Pet Stains - Clean Your Floors and Carpets

Pet urine is something I have experience with. I originally was a cat person and now I've converted to dogs. Well, perhaps that's not exactly true. My husband claims my Chihuahua isn't really a dog - she's just a cat disguised as a dog. I also used to work with an animal shelter. Needless to say, I had to clean up a lot of pet urine and poop! Whether you're trying to clean pet urine, the first thing you want to do is to try to catch it fresh. Blot, don't rub. If you rub it all you're doing is rubbing it into whatever it is you're trying to get it off of.

The second issue is whether it is dog or cat urine. Dog urine is much, much easier to deal with although neither is easy. You will have to take more dramatic steps if it is cat urine and probably do each step two or three times.

Assuming you've been able to blot up the standing liquid, the next step is to clean and disinfect the area. What cleaning product you use will depend on what kind of surface you're dealing with. If the surface is washable, by all means, wash it. Wash it several times.

If the surface is carpet that can be picked up, like a throw rug, but not put in the washer, take the carpet and, if possible, put the part of the carpet that was urinated on in the bathtub. In the alternative, take the carpet outside and hose it down. Obviously you don't want to do this with expensive Persian rugs or anything like that, but if you have that kind of rug you probably want to take your rug to have it professionally cleaned.

I have successfully hosed down the rugs that you can buy at home improvement stores. I have also put them in the bathtub. Just don't use harsh soaps or hot water.

If the surface is wood you must be extra careful. You can not use regular cleaning products with wood. No Lysol or bleach can be used or regular soaps either, especially if the wood isn't sealed. Some people think their floors are sealed, but the fact of the matter is that their hardwood floors were sealed so long ago that they need resurfacing and chemicals can get underneath the sealant and hurt the wood. No, with wood the only things you really can use for cleaning are those products specifically made for wood like Formbys.

So now you've cleaned the surface, but it still smells bad. Now you're ready to try to deodorize.

The market is saturated with products that claim to eliminate pet odors. Nothing is really perfect. The best things I have found are the good old fashioned neutralizers that have been around for years: tomato juice, vinegar, lemon juice, and baking soda. What I do when this happens at our house is I start with one of the above mentioned liquid products, let it sit on the stained area for a while (you must be careful with wood and not let any of them stay more than a couple of minutes) and then switch to baking soda, then back to one of the liquid products, then back to baking soda. So it's tomato juice, baking soda, vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, baking soda.

You should be able to lightly scrub the vinegar and lemon juice into your carpeting without any ill effects. If your carpeting is lightly colored, you might just want to skip the tomato juice and double up on the vinegar and lemon juice steps.

Then, if possible, take the item outdoors and let it stay outside for a day or two. If not, open the window if possible.

Before letting your pet be alone in this room again, make sure you spray pepper spray around this area. This can be purchased at any pet store. It is normally called something like "no pet" or "pet away". Your pet will want to go to the spot to see if there is any scent left. (feel free to really douse the area with pepper spray). They all HATE the pepper spray. If you see your pet in the area, this is the time to say "no no!" and reinforce that you know what they did and you're not having any of that! They know what they did too, and they know that you know. Keep the pepper spray on hand and spray the area for the next several days. It will keep your pet away from the spot until he forgets about it.