How To Remove Cat Urine Smell
The litter box is not always the destination of choice when cats need to eliminate. There are many behavioral or illness-related reasons why your cat may pick a corner of your bedroom carpet or the living room sofa instead. Perhaps they are lodging a complaint about a dirty litter box. Or they may have a urinal tract condition. The Chemistry of Cat Urine Regardless of why your cat missed the litter box, the odor quickly makes his latest choice apparent and demands immediate action. However, cat urine smell removal is not as easy as getting rid of a coffee stain in the carpet. Home remedies, which typically contain vinegar as a main ingredient, will not work on cat odor. The problem stems from the chemical makeup of cat pee, which gives kitty urine a half life of as much as six years. Most of these chemicals can be cleaned up using conventional methods. The true culprit is the uric acid, which is not water soluble and so cannot be eliminated by using typical household cleaners. Cat urine consists of a number of chemicals, each reacting alone or together to create the smell that can rival that of a skunk’s spray. In fact, thiols that are released as a cat urine spot dries and ages are the ingredient that makes skunk spray so potent and difficult to remove. In addition, uric acid and its salts will cling to whatever surface they touch, making them seem almost impossible to neutralize. Rather than soaking your carpet or furniture in tomato juice, which is another myth and will not remove skunk smell, cat experts recommend using an enzyme cleaner. The typical go-to cleaners such as vinegar, baking soda, soap, hydrogen peroxide, and ammonia will clean up the stain and much of the other chemicals in the urine, but have no effect on breaking the hold of uric acid. Using Enzyme Cleaners Enzyme cleaners work by breaking down uric acid into ammonia and carton dioxide, both of which will easily evaporate and take the smell with them. However, the cleaner must be allowed to dry naturally to do its work and break down the uric acid salts. While enzyme cleaners typically come in spray bottles, simply spraying it on the stain will not be enough to do the job. Experts recommend instead that you pour the liquid onto the urine spot to completely soak it. The steps to successful cat urine smell removal are few and simple. Start by blotting up as much of the liquid as possible. Then soak it with the enzyme cleaner and let it stand for 15 minutes. Blot up as much of the enzyme cleaner as you can and let the rest air dry.
