How to Clean Dog or Cat Urine Without Dangerous Chemical substances

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How to Clean Dog or Cat Urine Without Harmful Chemicals

Saturate the area with the vinegar and water solution.; Urine will wick out under the carpeting to an area 4-6 times the size of the spot you see on top of the carpet.; So, if you have a four-inch circular spot on the carpeting, you need to wet the area for at least 24 inches around.; It is better to saturate a larger area to ensure it reaches all of the urine than to be stingy with it and have to repeat the process.; A gallon of white vinegar costs less than $2.00 so it's not wise to try to be frugal here.; If the spot is near the wall or on the wall and has run onto the carpeting, clean the wall with the vinegar water solution and make sure you pour some of the vinegar solution on the baseboard so that it wicks behind that area also.; If the vinegar and other solutions we discuss cannot reach all sources of the urine, it will not work.

If the urine is dried, add 1 teaspoonful of liquid laundry detergent to the gallon of vinegar and water.; Shake gently to dissolve the detergent.; You don't want to create bubbles in your solution.; Use a cup of this solution to gently scrub the carpeting with an old toothbrush or a plastic scrub brush until the stain is removed.; If the stain does not come up (it will depend on the carpeting), saturate the area with the vinegar/water/detergent solution and continue as above with a wet stain.; We will give you a stain removal formula that will remove even old urine stains later in this article.

If a urine odor remains after the vinegar water solution above, follow the next steps.;

Prepare 2-3 cups of the vinegar water solution, but add 1 teaspoonful of liquid laundry detergent or liquid dishwashing detergent.; Pour this over the baking soda.; The baking soda will begin to foam and release carbon dioxide (apologies to those who have an earlier copy of this article where we incorrectly stated that oxygen was released).; Work this into the carpeting with your fingers or a brush, pushing the solution around and into the carpeting.; When all the foam has been worked into the carpeting, allow it to air dry.; The baking soda residue can be vacuumed after the carpeting has dried.;

Keep in mind that if you're smelling urine, the vinegar solution did not reach all the way into the padding and the subflooring.; You can repeat the vinegar water treatment again, but use more solution and saturate a larger area.; Make sure the carpeting and padding dries thoroughly between treatments.; If the carpet or padding stays damp, you can end up with mold or mildew under the carpeting.;

If you do an Internet search for these types of cleaning methods, many will state to sprinkle baking soda on the carpeting and then pour hydrogen peroxide over it.; Peroxide and baking soda together do not react except to form wet baking soda.; The peroxide by itself will eventually release oxygen when it comes in contact with dirt or urine, but not because of the baking soda.; We've tried this and have had much better results with the baking soda and vinegar combination or by the use of peroxide with an oxygen-based powder cleaner which releases much more oxygen much more rapidly.

Urine Stain Removal