CAPITAL HUMANE SOCIETY
2320
Successful Cleaning to Remove Pet Odors
and Stains
Copyright Denver Dumb Friends League and
Humane Society of the
Has
your pet left “scent marks” of urination and/or defecation on your floor or
furniture? To successfully re-train your pet to avoid those areas, follow these
basic steps:
·
Find all soiled areas using your nose
and eyes. A black-light bulb will usually show even old urine stains. Turn out
all lights in the room; use the black-light to identify soiled areas and
lightly outline the areas with chalk.
·
Clean the soiled areas appropriately to
remove the odors (see below).
·
Make the areas unattractive and/or
unavailable (see our handouts on dog and cat aversives).
·
Make the appropriate “bathroom” area
attractive (see our handouts regarding positive reinforcement, house soiling
and/or litter box issues).
·
Teach your pet the appropriate place to
eliminate by using positive reinforcement (see our handouts mentioned above).
·
These
steps work as a team! In order for your efforts to be successful, you need to
follow all of these steps. If you fail to completely clean the area, your other
re-training efforts will be useless. As long as your pet can smell that
personal scent, he’ll continue to return to the “accident zone.” Even if you can’t
smell traces of urine, your pet can. Your most important chore is to remove
(neutralize) that odor.
Methods
To Avoid
You
should avoid using steam cleaners to clean urine odors from carpet or
upholstery. The heat will permanently set the odor and the stain by bonding the
protein 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’s inclination to reinforce the urine
scent mark in that area.
To
Clean Washable Items
·
Machine wash as usual, adding a one
pound box of baking soda to your regular detergent. If possible, it’s best to
air dry these items.
·
If you can still see the stain or smell
the urine, machine wash the item again and add an enzymatic cleaner. Be sure to
follow the directions carefully.
·
During the re-training period, a good
way to discourage your pet from using the bedding is to cover the bed with a
vinyl, flannel-backed tablecloth. They’re machine washable, inexpensive and
unattractive to your pet.
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 the process until the area is barely damp.
·
If possible, take the fresh,
urine-soaked paper towel to the area where it belongs -- your cat’s litterbox
or your dog’s designated outdoor “bathroom area” -- and let your pet see you do
it. Don’t act angry when you do this, but try to project a “happy” attitude to
your pet. This will help to remind your pet that eliminating isn’t a “bad”
behavior as long as it’s done in the right place.
·
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.”
·
If you’ve previously used cleaners or
chemicals of any kind on the area, then neutralizing cleaners won’t be
effective until you’ve rinsed every trace of the old cleaner from the carpet. Even
if you haven’t used chemicals recently, any trace of a non-protein-based
substance will weaken the effect of the enzymatic cleaner. The cleaner will use
up its “energy” on the old cleaners instead of on the protein stains you want
removed.
·
To remove all traces of old chemicals
and clean old or heavy stains in carpeting, consider renting an extractor or wet-vac
from a local hardware store. This machine operates much like a vacuum cleaner
and is efficient and economical. Extracting/wet-vac machines do the best job of
forcing clean water through your carpet and then forcing the dirty water back
out again. When using these machines or cleaners, be sure to follow the
instructions carefully. Don’t use any chemicals with these machines – they work
much more effectively with plain water.
·
Once the area is really clean, you
should use a high-quality pet odor neutralizer available at pet supply stores.
Test the affected surface for staining first, and read and follow the
instructions.
·
If the area still looks stained after
it’s completely dry from extracting and neutralizing, try any good carpet stain
remover.
·
If urine has soaked down into the
padding underneath your carpet, your job will be more difficult. You may need
to remove and replace that portion of the carpet and padding.
·
Using the suggestions in our aversives,
positive reinforcement and housetraining handouts, make the “accident zone”
unattractive, the appropriate “bathroom” area attractive, and teach your pet
where you want him to eliminate, instead. The re-training period may take a
week or more. Remember, it took time to build the bad habit, and it will take
time to replace that habit with a new, more acceptable behavior. Treat your pet
with patience and give him a lot of encouragement!
To
Clean Floors and Walls
If
the wood on your furniture, walls, baseboard or floor is discolored, the
varnish or paint has been affected by the acid in the urine. You may need to
remove and replace the layer of varnish or paint. Employees at your local
hardware or building supply store can help you identify and match your needs
with appropriate removers and replacements. Washable enamel paints and some washable
wallpapers, may respond favorably to enzymatic cleaners. Read the instructions
carefully before using these products and test them in an invisible area.