What Natural Ingredients Can Remove Cat Urine?

If your cat urinates outside its litter box in your home, you do not have to use harsh chemicals to clean the mess. Instead, use natural cleaners and ingredients to safely and effectively remove the stains and odors left behind by the urine. Not only will removing the stain freshen your home, it will prevent your cat from being attracted back to the same spot to urinate again.

  1. Vinegar

    • Made from natural corn or apples and water, both white vinegar and apple cider vinegar are mildly acidic. The acids in vinegar break down and neutralize the proteins contained in cat urine to help remove them. After blotting up as much of the liquid as you can, rinse it with water and blot it again. Dampen older stains with warm water. Mix vinegar with an equal part of water, or use it straight on older stains. Spray the vinegar directly onto the stain, and wipe it away on solid surfaces, or let it dry on fabrics. Place washable fabric items in your laundry with 1/2 to 1 cup vinegar, depending on the severity of the stain and odor.

    Lemon Juice

    • Lemon juice contains natural acids that help break down and neutralize cat urine. Fresh-squeezed lemon juice works best to clean urine and leave behind a fresh scent. Blot up the cat urine from fabrics or carpets, rinse with water, and blot the surface again. Squeeze lemons with a juicer, remove any pulp from the juice, and pour the juice directly onto the urine stains. Allow the lemon juice to sit for 15 minutes, and then rinse with warm water and blot up the liquid. For stubborn stains, add table salt on top of the lemon juice, and use it to scrub the surface of the fabric or carpet. On solid surfaces, pour the lemon juice on the surface and wipe it away with a damp cloth. Since cats do not like citrus scents, the lemon scent may deter your cat from urinating again in the same area.

    Borax

    • You can use borax, a naturally occurring mineral, to clean urine stains and odors. Borax can clean away urine stains, and it has antibacterial properties to deodorize the area on both fabrics and solid surfaces. After blotting away the urine and rinsing it with water, leave the spot wet. Apply borax to the surface of the fabric or carpet, and rub it into the stain. Allow the area to dry, then vacuum away the borax. You can also add 1/2 cup of borax to your laundry to remove urine from washable fabrics. While relatively safe and inert, use caution when using borax around cats and other pets so they do not accidentally ingest it.

    Considerations

    • When cleaning cat urine with natural ingredients, you may need to clean the area more than once to completely remove the smell and prevent your cat from returning to the area to urinate again. You can also increase the potency of the ingredients by combining them. You can safely combine borax and lemon juice to form a paste that will clean and disinfect urine stains and odors. Let the paste sit on the stain until it dries, vacuum it away, and rinse the area with water. Combine vinegar, lemon juice, and water in equal parts, and saturate fabrics with the solution to clean and deodorize cat urine stains.