# How to get cat urine smell out of the house?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-cat-urine-smell-out-of-the-house/242233
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [April 27, 2004, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-cat-urine-smell-out-of-the-house/242233 "2004-04-27T04:31:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2004, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-cat-urine-smell-out-of-the-house/242233/1 "2004-04-27T04:31:39Z")
The elder of my two cats generally uses the litter box in the basement. Unfortunately she peed in the dining room a few times last year because she’s a bit of a bitch. It smells awful when it rains. We’ve had her checked out but the vet says there’s nothing physically wrong with her. Frankly a part of me would like to drop her off at a shelter but my conscience would haunt me night so we’re just going to have to live with her. It’s a good thing she’s truly beautiful.
How do I get smell out? Any product suggestions? We’ve pulled up the carpeting and now have wood floors there.
Thanks.
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### Author:  [@Salem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salem)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2004, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-cat-urine-smell-out-of-the-house/242233/2 "2004-04-27T04:50:57Z")
There are speciaized products that break down the bacteria and should take away the smell and keep it from coming back. There are quite a few actually, but I’ll be dipped if I can remember which one I used. I know I got one at WalMart that worked well. You have to let it soak into the wood, though. Just peruse the pet care shelves and you’ll find the stuff. I have an older cat who does not like disruption to his well-synchronized life. Kittens have a tendency to do that. Adds a whole new dimension to the phrase “I’m pissed off.”
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### Author:  [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2004, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-cat-urine-smell-out-of-the-house/242233/3 "2004-04-27T04:58:39Z")
How to get rid of cat urine smell?
First, get rid of the cats…
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### Author:  [@Sengkelat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sengkelat)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2004, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-cat-urine-smell-out-of-the-house/242233/4 "2004-04-27T05:01:44Z")
I’ve used:
Nature’s Miracle
The Equalizer
baking soda
Febreze
and some brand of carpet shampoo that I can’t remember.
None of them worked. Nature’s Miracle in fact added a nasty smell of its own.
There are two methods that have worked for me:
1. run the affected item through the washing machine, multiple times if necessary. (this is mainly good for clothes)
2. take the affected carpet outside the house and leave it in the rain and sun for several months somewhere like a deck where the rain can soak through it but not pool. The added bonus to this is that while it’s still smelly, it’ll be out of the house.
It’s possible that I just have a very sensitive nose, or my particular cat had especially pungent urine. (For the record, he was scent-marking, not urinating, so it’s probably slightly different stuff) YMMV. Good luck.
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### Author:  [@jastu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jastu)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2004, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-cat-urine-smell-out-of-the-house/242233/5 "2004-04-27T05:05:09Z")
I found vinegar very good for cleaning cat pee and spray from any smooth surfaces and taking away all trace of smell.
Carpets are another matter. My sister bought a house in which one room had terrible cat pee smell. Professional cleaning did nothing and she finished up having to replace the carpet and underlay in that particular room.
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### Author:  [@Sam\_I\_Am](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_I_Am)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2004, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-cat-urine-smell-out-of-the-house/242233/6 "2004-04-27T06:50:02Z")
The only ones I’ve known to really work are the ones that contain bacteria. I can’t remember the name of the one I used; it may simply be called Out.
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### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2004, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-cat-urine-smell-out-of-the-house/242233/7 "2004-04-27T12:52:44Z")
Lighter fluid and an open flame.
Seriously…my sister-in-law had a serious problem with cat pee, and she ended up replacing the underlayment on her floors and re-tiling them. It won’t come out of carpeting completely. It might come out enough to become bearable to people who actually live there, but your guests will always smell it.
My kitties are pretty good. We don’t have any who pee outside the box.
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### Author:  [@DaToad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaToad)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2004, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-cat-urine-smell-out-of-the-house/242233/8 "2004-04-27T18:02:44Z")
One of the gals in my office moved into a house that reeked of cat pee. To make matters worse, her cat re-marked the territory.
She used this product and had success. I’ve been in her home and there is no odor.
[http://www.odor-eliminator.com/index.htm](http://www.odor-eliminator.com/index.htm)
Good luck!
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### Author:  [@vbvaboater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbvaboater)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2004, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-cat-urine-smell-out-of-the-house/242233/9 "2004-04-28T02:06:10Z")
Depending on your floor’s finish, bleach will do the trick. We had the same problem in an old fixer-upper we had. We lifted the carpets, sprayed bleach onto the floor and base mouldings…problem solved.
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### Author:  [@Bangiadore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bangiadore)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2004, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-cat-urine-smell-out-of-the-house/242233/10 "2004-04-28T02:21:21Z")
Veering ever so slightly off topic, I have this problem too, but I can’t seem to locate its exact source. It’s somewhere in the stairwell of my house (a common area) and might be localized anywhere from the first to the third floor. I don’t even know how it got there – for years the stairwell was scentless, and then one day wham-o, cat stink. I’ve sniffed around everywhere, but can’t seem to locate it. Orange deodorant spray (the bathroom type) masks it somewhat, and of course it’s better in the months when the windows can stay open, but, basically, it’s driving me nuts. Any suggestions for a situation like this?
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### Author:  [@Crescent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crescent)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2004, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-cat-urine-smell-out-of-the-house/242233/11 "2004-04-28T03:54:44Z")
> [@Bangiadore](#):
>
> Veering ever so slightly off topic, I have this problem too, but I can’t seem to locate its exact source. It’s somewhere in the stairwell of my house (a common area) and might be localized anywhere from the first to the third floor. I don’t even know how it got there – for years the stairwell was scentless, and then one day wham-o, cat stink. I’ve sniffed around everywhere, but can’t seem to locate it. Orange deodorant spray (the bathroom type) masks it somewhat, and of course it’s better in the months when the windows can stay open, but, basically, it’s driving me nuts. Any suggestions for a situation like this?
A blacklight will show you where the indiscretion \ is.
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### Author:  [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2004, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-cat-urine-smell-out-of-the-house/242233/12 "2004-04-28T04:25:40Z")
The carpet has been thrown out but the smell still remains in the wood.
Damn.
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### Author:  [@Bangiadore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bangiadore)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2004, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-cat-urine-smell-out-of-the-house/242233/13 "2004-04-28T12:32:46Z")
Thanks, **Crescent** , for the blacklight suggestion. Now where’d I put my hippie kit? 🙂
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)
#### Post date: [April 28, 2004, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-cat-urine-smell-out-of-the-house/242233/14 "2004-04-28T21:09:21Z")
I had cat piss in my carpet. Used the enzyme stuff without success. Got rid of the cat. Still smelled. Two years later - still smelled. Tore the carpet out. The tile beneath smelled. Poured a new floor over the old one and that did it!
So there you go. Get a new floor.