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If your cat starts to urinate outside of the litter box and onto your furniture, it can leave the furniture full of stains and smell bad. This smell can be difficult to mask, and most household products will not be able to get rid of the deep stains in your furniture.
Whether your cats urinated on your couch, carpet, or bed, it’s important to neutralize the odor as the first step. Cats will often return to a spot to urinate again if it still smells of their urine.
It’s also important to figure out the cause of your cat’s inappropriate urinating behavior with the help and guidance from your vet in order to rule out any underlying health issues and prevent your cat from urinating on your furniture again.
This article will give you all the answers you need as to why your cat is urinating on your furniture and how you can get rid of the stains and lingering smells.
Products to Clean Up Cat Urine
Several products can help neutralize the odor of cat urine, such as vinegar, baking soda, and enzymatic cleaners. You should avoid using cleaning products that contain ammonia as an ingredient because they will not work as effectively.
Baking Soda & Vinegar
While vinegar itself may be smelly, it works well to remove the lasting odor of sprayed cat urine. This is because vinegar is an acid that neutralizes the alkaline salts that form in dried urine stains.1
A solution of one part vinegar and one part water can be used to clean the furniture, walls, flooring, and wood without bleaching fabrics. The vinegary smell will subside after a few hours, taking the urine smell with it.
Enzyme-Based Cleaners
This type of cleaner can be used to eliminate odors from carpets, couches, cushions, mattresses, and linen. The enzymes in these products break down the acid in cat urine, helping to get rid of the smell at the same time. The natural enzymes help to get rid of the harmful bacteria that are causing unpleasant urine odors.
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What to Avoid When Cleaning Cat Urine
It’s best to try and resist the temptation to go with cleaning products that contain ammonia. Using an ammonia-based cleaner may encourage your cat to remark the area because the smell of ammonia attracts them to urinate there again. Some experts suggest that it’s also important to avoid using steam or heat when cleaning items marked with cat urine because heat can “set the stain in.” This also applies to washers and dryers if you are washing furniture linen that your cat urinated on. It’s best to wash these items with your machine’s setting on cold water.
Never scold or discipline cats who have urinated on the furniture or outside of the litter box. Instead of scolding your cat, clean up the area thoroughly and get to work on making your cat’s litter box as appealing as possible, as well as getting down to the underlying cause of inappropriate urination. For this, please consult with your vet, as urinating outside of the litter box can often indicate an underlying health issue.
If a health issue has been ruled out, inspect the litter box, its location, and the litter itself. Several clean, easy-to-access litter boxes will hopefully entice your cat to urinate in them instead. Place the litter boxes over problem areas and gradually move the litter boxes to where you want them to be once your cat begins to use them properly.
How Do You Get Rid of Cat Urine Smells & Stains From Furniture
As soon as you notice that your cat has peed on your furniture, it is essential that you soak up the pee and not let it sit too long, or the smell and stain will get worse.
1. Blot the Area to Absorb the Urine
When you find the stain, blot up as much of the urine as you can by applying pressure to a cloth or paper towel over the urine stain. Press down hard to allow the paper towel or cloth to absorb the urine that has been set deep in the furniture, to bring it to the surface.
2. Rinse & Vacuum the Area
Next, rinse or soak the area with clean water and remove the liquid with a wet or dry vacuum—but avoid using a steam cleaner.
3. Soak the Spot in an Enzyme Cleaner
Most enzyme cleaners come in a spray bottle, but lightly spraying the affected area will not do much. Instead, remove the cap off the bottle and douse the area in the enzyme cleaner.
4. Let It Sit Before Blotting With a Clean Cloth
Let the cleaner sit for 10–20 minutes or according to the manufacturer’s instructions so that the ingredients can work properly. Then, blot the area again with a new set of paper towels or a cloth to absorb the excess cleaner.
5. Reapply the Cleaner If Necessary
Once the area has dried and you find that there is still a lingering smell, you can reapply the cleaner or spray it over the area and let it sit overnight. Alternatively, you can try vinegar if the enzyme-based cleaner does not work.
6. Prevent Your Cat From Returning to the Area
To keep your cat from urinating on that specific piece of furniture again, cover it with aluminum foil or place a solid object over it. You can also use a cat repellent spray to keep your cat off your furniture so that they do not urinate there again, such as the Four Paws keep off cat repellent spray. Besides using various repellents, it’s crucial to get down to the cause of your cat peeing there in the first place. That’s your best bet in solving the issue long-term.
