Pet Stain Cleaner

Has your pet urinated or defecated in your house, leaving “scent marks” on your floor or furniture? To keep your pet from continuing to eliminate in these areas of your house, you will need to thoroughly clean the soiled areas.  Find all soiled areas using your nose and eyes. A black-light bulb is a helpful tool that will usually show even old urine stains, due to the fact that the urine contains fluorescent molecules that glow. To use a black-light bulb simply turn out all lights in the room and scan all areas of the room. Once you have identified the soiled areas, lightly outline them with chalk.  Once located, clean the soiled areas appropriately to remove the odors (see below).

Methods to Avoid

You should avoid using steam cleaners to clean urine odors from carpet or upholstery. The heat will set the odor and stain in by bonding the proteins into any man-made fibers. You should also avoid using cleaning chemicals, especially those with strong odors, such as ammonia or vinegar. From your pet’s perspective, these don’t effectively eliminate or cover the urine odor and may actually encourage your pet to urinate in the area again.

To Clean Carpeted Areas and Upholstery

Soak up as much of the urine as possible with a combination of newspaper and paper towels. The more fresh urine you can remove before it dries, especially from carpet, the simpler it will be to remove the odor. Place a thick layer of paper towels on the wet spot and cover that with a thick layer of newspaper. Stand on this padding for about a minute. Remove the padding and repeat until the area is barely damp.  Rinse the “accident zone” thoroughly with clean, cool water. After rinsing, remove as much of the water as possible by blotting or by using a “wet-vac,” “shop-vac,” or “extractor”.  Once the area is really clean, you should then use a high-quality enzymatic cleaner available at pet supply stores. Read and follow the instructions carefully, testing the affected area for staining first.