2 Mistakes To Avoid When Trying To Get Rid Of Fresh Cat Urine In Your Carpets
If you have a cat that has gotten into the habit of urinating on your carpets, you may be overpowered by the smell while trying to get rid of the stains. While it is possible to eliminate both the stains and odors from the carpet fibers, you may wind up making things worse if you do not avoid making a couple of mistakes.
1. Using a Steam Cleaner to Clean the Carpet
One mistake you should avoid when trying to get rid of fresh cat urine stains in your carpet is using a steam cleaner on the areas. While you may believe that the steam will breakdown and neutralize the urine and its odor, you may actually make it worse.
When the intense heat from the steam mixes with the urine, it activates the odor-causing ammonia. As a result, you may end up with an even more powerful odor after using the steamer.
Along with making the odor worse, you may end up setting in the stain, especially when the urine is still fresh. The steam's heat will dry the urine and trap it inside the fibers, making any future endeavors to remove the stains more difficult.
Instead of a steam cleaner, use a wet/dry vacuum cleaner that forces water into the fibers. As it pushes water into the carpet, it pulls both the water and urine up along with it.
2. Sprinkling Wet Urine with Baking Soda
Because you know that baking soda absorbs odors, you may decide to sprinkle a layer over the fresh urine, believing that it will eliminate the odor and make cleaning the stain easier. However, because the urine is still wet, you will only create a clumpy mess that will most likely force the urine into the fibers when you try to clean it up.
If you really want to use baking soda, first dab up as much of the urine as possible with paper towels. Then, spray the stain with vinegar to neutralize and break up the urine. Once the vinegar and urine has fully dried, you can then sprinkle the baking soda over the stain, allow it to sit for about a half an hour, and then vacuum it up.
Even if you avoid the above mistakes and do everything you can to remove the cat urine from your carpets, you may still find that there is an overpowering, lingering odor. If so, contact a carpet cleaning service to discuss your options for having your carpets professionally cleaned to help get rid of the smell once and for all.