Why Does Cat Urine Smell & Stain?
In comparison to other animals, cat urine seems to smell the worst. This is why there are so many different litter brands on the market to mask and deodorize cat urine, because, without this litter, a cat’s litter box can smell bad quickly.
If your cat begins to pee on your furniture, the smell can become a nuisance. Not only does cat urine have a distinctive, almost fishy odor, but it can also cause nasty yellow stains that are difficult to remove.
Cat Urine Gets Worse With Time
Once your cat has urinated on a piece of furniture and it goes unnoticed for a few hours, the bacteria in urine decomposes and gives off a slightly fishy and ammonia-like odor that’s a characteristic of old urine.
During the second stage of the urine’s decomposition stage, the urine emits mercaptans, which are the same compounds that give skunk spray a bad smell. With this in mind, it’s clear why cat urine smells so bad!
Older Cats May Have Smellier Urine
Older cats may suffer from underlying health issues, such as kidney disease or diabetes, making them more prone to urinary tract infections. This can cause cats to have worse-smelling urine than usual and requires immediate veterinary attention and treatment. Senior cats may also be more likely to display abnormal litter box behaviors due to problems such as arthritis or dementia, which can cause them to pee on the furniture, carpets, and flooring.
Hormones in Cat Urine
Male cats that are not neutered have powerful hormones that are eliminated when they pee. Unless a male cat is neutered, their testosterone-spiked urine signals other male cats to stay away and lets female cats know they are in the area. Female cats may also have a fishier odor in their urine when they are in heat, as they give off pheromones to attract male cats and let them know that she is in heat.
Cats Have Concentrated Urine
Healthy cats have highly concentrated urine, which is what makes them stain surfaces, linen, and furniture so easily. Cats keep absorbing water from their urine, so when they do eventually pee, the strong odor and compounds in that urine are more concentrated, causing it to smell bad and stain easily.
Why Is Your Cat Urinating on Your Furniture?
There are various reasons why a cat may start displaying abnormal litter box habits. Some owners may think that their cats do this as a way of looking for revenge or negative attention, but cats lack the cognitive abilities required to conduct that type of revenge strategy. More often, it’s a sign of an underlying health issue, stress, or a problem related to the actual litter box or the litter.
- Your cat is suffering from an underlying medical condition that is causing them to urinate inappropriately. This can be caused by arthritis, urinary tract infections (UTIs) or other types of feline lower urinary tract disease such as presence of crystals, kidney disease, all of which, depending on the condition, put your cat in physical pain, cause them to drink and urinate excessively or they can be suffering from dementia, which mainly occurs in senior cats. Straining to urinate or the presence of blood in urine, particularly in male cats, requires urgent veterinary attention!
- Arthritis can make it difficult and painful for your cat to use the litter box. The litter box may be difficult and painful for your cat to access or take too much effort to use, which can cause them to urinate in other areas. The sides could be too tall, or the entrance is at the top, and your cat cannot jump up to use it anymore because of this painful condition.
- Something in the environment could be disturbing your cat, causing them to display abnormal bathroom behaviors and urinate on furniture instead. This can be from environmental changes and stressors, such as a new pet being introduced into the household or changes in their routine.
- Your cat could be spraying. Some cats will squat down to urinate, which is the standard position for cats to urinate in. However, when cats spray, they can lift their back legs and spray up against a vertical surface, such as the leg of a couch or the wall. Spraying is usually caused by hormones or multi-cat households where they will spray to mark their territory.
Final Thoughts
The combination of ammonia and mercaptans present in cat urine gives it an unpleasant smell, which can cause furniture and linen to smell bad. By cleaning the urine the correct way, you are not only ridding the furniture of the urine stain and smell, but you are also preventing your cat from urinating on the furniture again. Besides getting rid of the stain and smell, it’s crucial to consult a vet and rule out an underlying medical condition for urinating outside of the litter box.
We hope that this article has helped you find a successful method to rid your furniture of the horrid urine smell and stains left behind by your cat, but has also helped you understand some of the possible reasons for inappropriate urination.
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Featured Image Credit: Creative Cat Studio, Shutterstock
