Please Help Me Get Out the Smell of Cat Urine Out of My Futon Cushion

Hi Dawn. Try Arm & Hammers Baking Soda and mix with a little water to forma paste and leave on for a while.

All I can say is Ordor xit. They sell it at Big Bobs flooring.

Hi,

I don't have a lot of time to read all of your responses, but we have a special needs kitty who soiled a lot in our old house. Knock on wood, now that we've moved she seems happier. Anyway, the three things that worked for us were Nature's Miracle Just for Cats to remove the smell, Prozac for the anxiety that causes the soiling, and Cat Attract litter. First, though, I'd take your cat to the vet to make sure she doesn't have a bladder or kidney infection. That is a common cause of refusal to use the litter box. If that's not it, then ask your vet about Prozac. It's generic now so it's only about $12 for a month's worth. That's affordable, in my opinion. The Cat Attract litter is guaranteed to bring a cat back to the litter box. It's available at Petsmart. Even if your cat doesn't have problems, it's just a good litter and dust-free. And as for the Nature's Miracle, it's cheapest if you order from a website like www.vetmeddeals.com or something like that. Search for free shipping, too. It's about twice the price if you get it at a pet store. Read the directions and follow them carefully. An enzyme cleaner like that is the only way to really get cat urine out of something. We have had to clean many things, so trust me, it works. Do NOT use Febreeze or anything else, especially something with a fragrance. It might ruin your chances of getting the cushion clean. I would saturate the cushion with the Nature's Miracle, let it dry for a couple weeks (or whatever the bottle says), smell it again and retreat if necessary. The only other thing I would use is baking soda, sprinkled on and then vacuumed up later. Cats' noses are a million times more sensitive than ours, so if you use anything with an odor that we might find pleasant, chances are you'll offend your cat and it'll be all over.

Another thing I wanted to mention was many cats urinate outside the box because it hurts to poop and they associate the box with pain. Are your cat's stools really hard and compact? If so, make sure the food you give her doesn't have too much fiber. Fiber does the opposite in cats as it does in people. It bulks up the poop and makes it hard to pass. While you're retraining her, it is not unkind to keep her in a small, confined space with a litter box for at least a week. Cats don't consider small spaces to be punishments, in fact if your cat is anxious she might appreciate the closeness. It will make her feel safer.

My best advice is to find a good vet. We had a wonderful one back home and she is the reason we still have our cat and didn't decide to give her away or put her down. When we choose to bring an animal into our lives, it is an enormous responsibility and I believe that we owe it to them to try everything within reason before we choose to do something drastic. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions!

By the way, I've tried Feliway and it's pretty good, but it's expensive and I didn't feel like it was the sole solution to our problem.

Hi Dawn,
We have 4 cats and struggled at first on getting a few fixed. So we had a female cat who went into heat and decided to start urniating on furniture (I've learned that if they are uncomfortable or stressed or even go into heat..they will urinate to formilerize themselves to their surroundings), plus my girls work (volunteer) out at a NO Kill Animal shelter. So learning also from them helps out alot. We looked on the web and found out that most of these deoderizers can be very harmful to children if inhaled but as well for other animals. We started doing a apple vinegar and lemon spray (mix 1/4cup of vinegar to 1/4 cup of or just a little more lemon juice in a spray bottle. Soak the area with the spray and take a white towel or actually any towel and soak up the spray. Than air dry. (Lemons have an acid that can bleach out, so try it on a small area (so it doesn't ruin any fabric). Once its dry (you can vaccum the area), yes as well on mattresses and couches..the whole place smells a whole lot better, also what we do is take some frabreeze and spray on after it all dries out, to make it smell more fresher. The vinegar smell will go away once its all dried out and aired out..:) We also got this spray from a vet called Feliway, this stuff releases a pheramone that calms a cat and makes it feel like its at home..when a cat rubs up against you they are rubbing a sent to say: "I OWN YOU!" or "THIS IS MY SPOT!" and if its disturbed with another animal sent, than they gewt stressed out again. If you want them to make their bed in a specific spot or a favorite spot, spray a little of that and they'll relax and won't spray or urinate any longer. And I really don't blame your better half for not wanting to deal with it anymore. We went through this alot, and thought about getting rid of all the cats. So good Luck!

