A stain remover you can make out of 3 things you probably own right now that'll work better than any stain remover you can buy in the store. Seriously. I've tested it.
Before any of you natural remedy eye rollers click away I should let you know that I'm part of your gang. I am a skeptic by nature but always willing to give something a shot and try it out. If it works (and a LOT of natural cleaning products work great) that's great, I'll add it to my arsenal. If it doesn't? I drink it. 'Cause you can do that with natural cleaners.
Just kidding. Please don't drink any cleaners unless it's made exclusively out of vodka.
So the sleeping cats ... If you see anything in the world anywhere and it is cute and cuddly you can immediately assume it is also stinky and stainy. Cats, dogs, babies, beets ... if it weren't for their looks and general ability to make us feel gooey inside they would all be sent on their way after the first time they made a poo. Or in the case of beets, the first time you made a poo and thought you were dying.
My little Siamese cat Cleo was traumatized when she was younger because I trained her to use the toilet. The actual toilet. My other cat Prada took to it like nothing, but Cleo was a bit small for training (I didn't realize this was a thing) and she found it hard. Because of this she revolted and started to pee in a corner.
For the rest of her life if her litter box wasn't 100% clean, she'd pee in a corner because of traumatization.
Which in the case of cats is something that can really happen, being traumatized by toilet training. Children on the other hand cannot be traumatized for life by toilet training. How many adults do you know that poop behind a curtain because their mom tried to get them out of diapers too early?
Once a cat starts peeing somewhere they aren't supposed to the smell stays and it's what tells their little brain that THIS is indeed the right place to pee. Even if it isn't. Even if it's hardwood. Even if you've discussed it with them.
Now my cat Ernie, the last cat I have left, has taken to missing the litter box. She perches herself on the edge of the box, hunches her back a little and whizzes all over the side of the litter box.
I have a big rubber mat under one of her litter boxes (the other litter box is a Litter Robot) but she'll sometimes pee so much that it even runs off the mat and onto my pine floor. Yay.
This solution will lift the stain and the smell of cat urine among other things. No joke. Better than the enzyme removers you can buy at the pet store.
DIY Stink & Stain Remover
Materials
- 16 ounces hydrogen peroxide
- 1 tsp. dishwashing liquid (preferably DAWN)
- 1 tbsp. baking soda
Tools
- Spray bottle
Instructions
Mix all the ingredients together in a spray bottle and treat affected area.
Spray the floor and leave it until it dries, then wipe away or vacuum any white powder that's left (it's just the baking soda, you didn't Breaking Bad the solution into crystal meth or cocaine.)
Not only is this going to work on cat urine but it'll also work on just about anything that's stained. I've used it on fabric, wood floors and nylon.
Have dingy socks? Stained sheets? Towels? This'll work on all of that. Just put whatever you're working on in the sink and soak it. For socks you can spray them, put the in a plastic bag or airtight bin and let them soak overnight.
It's a quick thing you can mix up and go to town with this weekend if you're looking to do some spring cleaning.
If I'm being perfectly honest, I don't think I'll be doing any spring cleaning this weekend. I'm more likely to be taking part in my specialty - spring dirtying.
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So the peroxide totally works. We had our litter box in a closet at our last house (a rental) and my elderly cranky cat Chunky ruined the hardwood in there. We poured peroxide on the floor multiple times and watched it bubble and the cat pee rise up to be mopped up.
At the current house Chunky took to peeing in the dog's beds or random corners or just next to the litter box when she wasn't happy. I scoured so many different sites and tried a wheat litter for a while until I found roaches going mad eating it one night. What finally worked was this miracle cat litter I found on Amazon. She has never peed outside of the box again! It's a miracle in and of itself because the room where the litter box resides was once covered in pee by the last owner's cat. I'm currently chipping away at the tile in that room and the smell is so bad it burns my nose!
Chunky is such a cute cat name! I just adopted a feral cat and looking for a name, but he's not chunky. Darn.
A friend of mine adopted two ferals from a rescued litter and named them "Slink" and "Scrap" due to their being anything but chunky; I thought those were great names. :) And they're doing beautifully.
