How To Remove Cat Urine Smell From Your Whole House: 5 Vet-Verified Tips

For all the joy they bring into the home, one aspect of having a cat that most owners don’t often appreciate is the smell. Experienced pet parents know it only takes one indoor accident to create a pungent odor throughout the house. With their highly concentrated urine that can readily soak into various hard and soft surfaces, cats have a knack for making a lasting stink.

Cleaning cat urine thoroughly and quickly is the only way to keep your home comfortable for the family and guests and prevent future accidents. Unfortunately, these stains present unique challenges that many everyday solutions often can’t solve. If you’re ready for a fresher home, we’ll explore five tips and tricks to remove the cat urine smell from your whole house.

How to Effectively Clean Up Cat Messes, Odors & Stains 

The first part of cat mess prevention is ensuring you are taking the time to properly clean any accidents -  and that starts with investing in the right products! Of course, you'll want to opt for something safe first and foremost, to protect your feline's health, but secondly, you'll need a solution powerful enough to lift the toughest, stinkiest, most set-in stains. After careful consideration, we fell in love with one product and highly recommend it to all pet owners! 

Our Favorite Enzyme Cleaner 

Rating	Image	Product	Details
Best Enzyme Spray		Hepper Advanced Bio-Enzyme Pet Stain & Odor Eliminator Spray	All-purpose Pet-safe Multi-surface safe	Check Price

There are several reasons we can't get enough of the Hepper Advanced Bio-Enzyme Pet Stain & Odor Eliminator Spray.  It permanently removes the very worst smells and stains, it can be used on a multitude of surfaces and its neutral scented, meaning no odor masking! It comes in a generous 32-oz bottle and comes with 100% satisfaction guarantee. Learn more about this holy grail of a cleaner here!

At Catster, we’ve admired Hepper for many years, and decided to take a controlling ownership interest so that we could benefit from the outstanding products of this cool cat company!

How to Remove Cat Urine Smell From Your Whole House

1. Use a Blacklight to Find Old Urine Spots

We can sometimes sniff out the location of a cat urine spot, but more often than not, the smell seemingly comes from all sides, leaving us wondering where to begin our cleaning efforts. If you’ve been struggling to find the odor’s source, a UV light is an easy way to reveal hidden cat urine marks.

2. Use an Enzyme Cleaner on Cat Urine Stains

Cat urine is more challenging than most stains, so many of our favorite cleaners typically fall well short of removing them for good. Uric acid crystals and other odor-causing compounds cement into carpet and furniture fibers.

Many cleaning products do little more than mask the smell, and even the best steamers and carpet cleaners can often only remove a small portion of the stain.

• Best Enzyme Cleaners for Cat Urine & Odor – Reviews & Top Picks

3. Pull Up Carpet If Needed

Measuring the extent of the cat urine is crucial if you hope to eliminate it entirely. You may clean a carpet to remove a stain and smell from the top layer to your satisfaction, but urine that soaks through to the carpet padding or the subfloor will continue pumping out an odor and attracting your cat for repeat performances.

The same applies to hard flooring that may allow urine to seep between the cracks.

4. Air Out the House

Cleaning the cat urine stain is the only effective way to eliminate the odor. Still, if your house isn’t even tolerable in the meantime, you have a few options to reduce, if not remove, the smell quickly and conveniently.

Start by opening all the windows to get a cross-breeze. Turn on any overhead fans, and set up box fans in the windows to push the smelly air out and pull fresh air in.

5. Sprinkle Baking Soda for Immediate Deodorizing

If you don’t have an enzyme cleaner but want to quickly remove a smelly cat stain, several household staples can provide a temporary refresh. Baking soda is at the top of the list.

Sodium bicarbonate neutralizes acidic and basic odor molecules, making it a versatile all-natural deodorizer in countless situations.

How to Use Baking Soda to Deodorize Cat Urine Stains

Sprinkle a generous amount of baking soda over the cat pee stain. Depending on the extent of the stain, let it sit for at least 30 minutes or longer to absorb the odors and moisture. When dry, vacuum the powder.

Ideally, powdery materials like baking soda should be vacuumed using a wet/dry vacuum with a HEPA filter. Fine particulate matter can damage the motor on a conventional vacuum and may escape the grasp of a standard filter, causing more issues to solve.

When you catch the stain in time, baking soda can save your carpet padding and subfloor until you can apply an enzyme cleaner. If you’re out of baking soda, you can use cornstarch or clean cat litter for a similar effect.

Our recommendation

Hepper Advanced Bio-Enzyme Pet Stain & Odor Eliminator Spray

• ADVANCED ENZYMATIC CLEANER - Penetrates the most stubborn smells and stains at the deepest molecular levels to dissolve any pet mess you encounter and lift it away at the source.
• FOR ANY MESS, ON ANY SURFACE - This pet odor eliminator cleans your carpets, floors, furniture, fabrics, and more. Whether it's urine, feces, vomit, or drool, you can erase all foul spots and smells!
• FRESH, NATURAL ODOR - Our unique formulation doesn't rely on dangerous or unpleasant chemical fragrances to get the job done. We eradicate smells and stains, not just cover them up.

Check Price on Amazon

At Catster, we’ve admired Hepper for many years and decided to take a controlling ownership interest so that we could benefit from the outstanding products of this cool cat company!

Final Thoughts

Cats are known for occasionally making trouble, and nothing they do will foul up the home more than a noxious urine odor. The smell is unexpectedly tricky and persistent, leaving many of us ready to throw in the towel and call a professional.

While extensive damage may need expert intervention, following these tips and tricks to remove a urine smell will give you the best chance of overcoming the issue with minimal effort and maximum satisfaction.

Featured Image Credit: Pixel-Shot, Shutterstock