If you have a dog or cat that is urinating inside the house be aware that there are certain cleaning solutions for this that are no solutions are.

One of worst things you can do is use ammonia based cleaner on a pet stain with odor. That is because cat and dog urine degrades into an ammonia smell. You are simply adding more ammonia “smell” to an existing one.  You will never eliminate pet smells this way. You will only make it worse for months.  Furthermore the smell of ammonia may further attract the pet to eliminate again in the same area.  You are better off buying a product made specific for pet urine. Go to Petco.com and get a product from there. Also use a Petco coupon code from CouponPunk.com to get a deal on the product.

It is also a terrible idea to spray the area with aerosol or foam disinfectent. Although this might kill bacteria these disinfectants often leave a strong odor that combines with the ammonia odor to make a particularly awful smell. There are few odors worse than the scent of Lysol combined with ammonia.  When a dog smells this odor it is hard for him or her not to “remark” the area so that the ammonia scent triumphs over the Lysol scent.

Home-made remedies are not much better. If you use any combination of vinegar, water, baking soda and soap to clean up a pet stain you will only succeed in moistening it and spreading it.  The dampness will also spread the odor. Vinegar does kill bacteria but it has a strong odor of its own that can cling for weeks to carpet or flooring.  Baking soda creates a fizzing effect on the stain that looks impressive but actually does nothing to get rid of the powerful smell of pet urine.

In general it is a big mistake to use a wet brush and water to clean urine stains from a carpet because all you are really doing is rubbing the scent deeper into the carpet. This too causes the stain to spread and if you use a lot of water then you might be soaking the carpet underpadding.  The ammonia in the pet urine sinks and rots both the underpadding and the carpet, which creates a terrible smell.   The lingering smell also encourages pets to go in the same place.

It is unfortunate that there are so many way that you can make the problem worse when you attempt to clean up pet stains.  They are quick fixes for cleaning up smelly pet puddles that may not work in the long run.