Did your cat just pee on the carpet? You better move yourself and act swiftly to tidy up that mess.
Lingering urine scent is most likely the thing to bring your cat back to the scene of the crime, time and again.
Lots of felines are all too happy to make the rug or carpets their new bathroom, even if the very first time was a mishap.
That’s why it’s important to thoroughly tidy up all traces of cat urine right away. This sounds like a simple task until you inspect the commercial cat urine cleaners on offer out there. There are many options to consider:
- All of them guarantee extraordinary odour blasting capabilities.
- Most have mixed reviews.
- Some users say the cat pee cleanser was crazy-effective. Other reviewers claim it didn’t do anything.
- Some folks reckon a $100 bottle of pet cat pee cleaner is worth it.
- We found and tested recipes for two ingredient cleaners you can make with things you currently have in your kitchen area.
To save you having to test each and every product out there, we have tried to lighten the load and assess the products and methods for you.
Why is cat urine so hard to get out of the carpets?
Cleaning up cat pee is notoriously tough. It’s known for its unique and long lasting smell. An odour that’s difficult to get rid of, as well as coming back when you feel like you soaked as well as scrubbed it all away.
This distinct & insidious smell is because of the unique composition of cat pee.
You see, cat urine is extra-concentrated due to the naturally low thirst drive of felines. Felines that are fed a moist diet won’t take in anywhere near enough water to dilute their urine.
This suggests the stuff that comes out is darker and also stronger than human urine.
This strong-smelling cat urine has a comprehensive ingredient list, but three elements really stand out as essential odour-causing factors:
- Urea
- Bacteria, and
- Uric Acid
Let’s take a closer look at these 3 elements and see just how they create odour together with how they’ll impact your choice in a rug cleaner.
Urea
Urea is a significant component of your pet cat’s urine and also behind that distinctive ammonia scent. Urea is a waste product from healthy protein metabolisation. Excess amino acids are transformed to ammonia in your cat’s liver during the urea cycle and that ammonia is then incorporated with carbon dioxide, making urea.
Yes, the ammonia smell from your cat’s pee is certainly off-putting, yet urea is actually simple to clean. Urea is water-soluble, so you can scrub it up and also eliminate odours with nearly any type of cleaner.
Bacteria
Urine usually contains several strains of bacteria. These bacteria are important to urine decomposition and help to break down urea. They’re responsible for causing a pungent odour as the urine breaks down. Think of it as the smell of the urine rotting.
Fortunately, these bacteria are also easy to eliminate with most cleaners, just like urea.
Uric acid
So far, cat urine doesn’t sound so tough to clean up. That’s where uric acid comes in, just to make things a little bit complicated.
Uric acid exists as near-insoluble crystals in your cat’s urine. These crystals will sink into your carpet when your cat urinates on it and won’t go away when cleaned with most cleaners.
Homemade cleaners, like a baking soda and vinegar blend, will eliminate urea and bacteria in the stain. They won’t affect the uric acid though.
The ammonia smell and other odours will disappear at first, but the uric acid crystals will still lurk in your carpet.
While you might not be able to smell it, your cat can. That’s not a good thing. A faint lingering odour could lead to your cat going in that same spot again and again.
Not only can your cat detect the uric acid, but the uric acid odour can also be reactivated when the air gets humid or the floor gets damp. If it’s not removed with an appropriate cleaner, you could be looking at urine odour reappearing years down the track. That’s how tough uric acid is.
When you’re choosing a urine cleaner it’s important to choose a product that can eliminate the uric acid from the stain, too.
Unfortunately, that means most home cleaners are out of the question, they just don’t have the power to get rid of uric acid.
That’s all for part 1 of Cat Urine Carpet Cleaner: Exactly How to Eliminate the Feline Pee Smell
Part 2 (coming next week) will take a closer look at the types of urine cleaners available and find out which ones if any, really work for cat urine.
Thank you for sharing this cleaning cat urine information blog. Very helpful and informative.
Thanks for the article! Applying an enzymatic cleaner is also a great solution. There are many solutions like Simple Green Cat Stain and Odor Remover that are specifically designed for cat urine. Enzymatic cleaners break down the proteins in the urine that cause odor and stains, making it much easier to kill any germs.