Spring has finally arrived here in the USA. If you’ve had a cat pee smell problem since last fall or winter and thought you’d thoroughly cleaned every puddle, you may find that the heat and humidity have now returned.
This article briefly describes the different components in cat urine and why it smells so much worse in warmer weather. This article also describes the most effective cleaning solution to get rid of the odor and stains permanently.
Cat urine stains are difficult to remove because they contain five different strains of bacteria. Two of these are associated with the cat’s marking scent. The others are found in cat spray, urine and uric acid.
The sticky, sticky part of cat urine is urea. The pigment is urochrome, and then there are the uric acid crystals, which look like salt.
The first two components are pretty easy to clean up. It is the uric acid with its crystals and salts that remain and cause the lingering cat urine odor. These crystals are insoluble and stick tightly to anything they land on. For this reason, you cannot successfully eliminate cat urine odor with conventional household cleaners.
Moisture reactivates the crystals. And that’s why the cat pee smell is stronger in hot weather — the humidity in the air reacts with the crystals, and you smell the cat pee stain again — even though you’ve cleaned and cleaned that particular spot.
In order to completely eliminate the odor and stains, the crystals must be removed from the surface to which they are attached. The only effective cleaning solution is a pet enzyme cleaner specially formulated to attack the components of cat urine.
These cleaners are special enzyme formulas that consume the bacterial components – which eventually removes the odor and stains. Conventional household cleaners do not contain enzymes because most dirt does not contain uric acid.
There are several reputable pet enzyme cleaners available at your local pet store. Read the instructions carefully and follow them completely for the best results. If the stain is very old, multiple applications will be required to completely eliminate the stain and odor.