How to Remove Cat Urine Smell from Your Home: 5 Tips and Tricks

By SecretWuff 10 Min Read
Photo by Dr. Charles Bonk

The information is up to date and based on the latest veterinary research.

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Cats bring joy to the home, but there’s one aspect of having a cat that most owners don’t fully understand: Experienced owners know that one indoor accident can leave a powerful odor spreading throughout the house. Cat urine is highly concentrated and easily soaks into a variety of hard and soft surfaces, so cats have a knack for creating a lingering, stench-inducing odor.

Cleaning up cat urine thoroughly and quickly is the only way to keep your home comfortable for your family and guests and prevent future accidents. Unfortunately, these stains create unique problems that everyday solutions can’t solve. If you’re looking for a cleaner home, here are 5 tips and tricks to remove cat urine odor from your entire home.

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How to get rid of cat urine smell from your home

1. Use a black light to find old urine stains

Urine stains on carpet seen under UV light
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Sometimes you can pinpoint cat urine stains with your sense of smell, but often the smell comes from all directions, making it hard to know where to start cleaning. If you’re having trouble finding the source of the smell, a UV light can help you easily find hidden cat urine stains.

How to spot cat urine using a black light

Black lights or UV lights can be purchased at most major retailers. First, make the room as dark as possible by turning off the lights and closing the curtains. Next, shine a light all over the room.

Look for yellow or fluorescent green splatter patterns on walls or the bottom edges of furniture where your cat may have sprayed or urinated in. If you find any, make a mark around the urine stain to determine how much area to cover with the cleaner.

Check for stains behind or under furniture, in the back of closets, or anywhere your cat might sneak in to urinate. Remember that UV lights only work on dried cat urine stains, not fresh stains, so if the cat urine smell has been lingering for a day or two, a UV light may be more practical.


2. Use an enzyme cleaner for cat urine stains

Close-up of a woman wearing rubber gloves cleaning carpet with cloth and detergent spray at home
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Cat urine is harder to remove than most stains, and many of our favorite cleaners don’t come close to removing it completely. Uric acid crystals and other odor-causing compounds stick to the fibers of your carpets and furniture.

Many cleaning products only do a good job of masking the odor, and even the best steamers and carpet cleaners often only remove a small portion of the stain.

For pet owners, the best way to rid your home of cat urine odor is with an enzymatic cleaner. Enzymatic cleaners, like Hepper’s Advanced Bio-Enzyme Pet Stain & Odor Eliminator Spray, use active bacteria and enzymes to selectively break down components of urine, converting them into carbon dioxide and other harmless compounds that evaporate.

How to use an enzyme cleaner

The enzyme spray is safe for pets and humans and can be used on a variety of surfaces without risking stains or damage. Simply shake the bottle and apply a generous amount to the area. The enzymes break down urine particles on contact and continue to work until the urine is gone.

In many cases, you won’t need to soak the cleaner afterwards, but be sure to follow the directions for your particular product.


3. Remove carpets if necessary

Close-up of a man's hands rolling up a carpet
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If you want to completely eliminate cat urine, it’s important to gauge the extent of the problem. While carpets can be vacuumed to remove surface stains and odors to a satisfactory degree, urine that has soaked into the carpet padding and under the floor will continue to emit an odor that will attract cats back.

The same goes for hard floors, where urine can seep through cracks.

Assessing your carpet for urine damage

Lift up a corner of the carpet and inspect the padding for urine damage. If the padding is soaked or smells like urine, take it a step further and check underneath the floor. While you may be able to freshen your carpet and eliminate the cat urine smell, padding is cheap and difficult to clean.

Replace carpet underlays with pungent odors. If damage extends to the subfloor, use an enzymatic cleaner to break down the urine. Once dry, apply a stain-preventing primer over the wood to prevent stains and odors from spreading.


4. Ventilate your home

Woman opening and closing window blinds
Image credit: Iuliia Pilipeichenko, Shutterstock

Cleaning cat urine stains is the only effective way to get rid of the smell, but if your home smells unbearable in the meantime, there are some quick and easy ways to reduce the odor, if not eliminate it.

First, open all the windows to allow for good ventilation: turn on ceiling fans and place box fans in the windows to push out smelly air and bring in fresh air.


5. Sprinkle baking soda on it to instantly eliminate odors

Cleaning a mattress with baking soda
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If you don’t have an enzyme cleaner and want to get rid of smelly cat stains quickly, there are a few household products you can use to give your home a temporary refresh, with baking soda at the top of the list.

Baking soda neutralizes both acidic and basic odor molecules, making it a versatile natural odor eliminator for a variety of situations.

  • Using Baking Soda on Fresh Urine Stains

Baking soda is an especially effective first line of defense in removing wet pee stains because it absorbs moisture while also deodorizing. When sprinkled on fresh urine stains on carpets or fabrics, it soaks up the stain rather than driving it deeper into the material like when you blot the stain with a cloth.

If you notice stains, you can protect the carpet pad and subfloor with baking soda and then apply an enzyme cleaner – if you don’t have baking soda, you can use cornstarch or clean cat litter to similar effect.

  • Baking soda is effective for removing old urine stains

Baking soda also works quickly to remove foul-smelling dried urine stains. The cat urine smell usually goes away, but can return days, weeks, or even months later if the area gets wet again. High humidity and spills can saturate the uric acid crystals embedded in the urine, causing the smell to fill your home again.

Sprinkling baking soda on old cat urine will eliminate the odor while removing moisture that can reactivate the compounds. It may not be a permanent solution, or enough to stop your cat from smelling the urine, but baking soda can save your nostrils in an emergency.

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How to Remove Cat Urine Stains with Baking Soda

A woman in a yellow sweater holding a bottle of baking soda
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Sprinkle a generous amount of baking soda onto the cat urine stain. Leave it for at least 30 minutes or more, depending on the severity of the stain, to absorb the odor and moisture. Once dry, vacuum up the powder.

Ideally, powdered substances like baking soda should be vacuumed up using a wet/dry vacuum with a HEPA filter. Particulate matter can damage the motors of traditional vacuum cleaners and elude capture by standard filters, creating even more problems to solve.

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Final thoughts

Cats are known to get into trouble every now and then, but nothing sullys a home quite like the foul smell of cat urine, a smell that is surprisingly nasty and persistent, leading many of us to give up and call the professionals.

Extensive damage may require professional intervention, but if you follow these tips and tricks for getting rid of urine odor, you’ll likely be able to resolve the issue with minimal effort and maximum satisfaction.


Featured image credit: Pixel-Shot, Shutterstock

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