Dawn there is a product I used when we had our little dogg called Ntures Miracle. You could use a black light to find all the pee places and then make sure to saturate them well. The longer threy are wet the better as it takes time to nuterize the urine. They also have a money back policy. They do honor it. Another product to try would be called Odor X it. It can be gotten from Big Bob's used Carpets here in Cincinnatiu and on line at ODORXIT.com No E. They say it works really well on carpet and walls. I would try to contact either company before spending any money and see if it would work on a mattress. Let me know if they work. I have a friend who is renting a room to someone who has cats and they have peed and pooped all over her place. This girl lied to everyone to keep from being homeless. She pretented to be pregnant. That's another LONG story.

Try baking soda.....sprinkle on and leave for a bit and vacum. THEN.....I'd use some vinegar w/ baking soda in some water and scrub. THIS SHOULD TAKE IT OUT.

FYI....keeping a cat is NOT worth losing a good relationship over!

Well I don't know what to suggest to make her stop peeing, but as for the odor: Nature's Miracle. That stuff is a life saver. You can find it at pet stores (I get mine at Petsmart). It's a little expensive, but it just takes a little liquid and it nutralizes the odor. This stuff is amazing!!! I've never found anything that gets odors (not just pet odors either- smoke, mildew, food spills) out like this does. And the best part is, the cats can't smell it anymore either (bc it's just gone..) so they aren't prone to keep "marking" the same spots.

I hope this helps... it's a lot cheaper than buying new furniture!!! Good luck!

I read an article on line last year on this problem becasue we were having it and I cannot remember the web site now--maybe if you did a search you could find some info. But basicly these were the main things that I found:
first as another M. said get her neutered if she is not--even female cats will mark territory
second take her to the vet --a UTI can cause this behavior, and she may need special food for older cats with low magnesuium(which can cause UTI's in cats)
third--is she stressed? you have a 2 yr old--is she chasing the cat, pulling tail and fur? If you have had this cat for a long time she is probably quite old and a toddler can be stressful for them. Make sure that she has a place to escape from your child for at least a break--a soft blanket she likes in a high place or a hidden place
fourth--buy 2 new litter boxes; apparantely even if you clean them well the plastic will hold the smell of urine and the cat does not want to go in the box anymore and some cats get real weird/picky and want a different box for pee and poop. We now have 2 litter boxes and scoop them every day. And yes our cat does pee and poop in different ones!
Clean the areas she has peed with natures Miracle as another M. suggested. If there are areas she seems to gravitate to cover them with aluminum foil(cats hate the way the foil feels on their paws) and that will break them of that area(you can remove it once the habit is broken).
Fifth--buy only cat litter that has no perfumes, many cats are sensitive to perfumes (just like us humans!)and she may be getting more sensiitve as she is older.
I doubt you can save the futon--especailly if it is cotton--I had to throw ours out. But if you can stop this behavior now hopefully you can save the rest of your furniture. Wood floors are healthier for all of you anyway so consider that a good investment! No dust mites and toxic chemicals on wood like in carpet.I hope you can work it out as it is sad to have to give up on a pet you have had for years.
When our problem started my grand kids were here for an extended time and my old cat was way stressed. It seems that older cats get crabby and picky (not unlike some older people!)I had to explain to my grand kids that when Pumpkin was sleeping on a certain chair they needed to leave him alone. So with all the changes we were able to stop this behavior and he has not had a problem since and it has been over a year now.

Nature's Miracle makes a wonderful product just for cat urine. Here's a link: http://www.naturemakesitwork.com/catalog/prod_detail.php?...

I assume the cat version is stronger than the one they make for dogs. You can get it at Pet Supplies Plus, PetSmart and PetCO.

