How to get rid of cat urine from carpets...and not rid of the cat

Last week I post about my evil and disturbed cat who has paranoia issues.  Things have improved...sort of.  By improved, I mean she hasn't peed on my regular carpet.  Just a throw rug.  And only once.  Instead, she's been leaving deposits of the other sort, but it has been next to her box and on tile floor.  So, I can't exactly say I'm happy, but the turmoil is decreasing in our house. My daughter sees hope that her "precious" and mentally unstable cat may stick around for a while longer.

What truly saved this cat from permanent removal is a recipe I found to remove cat urine odor from carpets.  When I discovered the cat was using the regular carpet in the kids' bathroom (where we placed an extra box, but on the tile portion) instead of the litter box, I about went nuts.  As you probably know, cat urine smell is just about impossible to get out.  I wish I could remember exactly where I found this recipe to give proper credit for saving my carpet (and cat), but I didn't bookmark it.

1.  Saturate area with a 50/50 solution of vinegar and water.  Make sure you use enough to get down to the pad.  Then, use a towel or extract using a steam cleaner to get the area almost dry.

2.  Sprinkle baking soda over entire area.

3.  Mix 1 teaspoon of dish soap (not the automatic variety...I used Ivory hand dish soap) with 1/4 cup of hydrogen peroxide.  You'll need more for a bigger area.  I used 1 cup hydrogen peroxide with 1T of liquid soap.  It was a little less soap than called for, but ended up being plenty.

4.  Next, sprinkle hydrogen peroxide mixture over baking soda.  You can use a small watering can to distribute more evenly if you like.  Use a scrub brush or rubber gloved hands to get the mixture, which will bubble and foam, down into the fibers.  I used gloves so I didn't tear up the fibers of the carpet.  Make sure you really massage it in all areas.

5.  Let the mixture dry.  Mine took several days to dry.  If possible, keep the guilty animal away from the area.  We didn't, because she need to cross the area to get to her box just on the other side.

6. Once dry, vacuum up the area.  I have some left-over residue, but you can't tell by sight.  I'll just run over the area with my steam cleaner.

So far, so good.  I think the cat started to use the area - I found some suspicious moisture the day I first cleaned it - but either the smell or feel of the drying mixture must have turned her off in the process.  Since then, the area has remained untouched and, more importantly, the smell is entirely gone!  I can't tell you how thrilled I am.  I had visions of needing to pull up the carpet and replace it.

While needing a recipe and procedure such as the above is certainly not good, hopefully the having it will save some stress in the house if your animal has decided to try out some naughty behaviors.