How to clean cat urine off the carpet

If your cat isn't kitty litter-trained, these helpful methods and homemade solutions to help clean cat urine off the carpet.

What's worse than coming home to realize you hadn’t cleaned the cat litter all day? Coming home to find out that Whiskers has decided to make your carpet his new toilet.

Whether accidental or not, cat urine on the carpet must be thoroughly cleaned up as soon as possible. This is because any remnants of the urine or urine odour may encourage your cat to use that spot as his/her regular toilet.

There are a few methods to help break your cat’s bad habit and clean the urine off your carpet. Before starting any cleaning method, try to blot up as much of the urine as possible. A simple way to do this is to place a paper towel over the urine spot and apply a bit of pressure, repeat until the carpet is drier to the touch. Avoid rubbing the spot if you are having difficulty blotting up the urine. As the carpet starts to dry, pour cold water over the spot and continue to blot with paper towel.

• Steam-clean: A steam cleaner can create steam hot enough to sanitize the carpet, after which the water can be vacuumed up. Avoid using detergents with ammonia. You might want to consult a professional cleaner and have them recommend a commercial product or visit your local pet store. It is always best to test out the product in a small area on your carpet first before proceeding to use it on the spot.
• Homemade concoction: A homemade water and vinegar solution is excellent for killing bacteria on new and old stains. Mix one and a half cups of warm water and a half cup of vinegar, pour the mixture over the urine spot and let soak for three to five minutes. Sometimes a little help from baking soda can go along way. Once the water-vinegar solution has dried, sprinkle the spot with baking soda.
• Alternative homemade concoction: Another homemade method to clean cat urine off carpet is a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and dish soap. Mix (into a spray bottle ideally) one cup of hydrogen peroxide with a tablespoon of dish soap. After a thin coat of baking soda, soak the baking soda and urine spot thoroughly with the mixture. Using your fingers or an old toothbrush, gently massage the carpet and let sit till completely dry. Vacuum up the spot and clean again with cold water. Be sure to test the mixture on a small area of the carpet first as hydrogen peroxide can discolour or damage some carpets.

If after trying these methods and homemade solutions don’t remove the urine stain and/or odour off your carpet completely, consult a professional cleaner.