Summary

You don’t have to tolerate cat urine smell and let it affect your indoor air quality, social life, and home value. It may seem difficult to get rid of cat urine odor but it’s definitely possible to eliminate it.

Got Cat Urine Smell?

We love our cats! These furry friends are beautiful, independent, clean, quiet, and affectionate. Unlike dogs, they are also generally low maintenance and even let themselves out to go to the bathroom. Although cats are pretty easy to litter train, they can still sometimes urinate where they are not supposed to. And the resulting cat urine smell in your home can be horrible! If the cats aren’t neutered or spayed, the smell can be even worse than the normal cat urine smell.

As a cat lover, you undoubtedly overlook a lot because of the love and affection your cat gives to you in return. But the good news is that you don’t have to tolerate the cat urine smell and let it affect your indoor air quality, social live, and the value of your home. It may seem difficult to get rid of cat urine smell but it’s definitely possible to eliminate it.

What Causes Cat Urine Smell?

Urine is approximately 95% water and 5% urea, uric acid, urochrome, creatinine, carbohydrates, enzymes, fatty acids, hormones, sodium, potassium, chloride, magnesium, calcium and other water-soluble organic materials and ions. Urea causes urine to be sticky and contributes to the cat urine smell along with uric acid and ammonia. Urochrome gives the cat urine its distinct yellow color that stains carpets, furniture, walls, and anything else it makes contact with. This dye also makes the dried urine visible under black light.

When cat urine dries, it gets broken down by anaerobic bacteria causing further odor. In the first stage bacteria will decompose the urea and give off the distinctive ammonia smell we are all familiar along with sulfides, phenols, ketones, volatile organic acids and more. The second stage of the decomposition process emits mercaptans and thiols which has a smell similar to skunk spray. It’s the combination of this cocktail of chemicals that gives urine its distinctive pungent smell we need to get rid of and prevent.

Steps to Get Rid of Cat Urine Smell

The good news is that tough cat urine smell can be eliminated so you don’t have to let it ruin your home value and stop you enjoying it. By utilizing our simple and informative smell removal guide, you will learn how to get rid of cat urine smell from smell experts, take immediate action to rid smell, and Smell the Difference!

STEP 1: Clean the Source of the Cat Urine Smell

The first step is to clean up the cat urine and stop further bacterial growth so the smell doesn’t get worse. Use the following procedure for carpets, wooden floors, linoleum floors and tile floors to remove the urine mess:

Find the areas with the urine mess by following the ammonia smell or using a black light, saturate it with ODOREZE® Floor Odor Control Spray, and let it soak in for a few minutes. Blot up any excess moisture with paper towels or rags. Repeat this procedure as necessary to break down the really old cat urine odors that have settled in and remove them. Finally spray down the treated areas with clean water to rinse it and blot up with paper towels or rags. By following this procedure, you will effectively dilute the urine’s potency and prepare it for the next step. If you intend to clean the entire floor, ODOREZE can also be added directly to your regular carpet cleaner or floor detergent and used as usual to get cat urine smell out.

If you have any items that have been sprayed with urine, remove them and let them air out in the sun as long as possible. Upholstery and clothing are very good at absorbing and retaining cat urine smell. Any fabrics that can be washed should be in hot water. You can also use ODOREZE® Natural Laundry Deodorizing Additive to get rid of really stubborn cat urine smells from clothing by soaking them in it prior to washing or adding to your laundry detergent.

STEP 2: Get Rid of the Cat Urine Smell

The second step in cat urine smell removal is to follow the recommendations below to get the smell out using professional strength SMELLEZE® Smell Removers that rid smell without masking it with harmful fragrances. This is a proven green deodorizer that is made in the USA, works 24/7, and is reusable for over a year. It has been used successfully for over 20 years and recommended by thousands of people all over the world.

Rid Smell of Cat Urine from Floors, Carpeting & Yard before it’s Released

Do this by sprinkling SMELLEZE® Eco Urine Deodorizer Granules (only $12.99) on dry wooden, linoleum, tile, or concrete floors. If you have carpeting, use SMELLEZE® Eco Carpet Deodorizer Powder (only $12.99). Leave on the dry floor for a few hours or overnight (longer the better) to draw the cat urine smell out of the floor and to eliminate it before it gets released into the air. Then simply vacuum or sweep up and discard. If the cat urine smell is coming from your yard, simply sprinkle SMELLEZE® Eco Yard Deodorizer Granules.

Rid Smell of Cat Urine from Litter Box

Do this by sprinkling SMELLEZE® Eco Cat Litter Deodorizer Additive (only $9.99) in your cat litter box to get the cat urine smell out. Repeat, if necessary, for really severe smells. After that simply sprinkle SMELLEZE® after each litter change to prevent smells from building up and spot treat in between for extra odor protection.

