Homemade Pet Odor Sprays

After living with pets, you can sometimes become accustomed to the underlying animal smells. Commercial deodorizing sprays can be expensive and have intense "perfume" odors. Homemade pet odor sprays can be inexpensive to make and easily customized to your preferred scents. Additionally, by using homemade sprays, owners will not be adding chemicals to their environment. Homemade deodorizing sprays are nontoxic to pets and use natural ingredients.

  1. Vinegar-Based Spray

    • One recipe for homemade deodorizing sprays has a base of water and vinegar. Most mixes use a 50/50 ratio of these ingredients. Depending on the quantity of deodorizing spray you wish to create, as well as the size of the spray bottle you plan to use, the amount of vinegar and water used can vary.
      To customize the spray, add three to five drops of essential oils to create the scent you desire. Add more drops of oil for a stronger scent. Essential oils are strongly scented liquids, most often distilled by steam, derived from flowers, stems, leaves or other parts of plants. While many essential oils are clear, some are tinted. Use care with the spray mixture if using a colored essential oil to ensure that any light-colored furniture, fabrics or carpets are not stained.
      Unlike commercial odor-removing sprays, essential oils are not perfumes. Perfumes are created from artificial sources, whereas essential oils are derived from natural ingredients. They can also offer a therapeutic benefit through aromatherapy. Essential oils have a range of price and quality. Factors to consider when purchasing oils include the rarity of the plant from which the oil is derived, which can impact price, as well as the country and conditions where the plant was grown and the quality of the distillery process.

    Essential Oil Spray

    • Another deodorizing-spray recipe also utilizes essential oils. A general recipe calls for mixing an ounce of water with 12 drops of your preferred scented oil. Mix the water and oil by shaking them together in the spray bottle. This spray will have a much more potent scent, so less will be needed as a deodorizer.
      If you have no specific scents in mind for creating an essential oil-based pet odor spray, try using an ounce of water, eight drops of cedar wood oil and four drops of tea tree oil. Another combination of essential oils that is effective at covering pet odors is six drops bergamot oil, one drop of tea tree oil and five drops of lemon oil. This mixture creates a fresh citrus-based scent.