How to get the smell of cat urine out of clothes!?
Help! My spayed female cat just decided to pee all over my scrub uniforms for work! They were in my laundry basket in my room and she peed in the basket! She has a litter litter pan in my room too, and I clean it every morning! She has never done this before and this is the only time (that I know of) that she's done it. Afterwards, she used her litter box now. It figures, she has to pee on my work uniforms! I have tried soaking the clothes in vinegar and baking soda and the smell is still there! I have to get this smell out of these clothes, I paid a lot of money for them! Can anyone help me?? Thanks to all who respond!
2007-09-24T19:24:30Z
Of course I used the washing machine. duh? I soaked them in vinegar and baking soda (in the washing machine) overnight, then added a lot of detergent and washed them. That didn't work.
The Skin Horse (formerly ll2)2007-09-24T19:32:08Z
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I have a male kitten who is using clothing as a litter box...just had him neutered and am hoping that will take care of that.
Anyway, I've had to wash so many things. They make these spray-on cat pee neutralizers you can buy at grocery stores, Target, Wal-Mart, etc. They are under different brand names but you'll usually find them on the cat supply aisle. In the grocery store I had to look with the carpet cleaning accessories. Make sure the one you get mentions enzymes. Spray it on -- I soak the spots -- wash it, and you're good to go. Also, I'm not sure it actually helped, but I added about 1/4 cup of ammonia to the last load, and it smelled sweet when it came out.
P.S. You may want to invest in a black light. I bought a portable one that I found with the Halloween supplies and use it to find spots on the carpet. It's VERY obvious under the black light!
My cats starting doing this a few months ago, so I had a few items of clothing that got sprayed. If they were white clothes, I just filled the washing machine with bleach, detergent and very hot water and let them soak for about an hour or until the water is no longer hot, then drain the water out of the washing machine and refill with fresh hot water, bleach and detergent. Let the machine run it's normal wash cycle. If they are not white clothes, I did the same thing, only with a scoop of oxyclean and detergent instead of the bleach. Then run them through the normal wash cycle. This seemed to take the smell out. Hope it helps!
What a shame. Deal with the basket first. If it's plastic, wash it well and possibly hose it down. As for the clothes, once you've washed the scrubs in a good detergent (lemon scented if possible) and a softening rinse, put them in the dryer just long enough to get the creases out. Now get them outdoors into the fresh air. Most folks don't have clothes lines these days, so you might have to improvise. The important thing is to not only air them thoroughly, but to get the sun shining on them and a breeze blowing through the fabric. Sorry to say this may have to be done more than once, but as you say, these are expensive work-clothes. Worth the effort. The best of luck!
You need to use an enzyme based cleaner. You can find these at the pet store. The one I swear by is Natures Miracle, it works really well. The only problem is you have to use these cleaners first. If you have already laundered the clothes the smell mmay have been chemically set. So if the enzyme cleaner doesn't work you will need to throw them out.