Hmmmmmmm, I have to try that...my chihuahuas think peeing is for inside and lounging is for outside. The last time I went into Yankee Candle with my husband the girl asked what kind of smell we were interested in and my hubs said "dog pee scent"...it's what were used to!
Oh my gosh Janet, this made me LOL soooo bad... I can see us in the same situation.
Sorry I'm late for this...Thanks for the tip..I will mix some up..I think Ernie's fur is gorgeous..and of course Cleo is pretty..she is Siamese..she can't help but be pretty..I also love your headboard..very nice..
Next challenge: how do you stop them from peeing in plants? Cause this special sauce sounds amazing but I can't spray it on my plants (right?).
I made little bonnets out of black landscape cloth for the houseplants my cats can reach. Just cut a circle a few inches bigger than your pot, cut a center hole and a slit (a la an outdoor tablecloth designed for an umbrella), install on the pot and tie it on with twine. It looks a little like those cloth caps they put on old-fashioned jam jars but it keeps the cats -- and toddlers -- out and you can water through it. Win.
I put rocks on the surface of the soil, and it stopped them! (pretty big rocks — from the beach, but I thinks anything that makes it uncomfortable for their feet.)
Pine comes work well in potted plants!
This recipe seems to be good for so much. I've seen it in various places lately - pinterest of course, but on a kid show called the Wild Kratts where they teach kids all about various animals. One show was about getting the smell of skunk out of something. It was a mythbusters type of episode really because they tried all sorts of things, but it was this concoction that did it. So, it seems that it works on the worst of smells - cat pee and skunk odor.
I have 4 cats and am constantly cleaning up pee and poop. I have all my shredded furniture covered with inexpensive quilts so I can launder them when a cat (identity unknown) sprays. Yes, they are all spayed/neutered, and have been checked for UTI's. One cat refuses to poop in the litter box, no matter what type of litter I try, and occasionally I find pee on the floor in a bedroom. It is a never ending battle, but I fight every day. I have 5 litter boxes, so everyone should be happy, but not so much. Will give this a try, Karen. I have used many products, but feel that really it is just temperament, not lingering odors that drive these cats to do what they do.
My vet suggested separate litter box for each cat. Cats feel very personal about their poop and use it for communication purposes. Some will absolutely refuse to use another cat's box. That's a lot of boxes but you.have a lot of pee, too. It's a toss up, whatever you're willing to put up with. It worked for me.
That's the solution for skunk spray, too! I would have never thought of using it on cat pee. I'll try it out in my garage. The outside cat likes to sneak in and do his business right next to my treadmill if someone leaves a door open. Hiss! :)
According to Jolie Kerr, author of What to do When your Boyfriend Barfs in your Handbag, cleaning up cat pee with vinegar is counterproductive. Apparently there is something about vinegar that actually incites the cat to re pee the area.
Just sayin'
Karen,
Has Cleo always had potty box issues? If this is recent she may have a health issue. On Christmas Eve our 7 year old cat jumped on the coffee table squatted and let loose. Ater a trip to the vet she was diagnosed with renal failure. A special diet and fluids every other day, no more potty box issues.
Hi Jeannie - Cleo has always been this way, it's nothing new. :) ~ karen!
Never be without peroxide, it cleans everything, blood on rugs, dog vomit on the car seat, try it when nothing else works.
