help with pet odor

[natty68]

I am moving into a new place. I can smell pet (dog) odors as soon as I walk in. It's a nice place but I must get rid of the smell. The carpets will be professionally cleaned before I move in but does anyone have any other tips?

[SweetLexie520]

I don't have any tried and true suggestions - but we got a bottle of "Wonder Pet" (we have two cats) that smells pretty nice it's supposed to cover/eliminate those types of odors. Maybe not permanent, but it could help in the meantime! And if anyone has any suggestions on how to get the smell of cat pee out of a stainless steel stove top (that cat is lucky I love him so much!) I would LOVE to hear it!

[hopeky94]

If you have central air/heat vents in the floors, you'll need to clean these out as thoroughly as possible-- it's amazing how much gunk can get built up in those! Mainly worry about the vent covers and the area of the ducts straight down from the vents. Anything that entered the ducts and wasn't cleaned out before will pretty much be caked on right there. (If the vent holes are too narrow to reach into, you may have to get creative and attach a rag to a stick or something! LOL)

As for the carpets: personally, I'd probably clean them myself first, THEN bring in the pros-- only because they'd get a double cleaning that way, just in case one time isn't enough to get rid of the odor.

If there are curtains or blinds (or any other fabric, vinyl, or plastic) there already, they'll all need a good washing too-- preferably with something that has an "odor eliminator" in it. You may even want to wipe down the walls then spray them with an odor neutralizer of some sort!

If after all this, you STILL smell the pet odor, you may have to do some deeper investigating: see if there's a certain area of the room/house that smells stronger, then try to narrow that down to the exact source.

(In my house, the vents were part of the problem, but the biggest issue was the previous owner had let their dogs use one room as if it were "the great outdoors" and had ruined the carpet... after the carpet was ripped up, floors cleaned and deodorized, all vents cleaned out, and new carpet laid, the pet smell was completely gone! )

HTH!!

[hopeky94]

Originally Posted by SweetLexie520 And if anyone has any suggestions on how to get the smell of cat pee out of a stainless steel stove top (that cat is lucky I love him so much!) I would LOVE to hear it!

Is your stovetop actually part of your stove or do you have a stovetop and oven that are separate? If it's a regular stove, have you taken the entire stovetop apart-- removed burners and drip pans, then lifted the "lid" (the whole cover that sits on top of the stove)-- and cleaned every bit of that too, including outside edges? :shrug7: Is there any chance some of it could have gotten between the stove and the countertop/cabinets?

If you're sure the smell is in the actual stainless steel part, maybe one of the special cleaners they make especially for stainless steel would work... look online or check in the stores near the Easy Off oven cleaners.

HTH!

I guess I'm pretty fortunate that my cat's biggest issues are using furniture as scratching posts and shedding hair faster than I can clean it up!

[natty68]

thanks! THe house does have central air so I will clean the vents out too. What kind of neutralizer do I need to put down? I do plan on cleaning the walls and the baseboards. What kind of cleaner should I use? Lysol?

[hopeky94]

The best two odor eliminators I'm aware of are baking soda and vinegar.

Here's some info from Arm & Hammer's website:

Tips for the Family Room - Loving Your Pets Upholstery Spills Pet accidents, kid accidents, even adult accidents. Clean spills or accidents on upholstery by soaking up as much of the liquid as possible. Clean the stain according to the manufacturers directions and allow to dry. Then to deodorize, when the area is completely dry, sprinkle with ARM & HAMMER® Baking Soda and let sit for 15 minutes before vacuuming it up. Check for color-fastness first before applying ARM & HAMMER® Baking Soda. Freshen and Deodorize Carpets Odors stink...especially pet odors that tend to linger! A sprinkle a day keeps the odors away. Sprinkle ARM & HAMMER® Baking Soda to freshen carpet areas. Let it sit for 15 minutes before vacuuming. Be sure to check for color fastness first. For extra freshening with a clean fragrance, try ARM & HAMMER® Carpet & Room Deodorizers! Deodorize Pet Accidents Pet accident odors tend to linger and who wants that? Clean the area thoroughly and allow to dry completely. Then sprinkle on ARM & HAMMER® Baking Soda to freshen up that smell you could do without. Let it sit for 15 minutes before vacuuming. Be sure to check for color-fastness first. For extra freshening with a clean fragrance, try ARM & HAMMER® Carpet & Room Deodorizers!