One important note: When you use it, drench the area completely (saturate it all the way down through the carpet pad). Take tin foil and poke holes in it and lay it over the spot for two weeks to keep your cat from going back to the spot (if it smells like a potty, in their eyes it is a potty). After two weeks, check the spot and make sure that it's completely dry all the way to the pad before you take up the tin foil. This method works best because the enzymes don't fully work until they're dry (something to do with the oxidation process.) I obtained this method from someone over at Nature's Miracle after calling them complaining that what I was doing wasn't working.

Hope this helps!

I had a similar problem. I used "Urine Gone" from my husband's work (Bed, Bath,and Beyond). It worked great. Got the urine out wonderfully. There was a little lingering smell though so I put epson salt on the couch. Sucked up the smell fine. I also sprayed the furniture with Febreeze and made sure to burn incense and stuff around it. Maybe a little paranoid but we don't have any problems with the furniture having stains or smelling. Good luck!

Is your cat spayed/neutered? I have had cats since birth, and have always thought I knew everything there is to know about them. WRONG!! When I was pregnant with my first son, the only indoor cat I ever had started doing the same thing. He had not been neutered. He was "marking" his territory. After we had him neutered, it stopped. It's worth a try.
Good Luck!

We bought a mattress last year and not 2 months later our new kitten decided to pee on it, we tried everything but the only thing that works is a product called Stink Out Free Instantly. You can find it at petsmart and it is a white bottle with a blue and yellow label. it works wonders, we tried 4 different things before this one. It will take about 48 hours for it to dry completely, just follow the instructions on the bottle. You may have to treat more than once but it does work!

We just recently had this same problem (we have 3 cats) and found that our cat had diabetes. We unfortunately caught it too late and it had progressed into something that couldn't be controlled with meds so i lost my best friend. Have your cat tested just to be safe... it may be something more.

Unfortunately it sounds like replacing your futon is the only way to solve the problem. We tried and tried and tried to get the pee smell out of stuff, but no products worked. Good luck.

I had a cat who decided to pee in my car. We bought urine gone and it worked wonders!

Get Nokout. It's sold on www.nokout.com. It will get rid of any odor.

Good Morning Dawn:

I have had a very similar problem with my old cat (I ended up getting rid of him for other reasons than him just peeing everywhere). He peed on our guest bed and my husband flipped out...Anyway, I cleaned the mattress with OXYCLEAN (I used Sun Oxygen Cleaner), and scrubbed it...I then sprayed it with Febreeze to get any part of the smell that was left out...For smaller things, I throw Oxy in my wash too and it helps keep clothes looking bright...

I hope that helps you get the cat urine smell out of your furniture...

Have a great day!
T.

There is a product called OdoBan. You can get it at Sams Club. They have a spray bottle of it at Walmart but you want the jug at Sams. The jug is highly concentrated and you can mix it with water to make it as strong on not as you wish. Trust me this works. We had a male cat spray our front door and you know how strong that is - I put this in a spray bottle straight and sprayed where he had been. I did it two days later to be on the safe side. It got rid of the smell and he could not smell where he marked and he never came back. I will say if your kitty is going in places other then the litter box you need to talk to your vet. It could be unhappy with the litter box, the litter or various things. But you want to talk to your vet. Also - if it has gone in your carpet you can put odoban in the cleaner however if it has gone through the pad to the floors the wood probably has the smell the only way I know to make that so the cat cannot smell itself and go there again is to paint the flooring with KILZ - the Odoban will help but the KILZ does better on the wood. But that is only if you are going to pull the carpet up. If they are going on the wood floor mix ODOBan in the mop bucket. This stuff is great.

