonia!

Old urine converts to ammonia.

Apparently, there's a small amount of ammonia in urine to start with, as well as uric acid, uric salts, and other components. Ammonia occurs naturally in the decay process of organic materials. So as bacteria go to work on the urine stain, chemical conversion happens and then voila, ammonia.

So the short story is, the ammonia will attract the pet back to the very same spot to do it's business, because after all- That's where the pee is, right?

Or it smells like it anyway.

The Right Way To Remove a Pet Stain:

Blot Fresh Stains Immediately:

As soon as you discover the pet stain, you should begin to blot the affected area to soak up as much urine as possible. This may take quite a bit of paper towels, depending on the size of the accident.

If the accident is on carpet, you need to take extra care to ensure that you get as much of the urine up as possible. Pet paper towels on the carpet and stand on them as many times as needed until urine no longer absorbs into the towel.

Use an Enzymatic Cleaner:

The only true way to eliminate the pet stain odor for good is to use an enzymatic cleaner. The components of animal urine are extremely strong and can create odors for years to come, even once the stain itself is removed.

You should purchase an enzymatic cleaner specifically designed for pet urine. Follow the directions on the bottle, even if they seem to be overkill.

You really can’t use too much of these cleaners. You need to completely douse the area, ensuring that there’s enough cleaner down to cover both the carpet and any underlying padding.

In a Pinch: Use Vinegar:

Vinegar is a natural deodorizer and a mild disinfectant. The "sour" smell dissipates as it dries.

• Blot up as much urine as possible
• Being careful not to completely saturate the carpet backing or padding, spray straight vinegar on the carpet stain
• Let the vinegar sit for a minute or so and blot with clean paper towels
• Repeat 3-4 times or as many times necessary to remove the stain
• Blot only, and not scrub at the stain which will fray your carpet fibers

Cat Urine:

Cat urine is particularly difficult to treat (as well as being extremely odorous). The proteins are extremely strong, and actually take 2-3 weeks to completely remove.

There are enzymatic cleaners designed specifically for cat urine that are best suited for this purpose. While these cleaners are working, it’s important to keep the cat away from the affected area; otherwise, the cat will simply urinate again on top of the area and ruin your cleaning efforts.

To keep the cat away, place aluminum foil over the affected area. Weight the foil down so that the cat can’t move it and get to the spot. Cats in general dislike the sound of aluminum foil beneath their paws, and therefore won’t want to urinate in this area.

You may need to keep the foil there for 1-2 months to permanently train the cat to avoid this area. While unsightly during that time period, it’s more than worth the temporary unpleasantness to avoid permanent cat urine odors permeating your home.

Tough Stains:

If All Else Fails, try Kilz. If you’re dealing with an old pet stain or one that covers large portions of the flooring, you may not be able to salvage the flooring.

This may be particularly true if you’re moving into a home with pre-existing pet stain odor problems. If you decide to remove and replace the flooring, you need to treat the sub-flooring to prevent the odors from coming back to haunt you. The best way to do this is to paint the sub-flooring with oil-based Kilz (the water-based version isn’t strong enough for pet odors).

This will effectively lock away the odor for good so that you’re free to enjoy your new flooring for years to come.

Tough Odors:

Still Have Odors? Use a Black Light. If you’ve used an enzymatic cleaner on all stains that you can see and still have lingering pet odors, you’ll need to use a black light to find out if there are stains that you can’t see.

Any black light will do – if you have one from your teenager’s room or your glory days of old, that’s fine. Otherwise, most pet supply stores sell small, battery-operated, handheld models specifically for this purpose.

Completely darken the room, and then wave the black light over the flooring from about 12 inches away. The black light will illuminate pet stains (actually it illuminates all biological material), allowing you to know where else you need to treat with the enzymatic cleaner.