Have you recently confirmed that your feline is a serial urine sprinkler? Does the Uber Eats driver grimace at your door and say, “Oh, you have cats, don’t you?”

If you’re struggling with the funky issues related to the smell of cat urine, I’m here to tell you, you’re not alone. According to an estimated survey of ALL cat owners everywhere, when it comes to the daily struggles of feline tinkle, urination nostril permeation is inevitable and almost certainly unavoidable. Just search Google, and you’ll see – we’re all just looking for answers to the chronic challenge of kitty pee.

1. Cat pee is no joke

Feline adoration is a recent phenomenon in my life. My kitty Henry VIII mysteriously arrived on my balcony one late 2020 summer night. Call it COVID-19 loneliness, call it impulsiveness, call it anything you’d like, but he moved in fairly quickly, and we’ve never really looked back. 

 I learned pretty immediately that Henry’s pee was a lot different than any of the dog pee experiences I’ve had in my life. Henry was a youngster when we first met, so he came with the double gift of briefly being on the street unneutered and of course, untrained. 

 We started with the basics, just how to use a litter box, which was a lot like training a tween how to roller skate. Luckily after a few pee mishaps, Henry got the hang of the basics, but we still have accidents. Here are a few things we learned along the way. 

2. Cleaning up cat urine is a matter of speed

Here’s a situation I’ve experienced with Henry. As he’s casually sashaying away from an accident, I spot the urine. It’s real-time fresh, and of course, as a rule of thumb with any clean up, the faster you soak it up, the less likely it is to leave a stain and a smell.

But there’s a ticking clock on how quickly it will soak deep into the carpet or furniture, and it’s really a rush to remove as much urine as quickly as possible. You can soak it up as much as possible with thick paper towels or old towels. Next comes the more complicated part, so it’s decision time.

3. Home remedies and cat pee don’t mix 

There's a scientific reason why cat pee smells so bad compared to the smell of dog pee. Cats have incredibly concentrated urine because cats are originally  from a desert climate, where their tiny cat bodies evolved to absorb large amounts of water. The result is a thicker, smellier, and all around grosser urine. (I learned this while Googling for hours exactly what I did wrong that created a gluey vinegar-baking soda paste that I had to scrape off my carpet). 

Some people say baking soda and vinegar work perfectly for dog pee. But dog urine is incredibly diluted compared to cat pee, so it’s literally like comparing cats and dogs. Though some people swear by it, for me this old school method was a fail. 

With cat pee, using an enzyme cleaner is a must. 

4. Why you need an enzyme cleaner for cat pee

The thing about enzyme cleaners versus any other product is that they actually help break down tough stains and odors in a magical way that goes deep and breaks up the nastiest stuff in urine, like uric acid. 

Cat pee is packed with uric acid, so the longer cat urine stays on a surface, the tighter it bonds to it. If you live in a humid state, it’s going to be compounded because when uric acid comes into contact with humidity, the uric acid crystals left behind reform, re-releasing the bad smell again. And while it might smell foul to you, it smells like a heavenly bathroom to your cats, and that’s why they frequently return over and over again to the same spot. If you have an older kitty, it’s even worse. The older a cat gets, the more concentrated its urine grows.

5. Choosing the right enzyme cleaner 

For Henry, he was a youngster, but he definitely had his share of accidents. He missed the litter boxes, marked walls, and generally was a messy boy the first month. The only product effective against his urine was an enzyme cleaner. I picked Angry Orange because a lot of cat fanatics talked it up online, and it has solid reviews. It leaves behind a fresh orange scent and seems to have busted the pee stains away. It also works against older, deeper set stains and smells. 

What’s the bottom line? When trying to defeat the smell of cat urine in your home, go for the enzyme cleaner. It’ll save you a lot of time, research, and money, and make your life with your fur-friend a happy one. 

In summary: 

• Not all pee is created equally, so lots of dog pee clean-up methods don’t work on cat pee
• Home remedies aren’t always effective against cat pee and can actually create more clean-up problems
• Using an enzyme cleaner like angry orange is really the only way to remove stains and smells