If you’re a cat owner, you know the struggle of neutralizing cat urine. The smell is so pungent that it makes breathing in the environment difficult. Thus, your immediate intuitive reaction is to clean the urine with hot or warm water.
However, warm water on the cat urine will end up with a more amplified stench. Besides, there are various products to help neutralize its smell. It includes enzymatic cleaners, baking soda, or vinegar.
Here, you will explore the answers to How to neutralize cat urine. We have also covered up reasons for your furry friend urinating outside the litter box. Read on!
Why Does Cat Urine Stink?
Here are a few reasons for your feline friends stinking pee:
- Time Makes the Smell Worse
When your cat urinates outside her litter box, it is unnoticeable most of the time. Therefore, during the first stage of decomposition, the urine produces an ammonia-like smell. After that, the pee gives out mercaptans. So, the smell becomes worse with time.
- Old Animals’ Urine Is Pungent
If you have an old one, the smell is likely much worse to bear. So, the whole pungent smell comes because of the kidney’s less efficiency. Since they lose kidney efficiency with time, the result leads to a horrible urine smell.
- Male Cats With Hormones in Urine
Male cats have a powerful stench due to some hormones in the pee. If they are unneutered, then there is a powerful testosterone spike in the urine. Thus, it also acts as a signal for female cats.
Why Is Your Cat Urinating Outside the Litter Box?
There are various reasons for your cat urinating outside the litter box. However, know that it is not a revenge strategy. Since your pet might be trying to signal you something, make sure to look into the issue. We have mentioned some of these problems below:
Health-Related Problems
There are a few medical conditions that can cause inappropriate urine in your cat. Some of these include kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, feline tract disease, and diabetes. Since these problems can cause uncomfortable in the litter box, it prefers peeing outside.
Arthritis
With age, cats are prone to get arthritis, making it difficult to enter the little box. So, arthritis is one of the reasons for your they urinating outside the box. Thus, to be clear, visit the vet to find an exact problem.
Behavioral Issues
If you have successfully ruled out medical problems, your cat might have some behavior issues, leading to pee outside the box. Therefore, you need to detect early behavioral patterns while keeping more than one litter box in the house.
The Reason for Cat Urination
It is important to note that some felines urinate and squat on floors, furniture, carpet, and horizontal surfaces. However, some prefer to urinate on vertical surfaces too. It can also be a behavioral pattern in them.
Besides, if you have an unfixed male cat, Spraying by males marks their territories whereas unfixed females use it to signal males to mate. Moreover, if you wish to avoid such problems, make sure to get your male feline neutered and females spayed in 6 months.
Also, there are other reasons for a cat to spray: frustration, anxiety, stress, less playtime, restrictive diets, and disputes with others from the living area. Besides, you can consult a vet to get the matters and problems cleared.
How to Neutralize Cat Urine
As mentioned earlier, it is important to neutralize the cat urine as soon as they pee. It will ensure that the smell doesn’t prolong in the house. Here is a list of products that can help you neutralize the pee in your lovely home:
Vinegar and Baking Soda
We know vinegar itself has a strong smell, but it does help to get rid of the bad smell. Besides, due to its acidic nature, vinegar neutralizes dried pee stains. So, you can use it in one part water to clean the floors and walls.
Enzyme-Based Cleaning
If your cat has peed on cushions, linens, mattresses, and carpets, try to clean the things with enzyme-based products. Since these products can break down the cat pee acid, they will help eliminate the odor.
Avoid Ammonia-Based Products
It is important to ensure that you do not use ammonia-based products while trying to neutralize cat pee. Since cat urine already contains ammonia, the smell would amplify with the cleaning. Also, your cat is likely to pee in the same spot again.
A Few Tips to Help With Cleaning
Here are a few tips to help you get rid of the pungent odor of cat urine:
Quick Clean Up
As mentioned earlier, the longer the cat urine stays uncleaned, the more intense the smell gets. Therefore ensure that you detect the cat urine as soon as it happens and clean the area before the stains get in.
If the urine is on the floor, use a paper towel to soak up. However, if the urine is on the rug or clothing, shove it into the washing machine to avoid stains. Also, you can use enzyme cleaners for fabric neutralizing.
The Touch Places
Suppose you can’t detect a urine spot; the cat’s urine may have dried up. Besides, if your cat has peed on the carpet, cleaning will not help to neutralize the odor. Therefore, ensure to use an oil-based primer since stain-blocking products are helpful.
If these options don’t help with the odor, you might need to replace the padding of your carpet. Also, you can choose to remove that particular spot of the carpet and make a DIY spot for the area.
Summing Up
We hope that the above information helps you to neutralize the cat urine from your home. Another highlighting fact to take care of while cleaning the area is to ensure that your pet stays away.
Since they can smell their peeing spot and peeing carpet, you don’t want them to investigate and pee again. So, make sure to keep the felne busy with food and toys while you work.
Also, ensure that your feline friend doesn’t pee in the same spot again and develop a habit. Thus, a little more attention and love can do wonders in behavioral changes. For more serious issues, make sure to visit a vet.
Besides, if you wish to share your cat’s behavioral pattern with other cat owners, please comment below. It will help the cat owners to identify normal and serious conditions and plan a vet visit accordingly.