Three Green, All-Natural Pet Stain-Cleaning Products

Pets are charming. What they produce is not! Indoor pets live longer, but anyone who has an indoor cat or dog deals with a certain amount of cleanup. While some cats and dogs are well-behaved and don't pee on the furniture or floors, let's face it - they still produce some mess.

If you have a cat or dog who pees, the biggest problem is getting rid of the smell. Why? Well - even if you can't smell it any longer, pets will recognize urine scent and it will cause them to urinate again in the same area. So it's important to buy a cleaning product that breaks down the chemicals pets recognize.

Fortunately, the best products for doing this are environmentally green.

Nature's Miracle is one popular eco-friendly enzyme cleaner you can use to clean up pet stains. It's also useful for cleaning up food spills, or any other stain or spill that can grow bacteria. The enzymes break down the organic substances, and prevent bacteria from causing strong odors. It has a reasonably pleasant citrus cent.

Additionally, Nature's Miracle makes a special formula for cats, and a special formula for ferrets, since not all pet stains / pet urine stains are created alike.

A tip for use: If you can, get a blacklight and shine it over the stain before using cleaner. This will show you where all the urine is - even if you can't see or smell it normally!

Bac-Out is another natural cleaner that works the same way. Unfortunately, when I used this one, it replaced the odor of cat urine with a weird scent that I didn't like at all.

There are several more brands of natural enzyme cleaner on the market. As far as I can tell, the main difference between them is what carrier scent they use to freshen the area while breaking down the smells that make pet stains nasty. All of the enzyme cleaners cost around $10.

Finally, around your house, or at the corner store for a few bucks, you'll find baking soda and vinegar. It doesn't work as well as the enzyme cleaners, but I'm including it for those of you who just looked this up and want something fast and easy and eco-friendly that's already in your kitchen. First try to soak up as much of the mess as possible, using towels or paper towels; then sprinkle baking soda over the stain, and let it soak in for a few minutes. Finally, rinse the area with vinegar. The reaction will foam and will work to clear away the urine or other animal excretions.