Serious Dog Urine Cleaning Products from a Surprising Source
Nobody enjoys thinking about dog urine stains and odor, but it happens. Even older dogs have accidents. (And let’s also admit that dogs sometimes do it on purpose in order to mark their territory - no accident involved).
I’m thinking about this unpleasant subject at the moment because I just moved, and a very distinctive stain showed that a medium-sized dog had recently lifted his leg on my new porch. To prevent my own dog from re-marking the house when I moved him to his new home, I had to find a good dog urine cleaning product, and fast. With the help of my local pet store owner, (who also runs a house cleaning service), I did find a great product - but not at her pet store.
So where did my friendly pet store owner take me to find a serious dog urine cleaning product? She led me next door, to the auto supply house. She asked the proprietor to search his shelves for a product that would be good enough to remove the smell and the stain from my porch wall, but which would not be so strong that it would remove the paint. The product he had in stock was called Unbelievable!, from CORE Products Co., Inc., (but the man at the auto parts store said there are other brands that work as well). The product was developed for professional cleaners, and works to remove pet and food stains (and odors) from a car’s upholstery and carpet.
The product costs far less than the enzyme product I recently purchased from a veterinarian and it worked immediately. I just sprayed it on the siding where the dog lifted his leg, and the stain disappeared instantly, along with the smell. I’ll be trying it on that suspicious spot on the carpet in a few minutes.
So, next time you have a need for a dog urine cleaner, don’t head for the pet store - go to the auto supply store, and ask for a product that works on urine stains and odors. You’ll save money by not buying a product from the pet store or vet’s, and be happier with the results.
Some day (when I don’t feel like I’m in a hurry), I’ll try out a home-made product made from diluted hydrogen peroxide and baking soda. This works phenomenally well to neutralize skunk odor, but I’ve never tried it on dog or cat urine. If it does work, it will cost only a few pennies, and be much cheaper than anything you could buy at a store.
The first product that most people turn in these situations is enzyme-based cleaning products that can be purchased at grocery and pet stores. I recently had an opportunity to use an enzyme product on a borrowed cat carrier that had been sprayed by the owner’s cat, and most of the odor did go away, eventually. However, the enzyme product, which I purchased from a veterinarian, was expensive. It also took a long time to work, and my own cats could still tell that the carrier had been sprayed, even though my own human nose can no longer detect it. The product I purchased from the auto parts store worked better, and faster. And it cost less.
Some people try using ammonia for urine stains, but this doesn’t make much sense, except that it’s cheap and it’s something that you probably have on hand. If you’ve ever raised rabbits, you’ve already discovered that ammonia is a nitrogen-based compound that can be created by a buildup of urine. You know the hutch needs to be cleaned when you smell the ammonia. It doesn’t make sense to use ammonia to clean up urine. And besides - it stinks!)
Vinegar has traditionally been used to get rid of animal stains and odors, but I haven’t found that it works all that well. Vinegar does remove odors from the air, but it doesn’t do a thorough job of permanently removing the urine from a carpet or other surface. Therefore, the odor comes back, and it can encourage additional accidents.
Until I prove to myself that the hydrogen peroxide/baking soda recipe works, I’ll be sticking with the stain and odor removing product that I purchased from the auto parts store. It’s a serious dog urine cleaning product, and I’ve just proven to myself that it works.