How to remove cat urine smell from clothes

Cat urine has an intensely pungent odour that is instantly recognisable to any feline pet owner. In an ideal world, cats should only ever do their business in a litter tray or outside. However, as most pet owners know, sometimes our feline companions might have an accident and urinate somewhere they aren’t supposed to.

So, if your cat has accidentally peed on your clothes, we’ve got some advice to help you understand why it happens and why it smells, as well as tips to help you remove that distinctive odour.

How do you remove cat urine smell from clothes?

Washing

Don’t just throw the clothes into the wash and hope for the best. When you do that, you can set the smell deep into the clothes and even spread it to anything else you’re washing in the same load. Instead, blot the excess and use an enzyme cleaner to do the hard work – before going into the washing machine.

Enzyme cleaner

The best way to remove the smell of cat pee from clothes is with an enzyme cleaner like Bio one™. This will act as a cat urine cleaner to eliminate stains, break down the acids in the pee, get rid of the pungent odour and kill 99.9% of the bacteria. It will also leave your favourite garments smelling sweet with natural lemon and orange oils – which are totally safe for use around all pets (and humans).

How to use Bio one™ to remove cat urine smell from clothes:

1. Check the label to make sure the clothes are machine washable, and the colours will not run.
2. If the clothes are still wet, wipe off any excess urine before you spray Bio one™.
3. Spray the affected area thoroughly (making sure you only spray the section of the clothes which has come into contact with the cat urine) until the surface is very damp and the product has fully soaked into the garment.
4. Leave the item to soak for a further 5-10 minutes.
5. If it seems as if the urine and smell are lifting, wipe off any excess but leave the item slightly damp. If the clothes need an extra spray, simply respray and leave for a further 5 minutes before wiping off the excess.
6. Wash the item of clothing as recommended on the label.

Why do cats pee outside of their litter box?

Health problems

When cats have regular accidents and aren’t using their litter box, they might be suffering from a health issue. Older cats are also more likely to have accidents as they have less control over their bladder and can be more prone to urinary tract or bladder infections. If you think it is a health concern, simply get in touch with your vet for a check-up.

Behavioural problems

Spraying

Both unneutered males and unspayed female cats spray urine. Males do it to mark their territory and females are spraying to let the opposite sex know they’re in season. To avoid this behaviour, get your cat neutered or spayed by your vet. It’s best to do this after their first round of vaccinations, once they are at least four months old.

Stress

A stressed cat may also urinate around the house. Keep an eye out for distressed body language such as raised fur, hissing, pinned back ears or dilated pupils and anxious behaviours like hiding, not eating their food or compulsive grooming. Get in touch with your vet if you’re concerned.

Litter tray problems

Some felines find it off-putting when they have to use the same litter tray as another cat. So if you’ve got more than one moggy, invest in a couple of litter trays and pop them in different places to make sure the cats feel comfortable. Another simple reason why they might be refusing to pee in the litter tray is because it needs a refresh. Regularly clean the tray and replace the litter to make their toilet breaks that bit more inviting.

What is cat urine made up of?

Ammonia

Most of us already know that the odour which really attacks our senses, especially when we enter a room with a litter tray, is ammonia. Although the smelly urine is a liquid, ammonia is actually a colourless but noxious-smelling gas, made up of nitrogen and hydrogen.

Other elements

As well as ammonia, cat pee is mainly made up of urea, uric acid, creatinine, sodium and electrolytes. This is actually very similar to the components contained within human urine. The main reason why cat urine is more offensive, is that it often sits for a while in a litter tray and isn’t flushed away. That means after a cat urinates, bacteria start to break down the urea, which releases ammonia and that powerfully unpleasant scent.

What are enzymes?

Don’t be fooled to think that because enzymes are natural they are less effective than chemical cleaners. Enzymes are nature’s very own powerful cleaning tools. Making them the go to choice for pet owners who do not want to spray harmful chemicals around their pets and their home.

Simply put, enzymes are all around us performing millions of important tasks in our bodies and in nature every single day. They are a type of protein that act like a biological catalyst to speed up the break down of organic compounds.

Similarly to how saliva, (which contains enzymes), initiates the digestion process by breaking down food in our mouths, cleaning enzymes use the same ‘enzymatic digestion’ to effectively break down and eradicate the organic proteins present in urine, faeces, vomit, drool, dirt, food, and more.

This process not only makes cleaning easier but also prevents the growth of bad bacteria – the root cause of those unpleasant odours – in the air, on surfaces, and within the fibres of your soft furnishings.

Try out Bio one™ today, vomit and the other nasties is what nature created enzymes for.