How to Clean Your Cat's Urine on The Floor

Published: 6/2/2021
When welcoming a new feline friend to your family, there's bound to be a few accidents. Before your cat confidently uses their litter, you may find the odd patch of cat pee around your home. Cat urine is notoriously smelly as it's high in ammonia and can be tricky to clean up properly. It's also difficult to know which homemade recipes and products are both pet-friendly and effective cleaners. Looking for tips on how to clean cat urine off your floors? Here are a few pointers.

If your kitten has an accident and you weren't prepared, there are some "pawsome" homemade recipes that will clean up the pee and leave your house smelling fresh.

It's generally easier to clean up cat urine off hard floors than carpets, but that isn't to say it's always a straightforward task. 

If you're cleaning cat urine off linoleum, the best pet-friendly method is to soak up most of the urine with a mop or paper towel. Then, wash the floor with soapy water and dab the area with a sponge soaked in a solution of one and a half cups of warm water and half a cup of white vinegar. Then let the area dry.

White vinegar is great for cleaning cat urine as it's highly acidic and neutralizes a cat's alkaline urine. It's also strong smelling and will kill most bacteria left behind. It's worth noting that white vinegar can damage stone and marble flooring. 

Hardwood floors can be tougher to clean thoroughly, as cat urine may seep into the wood and between the cracks in the boards if not dealt with immediately. There's also a greater chance of urine leaving behind a stain. If you're worried about stains, try sprinkling all-purpose baking soda on the affected area and let it sit for several hours. 

If cat urine does leave a stain on your hardwood floors, one ingenious solution is to sand down the area, bleach it, and refinish the wood. While this requires a lot of effort, it's a good idea if you're out of options.

There's nowhere worse your cat could go to the bathroom than on your new carpet. However, there's no need to fret as there are some excellent home recipes for removing cat urine from carpet.

As soon as you notice cat pee on the carpet, grab some paper towels or an old rag and soak up as much as possible. Once you've removed most of the cat pee, spray a solution made of warm water and a few drops of dish soap on the area. Let the solution sit for several hours. Do not scrub the solution into your carpet, as this will make the smell and stain worse.

After a few hours, rinse the area with water to clean out the soap. Again, try to blot at the carpet rather than scrub. Afterward, try soaking the carpet in club soda for a few minutes before blotting up the club soda and covering the area with a towel to dry for several hours. 

If you find the smell hasn't gone away, you may need to buy an enzymatic cleaner, which can be bought online or from your local pet store. Some pet parents also swear by using a hydrogen peroxide solution; however, this isn't pet-friendly and could bleach your carpet.

Prefer to have a cleaning product to hand so you can clean up cat urine without any fuss? "Unfurtunately", many of the best cleaners on the market aren't pet-friendly, but cleaners that are non-toxic to cats and dogs are becoming more common. 

Keeping an enzymatic cleaner around the house is a good idea as they're the best for removing stains. They're also multi-purpose and can be used to clean a number of areas of your home, including your kitchen and bathroom. Just make sure to keep your pets away from the treated area until it's fully dry, as many of these are toxic to dogs and cats.

You'll find several well-known brands, including Nature's Miracle and Puracy, produce pet-friendly carpet and surface cleaners that are ideal for cleaning up cat urine. These cleaners boast some great features, including being biodegradable and free from chemicals. Nature's Miracle Deep Cleaning Carpet Shampoo is also bio-enzymatic to help remove pesky stains.