Can anyone tell me how to get cat odor out of carpet?

[cricket1178]

I have been taking care of my mom's cats (against some very sound advice) and one of them has been urinating in my hallway! My house smells terrible as you can well imagine. How can I get this smell out aside from buying new carpet?

[Mom2legomaniacs]

There is a product that I do not know the name of that does work. Try googling and looking online at pet store places. I will do the same and see if I can find what it is.

[homeschoolmom]

Anti Icky Poo http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=anti-icky+poo&tag=googhydr-20&index=aps&hvadid=1100050121&ref=pd_sl_1j899fuvyi_e

[Remudamom]

Something at Walmart, kids and pets?? in the cleaning aisle.

[cin]

We had cats (the last one has been gone over a year) and even if the smell disappears for awhile, when it rains and the air gets really humid, the smell comes back. We, honestly, never got rid of the odor until the carpet was replaced. The pee gets into the pad under the carpet and if they pee on that same spot enough, into the wood underneath that. Cat. Pee. Sucks.

[Guest Alte Veste Academy]

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Edited October 1, 2008 by Alte Veste Academy

[paula j]

There is a product at my Dollar General store called Paws that works well on Dog urine and is supposed to work on cat, I don't have a cat so I can't prove this. Anyway it is only $2 a spray bottle where I live.

[MeanestMomInMidwest]

Pull the carpet up....if the pee has soaked through to the subfloor, replace the subfloor. Throw the carpet out. Buy new carpet. Kill cat.

Not good advice, I know. Good luck.

[Kathleen in VA]

Pull the carpet up....if the pee has soaked through to the subfloor, replace the subfloor. Throw the carpet out. Buy new carpet. Kill cat.

Not good advice, I know. Good luck.

 

Yes, I think this is the best route to take. I had a very good friend who had this problem when she moved into a townhouse rental. The dining room floor, including the subflooring, had to be replaced to get rid of the smell entirely. Wood soaks up cat pee just like carpet and padding. It all really needs to be completely replaced.

 

Perhaps your homeowner's insurance would cover this. I had another friend who dropped a hot saucepan on her dining room carpet, melting a large hole through it. The insurance company paid for the entire first floor to be recarpeted.

Edited October 1, 2008 by Kathleen in VA
left out a part

[Annie Laurie]

A cleaner with enzymes should work. Nature's Miracle or there is one that Target sells that I think is called Complete Pet Care.

[Ailaena]

I have many cats. Although they don't pee everywhere, there is one that does occasionally go in one sport and I have a huge bottle of Pee-Pee by Pet Select. It works so well it is not even funny. I swear I went through every stupid product on the market, regardless of price, and this works. Through the padding and everything, although I can imagine of your wood is warped by cat pee (which would take a long time), it would not fix that. You can even mix it into a steam cleaner for some hot and deep Pee-Pee cleaning action! I have even used it on blood and it pulled it out of my beige carpet like wonderful magic:D

 

I have heard that to prevent urination, people use a hot-pepper spray. That did not work for us, nothing has worked for prevention thus far other than ridiculously clean litter boxes.

 

 

Good Luck!

 

 

Oh, and please don't kill the cat. Or if you do, at least make sure MeanestMom becomes collateral damage...

[Zelda]

You definitely need an enzymatic cleaner.

 

One problem that can happen is that your drywall can wick up the urine and then your only option is to cut it out and replace it. If it is in the subfloor you can try to treat it with the enzymatic cleaner but failing that you can put on a heavy primer like Kilz over the area and this is pretty effective.

 

Ask me how I know.

[Mama Lynx]

I have been taking care of my mom's cats (against some very sound advice) and one of them has been urinating in my hallway! My house smells terrible as you can well imagine. How can I get this smell out aside from buying new carpet?

 

Unfortunately, I have experience with this :glare:

 

First of all, clean it up as quickly as you find it. I'm sure you're doing that.

 

The best thing that I have found for the smell is vinegar. Take plain, white vinegar, and pour it over the urine. Yes, pour. You might test this on an out of the way bit of carpet first - it may discolor some carpets. Anyway, pour. Let it sit for awhile. Then blot up the vinegar with WHITE paper towels, or white cloths. Blot and blot and blot until nothing more comes up.

 

This has *worked* for me. The house will smell like vinegar for awhile, but that will go away. if the urine has soaked into the pad, then you have to have the vinegar soak in, too. Now ... all that soaking is going to drastically shorten the life of the carpet. But your choices are very limited here, once it's in the pad.

