# Are there any household chemicals that will neutralize ammonia? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 13, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-household-chemicals-that-will-neutralize-ammonia/339885 "2006-01-13T21:46:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2006, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-household-chemicals-that-will-neutralize-ammonia/339885/21 "2006-01-14T00:54:55Z")
Sprinkle some lime, its alkalinity will reduce the effects of the acidness of the pee. Or sprinkle some gypsum…powdered gypsum…will also act like lime. No lime…no gypsum…then use baking soda, sprinled on the surface will act much the same way. You could alter the pH of your dogs urine by adding a teaspoonful of Brewers Yeast to his/her diet. That is something already in most dog foods, just not enough. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2006, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-household-chemicals-that-will-neutralize-ammonia/339885/22 "2006-01-14T01:39:28Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > Sprinkle some lime, its alkalinity will reduce the effects of the acidness of the pee. > Or sprinkle some gypsum…powdered gypsum…will also act like lime. > > No lime…no gypsum…then use baking soda, sprinled on the surface > will act much the same way. > > You could alter the pH of your dogs urine by adding a teaspoonful of > Brewers Yeast to his/her diet. That is something already in most dog > foods, just not enough. I don’t think the fact that pee smells is really subject to modification. I doubt working on the dog’s biochemistry is the right approach here. And in fact, ammonia is a base (like lime), not an acid. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2006, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-household-chemicals-that-will-neutralize-ammonia/339885/23 "2006-01-14T02:37:30Z")
I know this will leave many aghast but yes I do use bleach to neutralize urine. Our cats have a noxious habit of peeing off the edge of the litter boxes in our basement, leaving them sitting in puddles of urine. When I change the pans, I use a spray bottle of bleach on the offending puddles. It foams and bubbles but I’ve never seen visible gas produced. The smell is temporarily even more nauseating then the urine but I vacate the basement for a few minutes and it quickly dissapates. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2006, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-household-chemicals-that-will-neutralize-ammonia/339885/24 "2006-01-14T02:43:08Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > True, in the specific case of ammonia, chloramines are produced, as well; but, in the uncontrolled conditions of our hypothetical household experiment, considerable amounts of diatomic chlorine will be produced, since the source of ammonia is anything but pure. Either way, nasty and toxic! Doesn’t it depend on the relative amounts of ammonia and chlorine? If there’s more ammonia, it’ll drive the reaction one way, and if there’s more chlorine, it’ll drive the reaction another way, won’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2006, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-household-chemicals-that-will-neutralize-ammonia/339885/25 "2006-01-14T03:07:31Z")
> [@Snooooopy](#): > > Doesn’t it depend on the relative amounts of ammonia and chlorine? If there’s more ammonia, it’ll drive the reaction one way, and if there’s more chlorine, it’ll drive the reaction another way, won’t it? Well, now we’re getting well beyond my understanding of the subject, but I believe it will depend partly on the amount of acidity present and probably a bunch of other things. Hopefully, one of our resident kitchen chemists will be by to flesh out the details. Suffice it to say I don’t think peeing in the bleach is a great idea. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2006, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-household-chemicals-that-will-neutralize-ammonia/339885/26 "2006-01-14T03:18:27Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > Well, now we’re getting well beyond my understanding of the subject, but I believe it will depend partly on the amount of acidity present and probably a bunch of other things. Hopefully, one of our resident kitchen chemists will be by to flesh out the details. Suffice it to say I don’t think peeing in the bleach is a great idea. 😉 Well, here’s the website that I derived my question from: > **[h2g2 - Oops.](https://h2g2.com/classic/A795611)** > > h2g2, the Unconventional Guide to Life, the Universe and Everything I don’t remember enough organic chemistry to know if these equations really work. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-household-chemicals-that-will-neutralize-ammonia/339885.md?page=1)