If you have pets, you probably have smelly stains in your home. Even if your dog or cat is housebroken/uses the litter box, your four-footed friends are NOT perfect and can urinate in the house at times. Or maybe you have a puppy/kitten or senior dog/cat who just can't always hold it long enough. Even if you get the stain out of the carpet, the odor remains. This odor keeps your pet returning to that spot to do their business in the house. This is CHERRY, one of my THREE smelly stain makers.
At any rate, here is is a great recipe for a homemade Urine Stain SMELL Remover. It also takes the smell out of old dried on stains in your carpeting, as well as the fresh ones.
You need:
1 Bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide
1 Teaspoon of Liquid Joy Dishwashing Soap
1 Tablespoon of Baking Soda
A Plastic or Glass Bowl to mix it in
A Plastic Spray Bottle
**Before you use this on your carpeting or upholstery, dab some on a hidden area to make sure this won't bleach out the color in your carpet. It does contain Peroxide, which has bleaching properties, so be sure to check the colorfastness of your carpet.
Mix the ingredients in the Bowl, using as much of the Peroxide as will be needed to cover the area on the carpet that you are treating. Then place mixture in the Spray Bottle. Saturate the stains with this Peroxide solution. Do NOT blot it up or dry the area with a cloth. Let the solution sit on the stain until it air dries. If you have "scotch guard" treated carpets it may take longer for the solution to soak in.
After the area has completely dried, vacuum up any white powdered residue(from the baking soda)that remains. The peroxide lifts the urine to the top of the carpet and the oxygen molecules release the odor into the air.
To find old dried in smells without resorting to having to put your nose down in the carpet to smell them out, use a black light. They sell them in pet stores(named something like "Stink Finder") and even on eBay. Or borrow a black light from the hippie down the street. Darken the room and switch on the black light. Any pet urine stains will glow.
Locate, then eradicate!
Another note of caution-only mix up as much solution as you will use. Putting Peroxide and Baking Soda together causes a chemical reaction...remember those lave flowing Volcanoes from Elementary School Science Projects? If you leave this Solution laying around, you might find that it keeps bubbling over and if kept in a closed container, it may explode. Make a new batch each time.
And the BEST thing about this homemade Odor Remover Solution....it's very inexpensive. You can find the ingredients for well under $2 and that would make multiple batches of the Solution. Reuse an old plastic spray bottle(an empty Windex or other Cleaner spray bottle, as long as you WASH it well first!) and you don't even have to buy a container. No nasty toxic chemicals either which also makes it good for the environment.
$2 for Ingredients sure beats paying $10-$30 in the Pet Store for a premade Remover Solution!
Sluggy
Sluggy,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for all the info! I have a cat who has decided to pee on every surface in my house. Since he is now considered and elderly cat by the vet, I don't think I can teach him many new tricks!
Here is my dilemma: He has decided my big beautiful overstuffed LEATHER chair is the place to pee. I have been trying to be vigilent and catch him so as to get it cleaned as quickly as possible. I have draped blankets over it and I have several different types of leather cleaner. I even covered the chair in aluminum foil for a while when I read that would annoy the cats to walk on. But he has a corner in that chair that he is determined to use. Drives me crazy!
Have you got any ideas on what to use to clean leather to remove cat pee odor?
thanks, thats a great home remedy! I need it too!
ReplyDeleteLisaPie,
ReplyDeleteIf the cat pee has soaked in, the problem with getting the smell out of the chair will be getting to the cushion material under the leather as well. The solution will raise the smell but the leather might hinder it from clearing, if that makes sense?
With a sofa, generally you can remove the cover off of the seat cushions and treat both the cushions & the covers directly.
After you colorfast test the chair, go ahead and try the peroxide solution on the area he pees on. You probably need to condition the leather afterwards as the peroxide may strip oils from the leather.
With my beloved old Chihuahua, Mango, who developed a bladder control problem the last yr. of his life, I found putting a doggie diaper on him helped save the surfaces in my house. I made what they call a belly band that went around his middle. It velcro-ed shut and I used pantyliners in it, which were changed when he wet. I know a cat probablly wouldn't stand for the indignity of a kitty diaper.lol