26 answers

Cat Pee Smell !!!!!!!!!!!

Hi! I'm hoping that someone will have some cleaning tips for me on how to remove a strong cat pee odor or at least lessen it from carpets. We are renting temporarily until we can move into our new house and the place we are in reeks of cat pee. My husband has had a horrible reaction to the cats that once lived here and he now has to take medication to clear up his eyes and the smell is just terrible. Thankfully, my kids haven't had a reaction, although I really hate picking cat hair off of my 6 month old baby's face! I have vacuumed and cleaned but it doesn't seemed to have helped. We have four months left of this and I don't know what to do. I grew up with cats and I know how hard it is to remove the smell. Any tips??!!

What can I do next?

Featured Answers

I am a L. late here, but if you already tried some of the ideas posted here, and they did not work, try this....mix a solution of 8oz of hydrogen peroxide, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1 drop of liquid soap...mix well, and TOTALY soak the effected areas. You may have to do it more then once, and you can double the receipe. I had a big problem after a litter of kittens were born, and this is the only thing that actually worked!! And it's cheap!

COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN to the landlord - that is unsanitary and unacceptable. I would demand they replace the carpets!

Did you know about the cat pee when you moved in? Seems like the landlord needs to be the one taking care of this, not you! If the house smells like cat pee, so do you; think about that when you go out; and get that landlord to clean the carpet!

More Answers

Nature's miracle works great. You can use a black light to find the areas where the urine is if you don't already know. I've used nature's miracle as a spot cleaner and have also added it our carpet cleaner where the soap goes. I've used it for years at home and also in vet's office and it did even get rid of the smell from tom cat pee, which is very strong. Also you can do a 50/50 solution of vinegar and water and that seems to help. I'm guessing you have talked to the landlord about the carpet smell?

Having a good quality air purifier can also help, since you are still pulling up cat hair there is probably cat dander too. We bought two last fall, since we found out our dog is allergic to wood smoke and we have a wood stove for much of our heat. She was drooling excessively and down right miserable if she was within about 30 feet of the stove, even if we didn't notice any smoke. With two air purifiers she no longer had problems. We have also had company that is highly allergic to cats (we have 3) and I vacuumed the day they were coming and with the purifiers they have not had any problems here or had to take any medication for allergies.

For the hair, vacuuming really well should get it all up, if it's not you might want to try a new vacuum or see if you can borrow someones that is better for pet hair. Assuming you moved in recently, vacuum everything, including furniture and moving furniture every day or every other day for a week or two and see if that helps. If your vacuum has filters check those and see if they need replacing or cleaning to help it pick up more.

Good luck!

I have used vinegar to spot treat, but never had to clean an entire carpet.
One of the problems is, that if the urine soaked into the floorboards (or drywall if this was a spraying male) the is NOTHING you can do to get rid of it, save replacing...
I feel your pain, our old apartment had fleas from the previous owners...
Good luck!

Updated

I have used vinegar to spot treat, but never had to clean an entire carpet.
One of the problems is, that if the urine soaked into the floorboards (or drywall if this was a spraying male) the is NOTHING you can do to get rid of it, save replacing...
I feel your pain, our old apartment had fleas from the previous owners...
Good luck!

ooo If it is in the carpet, it is really going to be hard to get it out without taking the carpet out, because it is probably way into the matting. I would ask the landlord to have the carpet professionally cleaned. You should not have to live like that. They should have done it before you moved in. If they refuse, have it done and deduct it from your next rent payment and tell them and also document it.

COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN to the landlord - that is unsanitary and unacceptable. I would demand they replace the carpets!

I have no idea what to do but YUCK!!! So sorry! Call the landlord immediately! Get a break on the rent at least.

OUT! from walmart works well. I recommend getting a BIG bottle & really soaking your carpets with it. I would also recommend renting a carpet steam cleaner & steam cleaning the carpets. (After you use the OUT! stuff.)
But, before you do any of this I would recommend complaining to your land lord. I would do this for multiple reasons. 1. He should be paying to steam clean the carpets at the very least. 2. If steam cleaning doesn't remove the smell, then he should replace the carpets. Its possible (actually probable) that the cat pee soaked into the carpet pad in which case it would definitely need to be replaced. I don't think even steam cleaning would get that clean. He should have taken a deposit from the previous renters to cover damages & he should use that to fix the problem. 3. You don't want to be blamed for the problem later & have him try to charge you damages.
Good luck.

the best and cheapest way is to put vinegar in your rug cleaner washing all of it with that first then use a laundry soap after the rug has dried to clean up any lasting smells! I had one cat that never used the litter box for some reason and the vinegar worked the best!!

If you go to a place that specializes in pet supplies like PetSmart, you can find a kit that will have a UV light and a solution that breaks down the enzymes from the urine. This really works but is kind of pricey, and if it was bad enough that it soaked through the carpet, through the pad and into the flooring below itprobably won't do much. If the urine smell is that strong it probably is a really bad case and probably not much you will be able to do, friends of mine that bought a home had to not only tear carpeting out of one room to get rid of the urine smell but also had to sand down the floors! No kidding! There is nothing that smells worse than cat urine, I am so sorry.

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