How to Clean Cat Urine from your Fabrics
The pungent stench of cat urine is a most unwelcome smell in any home, but if you know what you're doing, it's not a difficult job to tackle. Although it's not a pleasant task it is nonetheless a pretty quick and easy job, but only when you go about it the right way.
Some domestic cats are messier than others, but most pet owners experience accidents with cat urine. Carpet, clothing, furniture, it matters not what the pee seeps into, if you're unsure on the correct method of cleaning cat urine, then those cat urine smells will linger, and loiter, and hang around no matter how much you tried to rid them. worry not! With a purpose made cat urine cleaner, the job of urine removal is quick and easy to tackle. That's cat urine we're talking about here folks, and not Feline facial pheromone, for which will soon have an article all to itself.
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As much as we love our domesticated cats, it has to be said that when they pee, they stink, or rather the fabrics into which they piddle does. For most folks cleaning cat urine is a domestic chore they could do well without, but the fact of the matter is that it's no more hassles than cleaning up a glass of water providing you use one of the special cat urine cleaner products which can be found at most pet stores and main supermarkets. If done the wrong way, i.e. warm soapy water, then those cat urine smells will not only linger, but they'll become stronger too. Don't let your home stink of cat urine. Carpet and furniture fabric will harbor cat urine smells right up until you remove them properly. Ok, so how do you do that?
Here's the good news; there is an absolute abundance of products made specifically for cleaning cat urine. You can even find a cat urine cleaner that works best on certain fabrics. Why anyone would attempt to rid that cat urine smell with anything but a purpose cleaning agent means that they really haven't done their homework prior to taking on their feline companion. No home needs to smell of cat's pee no matter how many times Tiddles piddles into the home's fabrics. One such product that gets great reviews is called 1•2•3 ODOR FREE but it's by no means the only one available and new improved products are coming onto the high street shelves all the time that will see smelly cat urine gone in minutes. Remember folks, cat urine out of carpet really is no big deal providing you use the right products for the job.
There are some things that you need to ascertain prior to the cleaning cat urine. Firstly, where is the pee exactly and on what surface of fabric? The amount of piddle can also determine how you go about the removal of it. No cats pee smells pleasant but there are some felines which give off a much more pungent pong than others. Just before we move on, let's just take a quick look at why cat urine smells the way it does, and why it's such a sod to get rid of using conventional cleaning methods.
Believe it or not, but that simple looking puddle of cat's pee is actually composed of 5 strains of microorganisms, or bacteria if you like. 2 of these microbes are responsible for your cat's marking scent and the remaining 3 strains are found in the spray, urine and uric acid. It is this uric acid that makes cleaning cat urine only possible with a purpose cat urine cleaner. Keep reading…
So you see, the bacteria itself is not what causes the problem when cleaning cat urine, it's the uric acid. Uric acid has within it crystals and salts. It is these crystals and salts which are visible and pungent to the nose long after the cat has actually peed. Any non-purpose cat urine cleaner, i.e. household soaps and detergents simply activate and reactivate the crystals with their moisture. In fact any moisture will do the same with or without a cleansing agent, so you can see now why those cat urine smells need a cat urine cleaner to properly tackle the job.
Cleaning Cat Urine - Not as problematical as many pet owners think!
Like most simple tasks in life, something is only difficult if you don't know how to go about it. Being 'easy' is of little use if you don't know the procedure to follow of the products to purchase. Cleaning cat urine is no different, and although most cat owners learn a lot about their animals, it's surprising how many have no idea how to get rid of those cat urine smells quickly and efficiently. Hopefully after you read this short piece, your Tiddles piddles will be nothing more than a minor inconvenience as opposed to a lingering problem.
Okay, so if warm soapy water makes the problem worse, then we need to know what make the problem of stinking pee disappear. We've said it before and we'll say it yet again! Cleaning cat urine requires a purpose made cat urine cleaner and the best product for that would be a good enzyme cleaner. Enzyme cleaners will break down and destroy those bacteria and crystals within the pee that are responsible for that god awful stench. An enzyme cleaner is quick, easy to use, and effective, and to be honest, that's all you ad pet owners really need to know on the subject.