Sagas of Pee and Poo
When we moved into our house, the first thing Harman did was hire two men to dig a trench and install a cat tunnel, made of 10" PVC pipe, leading from our kitchen, down about 3', across about 35' of lawn, and back up into the side of the garage. We keep the litter boxes there. The cats were initially completely averse to the tunnel, but eventually they figured it out and it became second nature to them. Of course, in spite of the fact that we spent $300 on a Cat Genie (an entirely self-cleaning cat box, totally genius invention, highly recommend), one of our cats, Remie, only used it for peeing. For pooping? She used the entire rest of the garage. As long is it wasn't inside the house, we just grumbled and cleaned it up. Then our other cat, Isabel, started peeing on the stove. In our kitchen. On my burners. Apparently that's a thing. I looked it up. Anyway, after several months of covering the stove with inverted sheet pans every night, we finally rehomed Isabel. She is actually very happy now living around the corner from us with a very nice lady, and she doesn't pee on her stove. Now we had to figure out what to do about Remie pooping all over the garage. So recently we built an enclosure for her so that when she exits the cat tunnel on the garage side, she can access only the area of the garage immediately adjacent to her box. She pooped on the floor. So then we attached some leftover 10" PVC pipe to the end of her cat tunnel, leading directly to the cat box itself. This worked for a while, but then she started skirting the box and circling round to poop on the floor. Next up, another barrier forcing her to poop in the box or not have any room to poop at all. I will let you know how this works out. (I really recommend the Cat Genie. It hooks up to a water source and a sewer line--some people just use a spare toilet, most people use laundry hook ups. The Cat Genie literally scoops and discards poop down the sewer line, washes the litter--special plastic cat litter granules--and then dries them. The cleaning process is activated by the cat using the box, so it cleans itself every time it's used, and so is never in any way compromised.)
Some cats are afraid of automatic cleaners. Maybe that's why Remie doesn't poop in it? Maybe it has caught him, uh, at a bad time when he was going?
Nope, the Cat Genie has sensors that detect when a cat is in the box and won't run until ten minutes after the cat leaves the box. Remie actually does use the box, but she seems to have been habituated to the garage floor for some reason. She pees in the box, and lately (this very morning, actually) I saw poop in the Cat Genie. But she is also pooping and peeing elsewhere, alas.
I am so going to give this a try. Nothing in the world like a disturbed cat peeing on your brand new sofa, newly upholstered chair and leather chair. Professional cleaning helped but the fragrance really comes out when the weather gets humid.
Gonna give this a try! Our 19 yr old has taken to sleeping directly in front of the wood stove all winter, and has peed on the hearth a few times (I think she get so warm and cosy she's not venturing to the litter box). Despite cleaning with enzyme cleaners it still happens so we've given up and just put down "pee pads" which allows us to simply toss out the mess in the morning. Come spring, I don't want her thinking that this is the new place to pee, so it will be good to get that odour out fully.
Perfect timing! I am in the middle of a "ditch the carpet and enjoy the beautiful oak" project-3 rooms worth. And I was just about to give up on a black area caused by cat pee and wax over it. Thanks! Let me give you a tip, in gratitude: you can get name brand cell phone batteries and just about every pen refill ever made on eBay CHEAP! (Also exotic camera batteries and watch batteries, for that matter. I once got 50 assorted watch batteries for $5. I used to go to a lot of yard sales and find watches for $1 that just needed one of my 10 cent batteries. I also like using NICE pens and pencils, like Cross, Parker, Waterman, Sheaffer, etc. I donated all the cheap pens my Dad had compulsively bought to my workplace, The Land of Lost Pens, and now every pen and pencil I own is beautiful. And writes.) :)
Mary, I will get diapers. Our carpet needs to be replaced. Holding off because of cost issues. I am afraid she will chew off.
Oooh, thanks for the tip. I always buy Oxyclean or whatever Pet Odor spray but this sounds a lot more economical. I will try it next time one of my fur babies is naughty!
Karen, do you know if this works for older set in stains?
Those are harder Lisa E, but it will lighten if not completely eliminate the stain. Sometimes when things are that bad you have to sand it down and refinish. ~ karen!
I have used peroxide before and it worked pretty amazing on its own, but I am going to try this the next time we have a cat or puppy ooooopsie! I'm thinking this might be okay to use on animals... my beabull pup loves to rub himself in all things disgusting, including cat pee. It's awful when your dog smells like cat pee! And it's funny how cats are so particular about their potty routine - and then there is my puppy that poops, turns around and yup, decides it might make a good snack. lol it's no wonder cat's think they are superior to dogs!
I have heard of this combo for skunk smell. My brother in law said it was the only of many remedies that worked on their dog- ever better than the expensive stuff they bought at the vet.
But good to know that it seems to be a general purpose enzyme cleaner replacement.
No pee smell here, but your desk sound suspiciously clean to me.