Removing Pet Urine Stains and Odors

When pets begin urinating in the house, carpeting is one of the top choices for this inappropriate behavior, and, unfortunately, one of the most difficult to clean. Even worse, when urine odor persists in your carpet it encourages your pet to continue using the same area for elimination. Here are some helpful tips to stop this housebreaking problem in its tracks.

Find All Pet Urine Stains

The sooner you find the spots where your pet is urinating the better. Fresh urine is much easier to remove from carpeting than is urine that has had a chance to soak into the carpet padding and dry. So, for starters, use you eyes, nose and touch to identify the soiled areas. If you have been finding feces in the house, it is a pretty safe bet that the pet is also urinating in that area as well.

Using Black Light to Find Urine Stains

To find older, dried soiled areas, a black-light can be invaluable. You will have pet odor problems and your pet will continue to soil the rug until you completely remove absolutely all of the stains. If you find areas using the black-light that are not visible with the naked eye, use chalk to outline the affected carpeting. If you find pet urine on washable items, soak them with enzymatic cleaner (see below) and then throw them in the washing machine for one or more cycles.

Removing Fresh Urine Stains that are Still Wet

1. Soak up as much of the urine as possible, preferably with absorbent old towels that you are using as rags or with paper towels. The more fresh urine you can remove before it dries, the easier it will be to remove the odor.
2. Once the area is no longer soggy, put down more old towels or paper towels and cover with a thick layer of newspaper. Then stand on this padding for about a minute. Move your feet all over the stained area, like you are stomping grapes. This pressure will help absorb more of the difficult to reach urine in the carpet padding. Repeat this process until the area is barely damp.
3. Put the fresh, urine-soaked towels in the area where they belong-your cat's litter box or your dog's outdoor "bathroom area." This will help remind your pet of the appropriate place for urinating.
4. Repeatedly rinse the accident zone with clean, cool water. After rinsing, remove as much of the water as possible by blotting or by using a wet vacuum. If you don't have a wet vac or carpet cleaner, you can rent one for a reasonable fee.
5. Apply an enzymatic pet urine eliminator (pet urine stain remover) to the soiled area and faithfully follow the directions. This step is absolutely vital. Although it may seem that all of the soaking and rinsing done up to this point would have removed the urine, there will still be trace amounts that will ultimately entice your pet to continue urinating in that spot. Enzymatic cleaners neutralize and break down the odor-causing chemicals in the urine, removing them by changing them into smaller, odor-free chemical compounds.
6. After the enzymatic cleaner does its job, rinse again and blot up the moisture or use a wet vac to thoroughly remove the cleaner.

For Old Urine Stains that Have Dried and Set

1. If you believe that there are old urine stains in the home, make sure to use a black light and find them all. There may be several spots that you were unaware of.
2. Wet vac the affected area using only lukewarm water. Avoid using hot water or steam cleaners to clean urine odors from carpet or upholstery. The heat will permanently set the stain and odor by bonding the protein into the carpeting fibers.
3. When the area is cleaned and remoistened, use an enzymatic cleaner on the soiled areas as described above. This step is necessary to completely remove the urine.
4. After the enzymatic cleaner has worked its magic, use a wet vac to shampoo the carpet. You can use a special carpet shampoo for removing pet stains if the area still appears discolored.
5. Finally go over the area again with a wet vac filled with a weak solution of lukewarm water and vinegar. This will get all of the soap and chemicals out of the carpeting.

Pet Urine and Replacing Carpet

It is possible that old stains are so entrenched, and cover such a large area of carpet and padding, that the only alternative is replacing the carpet. However it is certainly worth trying to remove the stain before considering this last resort. Cleaning up pet urine properly is a lot of work, but it's certainly worth the effort.

Medical Problems and Pet Urination

Lastly, be sure to take your pet to the veterinarian and get its urine analyzed. Inappropriate urination in the house may have more than just behavioral roots. You pet could have a physical illness such as a bladder infection or crystals in the urine that is contributing to the potty problem. Understanding your pet's behavior will help you avoid another urine-soaked carpet in the future, and if a washing machine-safe item happens to get soiled, see the Suite101 article Removing Pet Urine from Washables.