Q. How do I choose a Cat Urine Remover?
Listen up folks, and take note. Choosing a cat urine cleaner is not an overwhelming task. It's not as if there are rows of products all boasting the best solution to get rid of cat urine smells. There are no 'washing powder wars' here. In fact, if you go directly to a pet store of pet departmx`ent, and explain the problem, the choice will be taken from you by the expert. It doesn't matter where you have that cat urine, carpet, sofa, clothes etc, with the purpose cat urine cleaner those cat urine smells will be a pong of the past.
Cleaning Cat Urine using Cat Odor Products?
There's not an awful lot to learn about today's products used for cleaning cat urine smells out of fabrics, as most of them have clear instructions on the labels. For those of you interested in a little more detail, they basically fall into 3 categories, which are: enzymatic (mentioned above), bacterial, and chemical. All of these work extremely well on new cat urine smells, but if you have one that's been lingering around for a while despite your best efforts, then just ask the assistant at the pet shop and they'll be able to help you with those more stubborn stinks. Remember to mention the fabrics specifically
Endnote: So, our domestic pets are lovely, often cuddly, and a part of the family right? But being animals they can and do stink at times and they couldn't care less who whiffs their foul smelling odours or where they deposit them. Some people's homes have that doggy stink whereas others reek of cats, but they don’t have to providing you know a) how to keep your animals from stinking, and b) how to clean their mess up correct as and when it happens. Owning pets is a responsibility that goes way past a rub on the belly!
Not only do we have a responsibility to take care of our feline friends, but equally we have a responsibility to take care of ourselves and our families too. Yes cats are clean animals that are forever grooming themselves, but the are still animals nonetheless, and with that comes all kinds of potential health problems to humans should we not be mindful of what they might bring in with them and deposit on our surfaces.
Remember: Speed is of the Essence
If you are a new and inexperienced cat owner, whatever you do, don't forget that when comes to cleaning cat urine from carpets, furniture, clothes, and other fabrics, that speed really is of the essence. Just be mindful that the longer it sits, the worse it will get.
Do you have a Smelly Home?
All too often animal owners become accustomed to their pet pongs in te home to the point where they no longer notice the smells, or recognise them as anything unusual. However, whenever visitors come to those homes that reek of old stale cats pee, or doggy smells, it's a really unpleasant whiff for them. The bottom line is that just because you own pets, it doesn’t mean their smells have to dominate your home. A little education on how to clean up property after the cats and dogs, and also keeping the fur of the pets fresh, means that the only way folks will know you have animals is if they see them.
Point to Remember: Our Cat is Part of the Family
You often here cat owners say that their feline companion is very much a part of the family. To some degree this is true in many cases, but where many folks slip is when they forget that their animals are animals and start treating them like children. They're not your kinds, they are animals, pure and simple.
So a parent might scorn a child when it does something wrong or carelessly spill a drink onto the carpet or furniture, but to scold a cat for making a mess or knocking something over is wrong. Animals are not people and although many think their pets understand everything they say, the fact of the matter is that they do not. Animals learn best not through shouting or aggression, but through positive reward and kindness.
Worrying Abandoned Cat Statistics – when the USA refers to itself as a nation of animal lovers, one can't help but wonder if such statements are a farce. Why, you might ask? Well, to begin with, if the folks in the US are so loving towards their animals, why the need for 5,000 community animal shelters across the 52 states? Somewhere between 5-7 million once domestic pets enter these shelters annually with somewhere between 3 – 4,000,00 million being euthanized. 60% are dogs and 70% cats.
Less than 2% or all cats that enter these shelters are ever returned to their owners, which tells us what? It tells us that those people thought that having a cat was a good idea at the time, but it seems that when a little responsibility and care was needed the once cuddly kitty became too much to hassle.
Reader's submission May, 2012
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