When we were living in Columbus, Ohio, we kept our cat's litter box in the basement. She started urinating on the concrete floor outside of the litter box, and every time it rained or it was humid, the smell would permeate the whole house! My in-laws own a lot of rental property and are always cleaning up after their tenants leave. Some have pets, and my in-laws found an amazing product on-line that helps get the urine smell out of carpet and furniture. The company is called Just Rite Cleaning Products, Inc., and their website is http://www.justrite.com/
You have to call the customer service number at the bottom of the page to order their products, but that way you get to talk to Bob (I think that's his name). He's very knowledgeable about all sorts of pet urine issues, and he helped me pick the right products to get the smell out of our concrete floor. Their products work on carpet (I used it on a rug we had under our dining room table) and on furniture. When my son vomited in his car seat recently, I used the Just Rite products to get the smell out, and it seemed to work. Also, I took our cat to the vet. The vet said she had gained an aversion to her litter box, and we would probably need to buy her another one, so she would have two--one for urine and one for feces. We did that, and it really helped. She has urinated on the carpet in our new house a couple of times, but she was stressed from the move and because we had left her for a weekend soon after moving. I've found keeping her litter boxes clean helps out a lot. Good luck!

Dawn, There are a few things you can do for cat urine and/or overall smell of animals. Believe it or not, white vinegar is fabulous. Initially spray straight white vinegar on the area. Let it dry, then start spraying it daily with a mix of 3/4 white vinegar and water. There's also something I buy at Sam's Club called Odoban - it's fabulous for cleaning - overall. I sometimes will mix white vinegar, odoban and water (1/3 each) and spray the area. Once you notice the smell is not as bad, find a scent that your cat is not so pleased with (some cats don't like lemon, other pepper, etc. Scent the area with that which the cat is not so pleased with and do it for about a week, regularly. That will create new habits as the cat will not enjoy the area any longer. Just be careful not to place a scent they do not like anywhere near their litter box. The other question I have is WHY? Why and when did your cat pick up this habit? Someone new in the house (human or animal)? New scents? (you're using a new perfume or something with scent in the house?) Or "just because"? Believe it or not they will not do this, "just because"? Your cat could have a uti(urinary tract infection). If it's someone or something new in the house or the litter boxes need cleaned and/or not enough litter boxes for the number of cats ... Just some thoughts. Hope this helps!

Borax will take it out. I used it for years with a dog that loved to pee on our mattresses. The box has instructions on the side, but basically you just get the area damp and rub borax into it. I'd lay it on pretty thick. Let it dry, then vacuum it up. It shouldn't smell after the first time, but if it does just repeat.

the best thing is just to replace the cushion.

most importantly, why is kitty doing this? is she sick? does she have an infection? i had the same issue with a cat of mine. she had developed an infection as a youngster and had multiple reoccurances over many years. she would always test positive for crystals in her urine. she needs to be evaluated by a vet and if they cannot help, i recomend seeing a specialist (internal medicine). it might involve alot of money, but you have to ask how far are you willing to go with this? she might be uncomfortable or in pain.

maybe this is an emotional thing? they have products like FELIWAY plug ins that might help (found at all pet store and online). i'm surprised no one mentioned this. it is a life saver. read about it online and you will understand why. also, maybe meds might help to calm anxiety. ask your doc about valarian root (or again, look it up online).

and if you decide it is too much for you, do you think it is fair for someone else to deal with the problem? do you think someone else will? do you think she is adoptable with this condition or will she be put down? i don't believe pets are disposible. i believe they are family. and i know you might be afraid of dealing with the fiance too (i have been down that road), but you owe it to your kitty to help her. i disagree with deb k's response. i think being a responsible pet owner is important. you should not pawn off your problem to others. if you disagree, you should not have a pet.

There is a great product called Zero Odor Pet. Until recently, it was available only on line or through mail order. Now it's available at Bed, Bath & Beyond.

My husband and I cared for a little girl kitty (Haiku) who was terrified of our big male Bengal cat (T.J.) for almost two years. Every time T.J. would chase Haiku, she would pee and/or poop with fear. Out home smelled terrible! I found Zero Odor Pet, and it took care of the odors and stains. It's non toxic, and safe to use around children and pets.

Zero Odor Pet can be used on fabrics as well as hard surfaces, so it gets to the heart of the problem.

I hope this helps!

Hello Dawn!