 

Try the enzymatic cleaner first. if that doesn't work, pour on the vinegar!

[hornblower]

I ditto the enzyme cleaners. They take time to work but if you're relentless, they will take it out.

 

Vinegar is my last resort & honestly, I hate the vinegar smell almost as much as the cat smell. I use the vinegar when I already have the carpet machine rented & then soak the area with vinegar & steam clean over & over again to rinse it out completely.

 

Don't despair about the subfloor. You can pull up the carpet carefully, & paint the subfloor with Zinsser BIN 1-2-3 primer. It dries in less than an hour & you can put the carpet back down. It's used to seal in smells after flooding & fires & will seal the smell in. While you have the carpet & pad up, if they still smell, you can treat those with the enzymatic cleaners from the bottom, though you will then need to leave them up for to thoroughly dry. You can hasten the process by renting a very large fan for a couple days.

 

personal experience: one flooded condo + animal foster home

[The Governess]

I second Nature's Miracle. When we had puppies around here we went through that stuff like water. It really works. It was the only thing we tried that got rid of the smell so completely that the dogs couldn't even smell it and keep re-peeing on the same spots.

 

If you use this, you'll have to get the big size - for it to be effective, you really have to let it soak into the carpet pad underneath. I would always pour some on the urine spot, let it sit for 30 minutes, and then soak it up with an old towel. I've also heard of people running it through a carpet cleaner.

 

You might want to buy a black light so you can see each and every pee spot on the carpet and make sure you get them all.

[KS_]

I glanced through the replies and don't think I saw anyone mention this - if you can't pull up the carpet, get a large syringe (from a livestock supply store, like the ones for cattle), and fill it up with the enzyme solution. Then use the needle to get down into the carpet pad and next to the subfloor and start injecting the solution all over in the area needed. Then let it dry. It may take more than one pass over the area, but after we had one cat that was peeing in our closet for who knows how long before I caught him, this was what worked best. I had sprayed on enzyme cleaner, used it in my steam cleaner (steam cleaned it multiple times), and always the smell came back. Getting the stuff into the pad and down by the subfloor and just letting it dry got rid of almost all the smell (I've got a very sensitive nose, and if I check closely, I can still smell some off odors, but that's if I actually smell the carpet - lol)

[Mama Lynx]

One of mine won't even pee in a clean litter box. He requires a box of DIRT, or to be let outside.

[KAR120C]

If you follow the directions on the Nature's Miracle bottle, it really does work well. It's like $20 or $30 a bottle though, and the only place I can get it around here is the vet... but it's worth it! I've never had anything else work, myself.

[GreenKitty]

Vinegar is the only thing I've found to work.

 

Maybe you could confine it to a bathroom or backroom of some sort?

[MeanestMomInMidwest]

 

Oh, and please don't kill the cat. Or if you do, at least make sure MeanestMom becomes collateral damage...

:D

[newbie]

The best thing we find is a steam cleaner.

[yslek]

I second Nature's Miracle. When we had puppies around here we went through that stuff like water. It really works. It was the only thing we tried that got rid of the smell so completely that the dogs couldn't even smell it and keep re-peeing on the same spots.

 

:iagree:

 

I fist discovered this when I had a puppy that had submissive urination issues. :glare: It works wonderfully. I've found it at Cenex (feed store) and PetCo.

 

Kelsy

[cricket1178]

I am going to try an enzymatic cleaner. If that doesn't work, I'm going to hold my nose and go for the vinegar (has to be better than cat pee!):tongue_smilie:

 

The good news (I think) is that my home is built on a concrete slab. So, no wood subflooring. I hope that means the it will be easier to get rid of the smell.:confused:

[Mom to Aly]

This may seem drastic, but it will save your carpet. We had a cat who had a kidney stone that killed him, but before that he started peeing in one room in a corner, which we didn't realize because it was an extra room. When I did realize, I pulled up the carpet, pulled out and threw out the padding that had gotten pee on it, plus a couple of extra feet, then treated the subfloor, then got a really strong sealant and put several layers on it. When I had that completely covered, so that there was not a trace, I put a couple of extra layers of sealant on, then replaced the padding. I had had the carpet cleaned and treated with an enzyme treatment.

 

I have 4 cats, and none of them have ever gone there, and I can't smell anything, so I am sure it has worked.