How to Clean Cat Pee Off a Couch

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How to Clean Cat Pee Off a Couch
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No one likes the dreaded odor of cat pee that can permeate your home if your feline friend has an accident on your carpet or — worse yet — your couch. Cats can have accidents for a variety of reasons, including behavioral problems or medical issues. Once you've had your cat checked out and treated by your veterinarian, you can start to deal with her inappropriate elimination. But you'll still need to deal with any stains and odors she's left behind.

Cat pee can be a bit hard to clean out of fabrics like upholstery, and if the cat urine in the couch cushions has soaked through to the stuffing, it can cause lingering odors. Fortunately, there are several things you can do to get cat pee out of your couch or other furniture and get them back into tip-top shape. After blotting up all the urine that you can with paper towels, turn to these methods to get rid of lingering odors and stains caused by cat pee.

Use an automatic carpet cleaner

Your best bet to get cat pee out of your couch is to use an automatic carpet cleaner. These types of cleaners have attachments that you can also use on furniture to remove stubborn stains like cat urine. Use the carpet cleaner attachment to soak the stain with a commercial cleaning solution through the nozzle and then vacuum it up to clean away urine that has soaked into the cushions of your couch.

Note that you may need to soak and vacuum the stains several times for them to come out. Use the furniture attachment to scrub the stain as well. For best results, use a carpet cleaning solution designed to combat pet odors such as Nature's Miracle Cat Enzymatic Urine Destroyer, available in a 1-gallon bottle.

Soak the stain with enzymes

When dealing with stains caused by cat feces or urine, one of the best bets to get rid of them is to use an enzymatic cleaner, according to PetMD. These types of cleaners contain special enzymes that break down the uric acid in cat pee, which is the chemical responsible for that horrible smell. Thus, not only do they help remove the stains caused by cat urine, enzymatic cleaners completely remove odors, too. Lingering odors aren't just unpleasant; they can also attract your cat back to the spot to urinate again.

Soak the stain thoroughly with the enzymatic cleaner to get down into the cat urine in the couch cushions that soaked into the stuffing. Allow the solution to sit overnight or until dry. Most of these types of cleaners don't need to be rinsed, so simply allowing the solution to dry is all you need to do. If necessary, re-treat the area, as required, to completely remove the stain and smell of the cat pee.

Sunny & Honey's Pet Stain Odor Miracle Cleaner has a fine mist spray for better coverage. Happy customers stated in reviews that the pleasantly scented product removed stubborn cat urine odors in a single application. The cleaner also works on vomit, feces and dog urine.

Make a vinegar cat urine cleaner

Vinegar is known for its odor-combating properties, which extend to cat pee. It also helps kill the bacteria in the urine that causes unpleasant odors. To create a homemade cat urine cleaner that can combat the cat pee odors and remove the stains, mix up one part white vinegar with three parts warm water, recommends Animal Planet. Pour the solution over the stain and let it sit for 10 minutes before blotting it up with paper towels or vacuuming it up with a wet vacuum, then repeat until the stain and odor has completely disappeared.

Douse the stain with hydrogen peroxide

Another substance that combats the stains and odors caused by cat urine on your couch is 3 percent hydrogen peroxide, which you might already have in your medicine cabinet. Douse the stain with this bubbly substance and watch the stain fade away. Because hydrogen peroxide is antibacterial, it will also help remove cat pee odors.

For stubborn cat pee stains, mix a cup of hydrogen peroxide with two teaspoons of dish detergent and pour it on the stain, recommends Catster. Scrub the stain with an old toothbrush to get the soap into the fabric. Allow the solution to sit before rinsing with cool water and blotting at the fabric to remove the liquid.

The one caveat to remember when using hydrogen peroxide is that it can bleach dark fabrics, so this solution is best for light-colored upholstery. For darker upholstered couches, you may want to stick to using an enzymatic cleaner or vinegar solution instead.

You can buy 3 percent hydrogen peroxide by the gallon. The solution is also available in food grade and laboratory-grade solutions as well.

Use baking soda to deodorize the couch

One cat urine odor removal home remedy you can count on is baking soda. If you've ever placed a box of baking soda in your refrigerator, you know that it has excellent deodorizing properties. You can shake baking soda on a couch that your cat has peed on previously to help absorb any remaining odors. Or mix it with a vinegar-and-water solution to create a paste you can slather on a cat pee stain, then let the solution dry and vacuum away the baking soda.

You can also mix hydrogen peroxide with baking soda to create a paste that you can work into stubborn stains and allow to dry. Vacuum the baking soda away and rinse the spot to remove any lingering stains and odors.