Well your problem seems pretty well spread so this might not work on everything... but maybe your futon can be saved...we had a cat once that had surgery - he was at the vet for several days and I swear in the time he was there he didn't go to the bathroom because as soon as my husband put him in our SUV he went ALL over our new SUV seats. My husband had to take the seat out of the SUV - He bought charcoal (which is a natural deodorizer - I think he got it in the aquarium store or Wal-Mart - NOT charcoal you cook with;), and then he put the charcoal in an open container on the seat and wrapped the seat tightly in a big sheet of plastic (try a plastic drop cloth) - we left it wrapped for about two weeks and most the time we could never detect the smell unless it was extremely hot outside like today. It really is very inexpensive and worked well. He also bought a tub of odor remover at Wal-Mart the other day that absorbs smells and if you sealed that in it might work, too. We just got it to take care of general dog smells not bathroom smells, but it might work. It was in the car department with the deodorizers...it absorbs scents for 6 months but I don't know about pet scents. GOOD LUCK!! - A., The Avon Lady

I don't know if Fabreeze would help or not. Have you had your cat examined to see if it has a bladder infection? That could be the reason it is urinating places other than it's bax. I had a cat once that started using the carpet instead of her litter box. When this began I couldn't figure out why she was doing that because I'd had her for several years and she never did that until we moved to NC. I knew it wasn't a physical problem because she only did it in the spare bedroom which was also the room where her food, water and litter box were. At that time I had a neighbor who had a cat that he never took care of. Me and a neighbor lady kept food out for this cat. One day it was on my porch eating, and I went out to pet it. Afterwards I walked in just in time to see my cat crouched down and urinating on the bedroom floor. It was then that I made the connection. She was doing this out of jealousy! Some time after that I was reading a booklet about cats and it said that all cats, especially female which mine was, are extremely territorial. I realized then that my cat had been jealous and was marking her territory, the room she considered hers because of her food, water and litter box being there. I had to put a plastic covering on the floor because I couldn't get her to stop. However, after we moved back to Indiana and there weren't any other cats around, she never urinated anywhere but in her litter box again. If your cat doesn't have a urinary problem such as an infection or something, then it is probably something behavioral like the situation with my cat. Sorry that I don't know what to tell you to do to stop your cat from doing this. It looks like a lot of people out there have had this problem and have solutions for you to try. I hope one of them works out for you!

Have you heard about Nok-Out? It is a true deodorant that will destroy odor on contact. A cat will return to where the smell of urine is. If you destroy that scent, your pet will NOT want to use it as a litter box site. There is a lot of information about Nok-Out at www.nokout.com.
It's as good as it gets! L.

I completely feel for you as we have been going through similar problems over the years also. To make matters worse, a new kitten appeared on our porch a couple months ago and we have had no luck finding her a permanent home because she started marking too. So she's back with us as no humane shelters are taking kittens right now. Anyway, we went to our vet for help. The first thing she said was to check the cats to make sure there isn't anything physical going on like urinary tract problems etc. Then, she told us to try using the big storage tubs as litter boxes because litter boxes in the US are not made big enough for our cats (it should be 1.5x as long as the cat) also, cats seem to prefer a box without a lid. Also, have a box for each cat you own plus an extra somewhere else. She said not to put the litter box near where they eat either because that can turn them away from the box, and also scoop out the box daily and change litter at least weekly. Basically, everything we can do to make the litter box the most appealing place to go. Lastly, as far as cleaning up the smell, we've tried tons of things too (Nature's Miracle being one and not really working so well). We are actually waiting on a product we ordered online that the vet recommended - its called Zero Odor - my husband searched online and found the website www.zeroodor.com and it is completely natural and non-harmful to pets and humans. The vet and a couple vet techs swear by it. Another thing we're trying is Feliway diffusers. They give off feline pheremones that calm the cats. It might be worth trying. Anyway, I hope some of this helps, feel free to contact me if you have anymore questions. Also, I would try contacting your vet also. I can give you our vet's name too. Good luck!

