Getting out that SMELL!

[erin7669]

Just wondering if anybody has found a good method of getting out the smell of urine... we are new home owners and aren't sure of what the best cleaning menthod is. We have always spot cleeaned whenever there was an accident, and we only have carpet on the stairs and in the hallway upstairs in our house. I tried soaking it with pet odor removers and then shop-vaccing it up, but the smell still lingers and I swear its making me CRAZY! I have called some carpet cleaning places, one offers a dry organic natural stuff, others are chemical (pet safe) methods. We are considering ripping up the carpet, but that will be costly because we would then be putting in hardwood stairs . Suggestions?

Erin

 

[Sarge's Mom]

A few ideas for cleaning

It can be tricky to get the smell out of carpet, but can be done. I recommend that when it is fresh/still wet, soak up as much as you can, and then pour some Petzyme (it is sold in Petsmart and is an odor/enzyme remover made for this type of thing) over it. Then soak that up. We usually lay old towels over the spot, and then pile heavy items on top of the towels.

After that, if you are able to, rent or buy a carpet cleaner--the ones that heat the water up work best. When you add the carpet cleaner fluid, add Petzyme to the mix. That sucks up any left over urine out of the carpet and leaves a clean smell behind.

When the carpet is dry if there is still a smell I have sprinkled baking powder over the offending area and vacummed that up. You can try the scented carpet powders, but I haven't found that they work any better than the baking powder.

For maintenance we clean our carpets with a mix of Petzyme and carpet cleaner 2-3 times a year.

Good luck!

 

[Sissys mom]

I have tried a lot of odor things and they didn't work. I had a cat that sprayed all over everything. My girlfriend told me to use oxi-clean as that is what she always used for her chihuahua that hikes on everything. That really worked. I made a solution and put it in a spray bottle and sprayed it where I needed to and let it sit a few minutes and then took my small shampooer and rinsed it out with plain water. At 1st I didn't think it worked as when it was wet I could still smell it a bit but once it dried you can't smell anything even if you put you nose on it. It really worked for me.

 

[Koko and Gus]

There is a wonderful product called "Nature's Miracle". You can find it at any pet store and I swear by it. I have had up to 4 cats and it takes care of that smell just fine. When Gus (my white boxer baby) was little we had a potty training issue (which he's now over, thankfully) so I was using the Nature's Miracle by the gallon. I found that if you put it on the spot when it's first noticed (still wet) you really need to put on more than you think you should. I've only had to hit a spot twice (and that was with my male cat, not Gus) to get rid of the smell.

A black light works great to help you find the whole area as it could be that you are not getting the enzyme on all the original wet spot - remember that what's under the carpet also got wet and that's were the smell is coming from. Often times the spot you see on the carpet is only a portion of what got wet underneath. Like an iceburg it seems that the wet spot on top is only about a 1/3 of the size of what's gotten wet underneath. So, the blacklight will help find the spot and then I always soak at least double that area.

Nature's Miracle has worked like a charm for me and I won't use anything else. It even worked in an old house I moved into where someone had locked either a dog or a cat in a room during the day. My male cat went straight for that room and kept spraying. I got out my black light and Nature's Miracle and within a two week period, my cat was leaving the room alone and I wasn't noticing the smell any more.

Try it, you'll like it. Good luck.

 

[Zoeys_Mom]

I work for a Fire and Flood restoration company. One of the most often compained about problems is pet odour. Our Water Damage division has many years of experience of removing pet stains and odours, however, if they have been sitting too long, or have saturated through to the underpad, it can be very problematic to correct.
Depending on what is under the underpad, the odour may still be present after removing and replacing the underpad. If it is cement, a soak with an enzyme remover, new underpad and clean carpets should remove any lingering odour. If it is wood sub floor, or plywood, then you would likely have to remove the wood, and then complete the steps as above.
Obviously, these are for extreme situations. I would suggest contacting the local Fire and Flood restoration companies in your area, as they have the means to carry out each step rewuired. OR, a certified carpet cleaning company can also clean your carpets after you have completed the work. Both the natural and pet friendly chemicals are VERY effective.
Just tonight I was cleaing soup bone juice out of my carpets.
Coincedentally, since you mentioned switching to hard wood/laminate, now would be a good time to go with it!
Hope this helps, and good luck with your decision!

 

[alohaboxer!]

Erin, we had the same problem with our carpets, and it got so stinky that we just ripped it out. I tried Nature's Miracle, oxiclean and many different products. I even got so desperate to remove the smell that I put Clorox on it! Nothing worked so we went a head and removed the carpet. While we were ripping it out, the amount of dirt and gross stuff that was under the carpet was totally repulsive. I'm glad that Laila started peeing on the carpet, because otherwise we would still be sitting on a big dirt pile!

I feel ya!

Regards

 

[sashamom]

I tried Nature's Miracle more than once since it seemed to work for everyone, but i must say Simple Solution worked far better for me and its never not worked for me. Hardest thing for me is it cleans the spot and shows how dirty the rest of my berber carpet is!!!!
Good luck!

 

[sweetboxer]

We've been using Nature's Miracle, but I don't think it necessarily gets all of the odor out. My DH likes to use Spot Shot, which foams and cleans the stain up, and I haven't noticed a residual odor. We're probably going to rip out our carpet as well, one b/c it's old, and two b/c between the water spilled and the puppy accidents, it's easier to have ceramic tile and hardwood floors!

 

[justus7.]

We use Nature's Miracle to and it works wonders for us.
Jewel

 

[furrykidmom]

We use Simple Solution first. This usually gets out most of the stain and the odor. Then we follow up with Henry's to get the rest of the stain out. It is from QVC. It has worked miracles.

We have also switched to wood laminate because of my allergies. It has also been wonderful with having dogs. We have to put down area rugs here and there so that they have areas where they can get traction to play. But it is so easy to clean. We just housetrained two pups with it. The only downside is if they have an accident that you do not see immediately the laminate will start to lift from the wood. If you put it down buy extra so that you can replace areas as needed. You will want to buy it now so that the color and grain match.

We have a couple spots that need replaced but they are not very noticeable. One from the dog and one from me watering plants. It overflowed and I did not see it.