Then the below info came from vinegartips.com:

Remove pet odors. After cleaning, cover the area with baking soda. Let it stand overnight. The next day vacuum up the baking soda and wash the area with white distilled vinegar. Rinse and let dry.

Clean up pet accidents by first blotting up the area and then adding a white distilled vinegar-and-water solution. Blot until it is almost dry. Then sprinkle baking soda over the area and let it dry. Vacuum up the residue the next day.

And one more, from a professional cleaning service's tip page:

Deodorizing Carpets Due to Cat, Dog And Puppy Urine Oh, oh! You open the front door to your home one evening and the smell hits you square in the face. Those animals you love, the dogs, the cats, kittens, puppies, are little poop and pee machines! Even though you've picked up the waste - when you saw it - the memory lingers on. And wet urine stains often sink right in without being discovered at all, unless they leave a stain and/or begin to stink! You may try the simple fix with baking soda for deodorizing the carpet, but - rest assured - that is not going to do the job. Here are serious odor control tips to help you. • Sprinkle the carpet generously with baking soda, and brush in. Allow to set for a few hours, overnight if possible. • Then vacuum thoroughly and get ready to give the carpet a good shampooing with a steam cleaner. • You will not be able to vacuum out all of the baking soda and that's okay. • The residue will mix with the water in the cleaning solution and help sweeten and remove the odor. • Either use the cleaning solution that is recommended for your particular brand of steam carpet cleaner, or buy one that is compatible off the shelf; look for one that specifically states it has odor removing properties. • Note that you should not use any detergent/soap when steam cleaning. The soap residue is impossible to remove and will end up attracting more dirt. • Follow manufacturer's recommended instructions for steam cleaning your carpet and allow to dry thoroughly before vacuuming. You'll be pleased at the freshness of your home once the job is done and you are finished deodorizing your carpet!

HTH, and good luck!

[Lmnde]

KOE - Kennel Odor Eliminator - you may be able to get this at pet stores, but I order mine at Revival Animal - google for their website. Will work garanteed and it is generally safe to use on all surfaces included painted walls [if you have fuzzy or "soft" wall paper, try it in an inconspicous corner first]. This is not just a cover up or perfume - this actually works and smells good too.

When I clean our kennel building, I use any disinfecting regular cleaner first [BTW - if you don't know what to do with all the shampoos you probably got stocked up - Loreal Vive is great for washing walls, LOL], and do a clean water rinse with the KOE.

If you shampoo the carpets yourself, you need to really wet the padding down if the urine is in the padding as well. Might as well add some flea stuff in your last clean water run along with the KOE - if there were pets, there may have been fleas and you really don't want to activate them by shampooing... If you have them prof. cleaned, let the cleaners know in advance that there are doggy smells, so they can add an odor eliminator to their cleaning solution.

The lady with the countertop/cat problem - you'll have to take the top off and clean from underneath as well, burners, switches and the entire top plate, possibly the insulation between both parts. I had a severe mice problem years ago in a rental home, with mice in the stove. All the cleaning in the world didn't get this stink out, especially when you were baking - cake de mousie pee odor! They had actually build nests in the insulation between the oven and the stove when the house sat empty and everytime the stove warmed up, it released the urine fumes. I ended up moving, as the owner refused to replace the stove.

[SweetLexie520]

Thank you everyone for the stove tips! I'll be taking it apart shortly to scrub it down! His pee actually etched a pattern into the steel (probably b/c it sat overnight till we found it.) Hopefully we can at least get the smell out, though. I can lift off the top to clean underneath so maybe that will help!

[qponcrazy]

I have a cat that pees in his litter box but, will not poop in it. I've tried several products and have shampooed the carpet but, the smell is still there. I'm going to try the above suggestions and hope something will work, if it doesn't I'm afraid he'll be finding a new home.

[uummm]

How about cat pee IN a LEATHER (real leather) couch? I have one MALE cat (who we love) that pees (and poops) on the couch when he is locked in the house. I thought the smell was almost gone, then we went away for 5 days and my neighbor left the cats in the house and went away for 3 days. Came home to pee ON the couch and that was when I finally realized the pee went through the couch to the rug below. The rug doesn't concern me as much as the couch that the cushions are sewn onto the couch. This cat picked the most expensive piece of furniture to call his own.

And in the cats defense, it wasn't his fault he was left inside. He tried to hold it but no one came over in time to let him out. The second I opened the door he went flying out the door and came back 3 minutes later to greet us. He just refuses to use one of the FIVE litterboxes I have in the house.