We had the same problem with our cats a while ago. We have moved about three times since we have gotten them (they are six). Each time they began to pee on dirty laundry (their favorite) and then they started on our beds and other furniture. We took them to the vet thinking it might be an illenss. Once that was ruled out she told us that cats are tempramental and any little change in their home can cause them to pee. She also said that we should have one more cat box than we do cats. So we (even though I hate cat boxs all over my house) put one on the main floor, one in the basement laudry room and another in the othe part of our basement, they spend a lot of time in the basement. She said not to put in near their food and to say away from litter that has added scents to it because they do not like it. SO far that seemed to work really well. ALthough, they have a favorite cat box and it got too full one time and they let us know by peeing on dirty laundry. THey use the other boxes but prefer the one in the laundry room, go figure. So as long as we keep their boxes clean they have done a complete turn around. I used vinager to take up the smell, it seemed to work. When we bought our house the previous owners that had cats that peed on the carpet,so we wanted to replace it. When we pulled up the cartpet the subfloor and the original hardwood was saturated and smelled really bad. We used KILZ ( think that is how you spell it) it is a primer you use before painting. We applied it to the hardwood (it was already ruined) before we replaced the carpet. Now there is no cat smell at all. I hope this helps!

Sounds like she may have a UTI or kidney problem. The vet may sell something to take out odors. I would check with your vet about her problem as well.

I don't think there is anyway to save your futon mattress. If it's soaked with urine, no amount of cleaning is going to get it out. If you go buy a new one, chances are the cat will use that as a litter box too. You should probably take the cat to the vet. It could be a UTI or some other medical issue. I had to get rid of a cat that I had for over 10 years after our daughter was born. He was peeing in the corners and nothing I did would make him stop., I tried literally everything. Take her to the vet, but you may have to get rid of her :(

Dear Dawn,

Cats who mess aren't pets. There is only two choices - Cage the cats into a small area or put them to sleep. I had two that did that so we made them "box" cats. They had a nice house in the basement and we brought them up when we could watch and play with them OR took them outside. No other options. BTW - The cushion is history.

God Bless,

S.

I have had good results from two products on all types of urine/feces/vomit smells. The first, Petzyme, can be purchased at some big pet stores such as Petco. The second, Bac-Out, is available at some natural food stores and co-ops. Both appear to contain cultures that eat or destroy the proteins and bacteria that cause the offensive smells. You have to follow the directions carefully. Both need to dry slowly so the cultures have enough time to work. If the first application doesn't completely take care of the smell, keep applying until the smells are gone. I hope this works for you!

You have lots of responses so maybe this is a repeat- sorry if it is.
We had the same problem with a couch and we bought Anti Icky Poo (what a name, vet recommended it). On a humid day, we can still smell the pee after injecting almost a gallon of the stuff into our couch. Maybe some of the other stuff people have recommended would work better than what we used but I do think injecting it deep into the cushion helped. Our vet gave us 2 syringes that we used to get the stuff way into the cushion.
HTH-
J.

Call the mattress Cleaning and treatment. @ ###-###-#### mr Reno specialized in cleaning mattresses.And if need a good vacuum repair look us. Commercial vacuum center

There are 2 things: One is a product called Nature's Miracle. It's an enzyme that eats odor. They sell blacklights that help you pinpont the spot(s) where urine is, so that you can treat it, too. After the Nature's Miracle, if that doesn't take it out, I found that if I saturate the spot with a bit of water, and then pour 20-Team Borax powder on top of it, and let it soak up the water/urine over a couple of days (repeat as many times as necessary), it draws the ick out of things. See the side of the Borax box (it's a laundry powder...) - it'll tell you how to get urine out of a mattress & follow those directions...I did that with my carpet & it worked wonders!
Good luck, it's a hard odor to rid yourself of.

Hi Dawn!

I had a cat that was urinating on things he shouldn't including our couch. So I know your frustration. First I wanted to ask if you have taken your kitty to the vet. When they urinate on things other then their kitty litter it may mean they are trying to get your attention because they are not feeling well. I had two cats that did this and that was the case for both, and we were able to correct it by getting them to the vet.

Regarding the cushion I used so many different products and the only thing that worked for us was actually Woolite. I used it as a last resort. It completely took the smell out. I washed the cover in it and I put some in a spray bottle and sprayed the cushion real good both sides and then leaned it up to completely dry before putting the cover back on it. I hope this helps.