My Favorite Pet Stain Remover

Everyone is always surprised when they walk into my house and it doesn’t smell like dogs or cats.  Why you may ask?  KiKi’s zoo consists of five cats and two dogs.  But the house does not smell like seven animals live here.  I contribute much of this success to My Favorite Pet Stain Remover. 

Even if you only own one pet, you know even the best-behaved pet excretes some sort of bodily function in the house.  Whether it is because they are sick or because they are spiteful, you need to deal with the cleanup of vomit, urine, feces or just plain drool or eye boogies. 

Imagine seven animals and you realize that someone is always doing something to make a mess in the house. 

Vomit

Cats puke a lot.  Hairballs are a real thing.  They look very similar to poop.  But if you look closely, you’ll see the little hairs sticking out from the well-formed blob on the floor.  Dogs are no better.  Elliot has a sensitive stomach.  We are not sure when he developed this, but things we used to give him as treats just aren’t good for his stomach anymore.  Normally, he rings his bell to go outside when he feels nauseous.  Staying outside way too long is a sure sign that he doesn’t feel well. He comes in with sad eyes and licking his lips after devouring much to much grass. 

Feces

Poop is the item that is most offensive and doesn’t happen as much as the other ones.  I can say with confidence that no one has pooped inside my house in at least two years.  And I believe the last one to poop in my house was a Rover dog that I was pet sitting. 

Urine

Pee is a problem with so many animals.  If I find a urine spot, it’s difficult to determine the guilty party. Dog pee is usually a larger quantity. This makes the difference between dog and cat urine a bit easier. Dog pee is a problem because if you don’t clean it up, the cats will try to mask the smell with their own pee. 

Most people that dislike cats believe that cats spitefully pee in a house all the time. That is simply not true.  Cats are sensitive to smell and feel their smell is better than any offensive smell they come across. Sure, it smells bad to us, but they would rather smell themselves instead of something else. 

Finding and removing cat urine completely is the way to keep your house smelling fresh.  Most houses that smell like cat pee, do so because the spot hasn’t been found or the owner doesn’t put forth the effort. 

Drool/Snot

My Aussies do not drool as much as some other dog breeds.  But I do have a problem with snot.  My cat Ham is a perpetual sneezer.  She does not have a URI.  Does not have Feline Herpes.  She just has nose issues.  Prescription nose drops help her to remove her snot.  But she removes it by violently sneezing and spreading the love. 

Hard Surface Floors

No carpets exist on the main living floor of our house.  Most are covered by vinyl plank flooring.  It is the most durable and waterproof flooring for pets and pool.  I prefer cats and dogs to do their nasty mistakes on this floor.  But we rarely get what we want.

My ‘go-to’ cleaner for hard surfaces is Clorox Cleanup Bleach.  It smells like bleach; it stains your clothes like bleach; however, it doesn’t have a large amount of bleach in it.  The label states it has 1.84% of Sodium Hypochlorite (bleach). The remainder is other ingredients.   

Clorox Cleanup Bleach does an excellent job on hard surfaces.  I have never found it to change the color of the surface, but with all cleaners, it’s best to test on a small inconspicuous area before going crazy. I also use this on flat painted walls and woodwork.  It turns my white woodwork bright and shiny after all the hand and finger smears are removed.  And removes many of the stains on my painted walls as long as you don’t scrub too hard. 

My Favorite Pet Stain Remover – for carpets & furniture

Using the Clorox Cleanup is great until you come to fabric and carpet.  As I said, the Clorox Cleanup still stains clothing if you get any on your shirt or pants. 

My Favorite Pet Stain Remover is Simple Green Cat/Dog.  I’ve used Simple Green Cat for years.  I first discovered it at Petco, but they stopped stocking it shortly after.  I ended up buying it online through a discount pet supply store.  It was not available on Amazon until recently, since the introduction of Simple Green Dog.  

I ordered both the Simple Green Cat & the Simple Green Dog and I can not find a difference in the ingredients or anything else listed on the bottle. I assume that they are just trying to market to both dog & cat people. Most times the Simple Green Cat is the cheaper of the two. I recommend checking both but go with whatever appears to be cheapest at the time, no matter what type of animal you need to clean up after.

Stain Remover

My Favorite Pet Stain Remover, Simple Green does a great job of cutting through stains.  The instructions tell you to remove the waste, spray and let air dry.  Depending on what I am cleaning up, I try to follow these instructions.  I usually remove all waste, give it a good spray and then lightly rub the carpet to make sure all the product penetrates through the spot that was contaminated.  Then I give it another good spray and I walk away.  I let that product sit and dry before I look and see if it needs another coat.  The stain when wet appears to be completely removed. After the spot air dries, sometimes the stain returns but in a lighter shade. Very deep stains sometimes need a 2nd or 3rd application.  But you must them dry in between coatings. 

The same thing can be done on sofas, chairs, etc.  I again have had no issue with the product changing the color of the fabric.  But a small test spot is always recommended before you spray the entire area. 

Smell Remover

I think Simple Green product does a great job at removing the odor caused by pet waste.  It works on most everyday occurrences.  Simple Green has a very distinctive smell that not everyone appreciates.  I don’t mind it.  But you can tell if it’s been used recently. 

My husband relates the smell of Simple Green to urine, so he believes ever time I spray it that I’m cleaning up urine.  When in actuality, I clean up more puke from the dogs and cats than I ever clean up from urine. 

Any spot that is consistently soiled with puke, urine or feces will be difficult for you to remove the smell.  Normally urine is the one that is repeatedly placed in the small spot.  No cat or dog decides to puke in the same spot unless they don’t move much.  I can’t guarantee that this product will remove long term problem spots.  I’m sure there are other brands that advertise this type of product.  But Simple Green does a great job on day-day messes.

Take your pet to the vet.

Remember, an occasional vomit, urine or poop spot is common territory for any pet.  But if you are consistently cleaning up after your cat or dog, make sure that you take them to the veterinarian for a checkup.  Your cat could have a urinary tract infection that is causing them to urine outside their litter box.  Or your dog or cat could be puking every day, which is a sign of many different problems that only additional testing will discover.  Sam’s hyperthyroidism was discovered because he began puking almost every day.   Vomiting is not a sign of hyperthyroidism, so I was very lucky he was diagnosed when he was, as he received the treatment that he needed.