Rid Smell of Cat Urine from the Air

Do this by simply placing the >SMELLEZE® Reusable Cat Deodorizer Pouches (only $12.99) in areas with the urine odor and smell the difference. This smell remover attracts cat urine smell continuously like a strong magnet, absorbs it like a super absorbent sponge, and eliminates it without masking with harmful fragrances. Using a fan and opening doors and windows will accelerate the cat urine smell removal process.

In addition, you can place or hang SMELLEZE® smell remover pouches on the cold air return in your home to continuously filter out the cat urine smell and harmful pollutants as your air recirculates. This is also a good way to prevent smells from building up in the future.

SMELLEZE® pouches are the only reusable smell removers available that last over a year so they are more cost effective than any other deodorizer including most home remedies. As an added benefit, they are eco-friendly, non-toxic, odorless, natural and safe for people, cats and the planet!

Kill Smell Producing Bacteria

Since cat urine results in the growth of smell causing bacteria mentioned earlier, it’s important to kill and prevent them not only on floors but also in the air to permanently solve urine smell problems. This can simply be done by replacing any light bulbs you have in your home with SANIBULB® Air Sanitizer & Purifier CFL Bulbs. SANIBULB® will sanitize your air by killing various microorganisms such as smell causing bacteria in addition to mold, viruses, fungi, and dust mites without the use of any harmful chemical sanitizers. As an added benefit, it will also reduce your energy consumption by 75% and save you money!

Step 3: Prevent the Cat Urine Smell

Once you have completed the hard work of eliminating the cat urine smell, it’s important to take the following proactive steps to prevent the cat urine odor problem from reappearing.

Open the windows and doors when the weather is pleasant to let fresh air and sunlight in. Use window fans to improve the ventilation in your home especially in cat areas.

Air ducts can harbor cat urine smell, mold, allergens and dust. Have them cleaned out regularly by a professional duct cleaning company to help keep the cat urine smell from reappearing because moisture and contaminants can seep into air vents to generate smells.

Kennel your cat while you are at home or, at a minimum, keep your canine friend on hardwood or linoleum floors. They clean easier and retain less smell. Put down urine absorbent pads around the areas that your cat continues to make mistakes on.

Cat Urine Smell Removal Tips

1. A smell can be an early warning sign of a potential health hazard. And just because you don’t see microorganisms doesn’t mean they are not present. Bacterial growth is one of the sources of cat urine smell that can be harmful to your health so it’s important to sanitize your home.
2. Avoid masking cat urine smell with vanilla or harmful fragrances. Covering-up cat urine smells never eliminates the smell, it just overwhelms your nose into detecting the fragrance instead. The smell will likely return when the fragrance wears out. There are also times when fragrances will react with the cat urine smell to create even more obnoxious new smells that are worse than the original smell.
3. If you decide to use vinegar, consider that it is basically acetic acid. It can react with and damage certain products and will leave an odor of it’s own so be sure to test it in a smell area first. Do you really want your house smelling like vinegar?
4. There is some misunderstanding about the use of charcoal briquettes for cat urine smell removal. It’s absorbency is very low and effectiveness marginal. What actually works is activated carbon which is used commercially but that can get expensive and is hard to get in small quantities to get rid of cat urine smells. Best to save the charcoal briquettes for your next BBQ!
5. While some commonly recommended home remedies for smell removal may help marginally with some mild smell problems, they are ineffective for the most part. It’s good to remember that household items such as vinegar, vanilla, charcoal briquettes are not designed to be smell eliminators so the results will often be disappointing and you could lose precious time. Since you will become immune to smell with time, you may think it’s getting better and risk long term exposure to some chemical smells that can be harmful without knowing.
6. Since baking soda is alkaline (base) and vinegar is an acid, mixing the two just neutralizes each other so the resulting solution is not effective at smell removal. Basically, mixing an acid and a base pretty much results in salt and water.
7. Avoid using bleach since this can react with ammonia in the cat urine to generate poisonous gases
8. Do not use any ammonia-based cleaning products. Cat urine contains ammonia, and the smell of ammonia will encourage your cat to continue urinating in that location.
9. Avoid using a steam cleaner. The moisture and heat will make the odor worse and will not remove the odor from the carpet.
10. If you are tired of cleaning up your cat’s urine, then you can try training your cat. It will take some time and a lot of effort but once your cat learns where to urinate, then you wouldn’t have to worry about cat urine smell anymore.
11. If you are having trouble locating the cat urine spot on the furniture, run a black light over the area to find it.