What am I doing wrong with vinegar for dog urine on carpet???

Question

I have read all over the place and on here that I should use vinegar for pet urine on the carpet.

I was told to add about a cup to a gallon of water. I've tried this and the smell of urine is STILL there.

This is what I've tried before...
1. blot the area with paper towels
2. spray water on the area and soak up with paper towels
3. clean with water/vinegar mixture and blot up with paper towels or a white towel
4. let air dry

I did these steps, changing the amount of vinegar I used, how much I soaked the area, not cleaning with water first... NOTHING works. It just smells like urine and vinegar mixed together and usually leaves a brown stain on my light beige carpet.

What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

You are covering up one odor with another. Try using an enzyme pet product. You can find them at pet stores and even supermarkets in the pet department. Enzyme cleaners eliminate the odors by "eating" them. This is the same way a septic tank works. Bacteria in the enzymes will stop the odors.

Answer 2

You have been told the steps wrongly, the right solution but wrong way, never spray water on the urine first this just spread the urine further, you mix one cup of White Vinegar to a half bucket of hot water, scrub the area with a cloth, not a colored cloth though you could bleed the colors from the cloth onto your carpet, then when you have scrubbed a little then you blot up as much as you can with a thick towel, not colored towel, then you repeat step once more, but don't soak carpet this will bring up the urine that has already soaked to the pad, then blot again, then you must do more steps, you must then wash the carpet with some dishwashing detergent or a capful of Wisk to your half bucket of water, then scrub again once you have done this you can then rinse with some clear warm water, then blot up excess water, then for the final step you should place a towel over the area and put something heavy on top of the towel over night then the next day you can take off the towel and sprinkle some Baking soda on top of the spot for a day or so, I usually leave mine on for about two days then you just vacuum up your carpet will smell really fresh and clean afterwards and you should not smell any urine if you do then you are getting the smell from the underpad which that piece should be replaced because it will keep emanating up through your carpet no matter what you do. Good Luck !

Answer 3

Clean Dog Urine From Carpet

Answer 4

Wipe it with a cloth that's been rung out in glycerine first. Leave it for five minutes and then you just treat it like it's fresh urine. Use a little facial soap and cold water. Dip your soap in the cold water and draw on the stain like a crayon. Then put paper towel on it and stand on it. Then do the same thing again with a little white vinegar.

This answer comes from Shannon Lush, who wrote a great cleaning book called "spotless", she is on the radio in australia and very popular, if you enter her details into a search engine im sure you'll find other useful tips --- anyone got any idea how to stop repeat offenders? (ie my beagle pees in the same spot on our verandah, with wooden floors, i think he goes back for the same smell or something)

more answers from shannon lush, dont know if this might help also:
Q. How do I remove dog urine and vomit from carpet?
Wipe with glycerine, blot with paper towel, sponge with white vinegar then blot again and don’t let the back of the carpet get too wet.
Q. How do I get rid of “Old Man” smell and cat urine smell from a house?
On a dark night, use a ultra violet light and the urine stains will show up yellow. Scrub these with white vinegar. If the urine has soaked through the groves of the floor boards, mix up some plaster of paris, wipe over the boards, brush off when dry. The old man smell is cause from flaking skin. Sprinkle bi-carbonate soda around the house and brush it backwards and forwards on surfaces, this will pick up the dead skin particles.

Answer 5

If the smell as gone beyond the carpet, like into the pad or--worse--the floor below, you have a bigger job. First cut the carpet and pull it back. Go ahead, you can tape it back together later.....professionals do it all the time.

Sniff the pad below. That part might need replacing. Also check the floor underneath. If it's concrete, celebrate! It can be scrubbed and then painted over with Kilz after it dries. If it is wood, uh oh. Urine in wood doesn't come out. You can paint over the spot with Kilz but if you ever want to have the wood again, that section would have to be removed and replaced.

Reassemble by using double sided carpet tape for the pad and the carpet. If you think the soil spot is still too noticeable, cut a twin patch from the corner of the closet, exchange the stained patch for the clean closet patch and get on with your life.

Answer 6

Shannon Lush Carpet Cleaning

Answer 7

I don't know who keeps telling these people to use vinegar. It's so weird, they have a vinegar fetish and vinegar smells sooo bad. So stop using that and buy an actual cleaner.

They sell specific cleaners such as Urine Gone or Resolve Pet Stain or Oxi Clean Stain Remover that specialize in these things that are SAFE for your carpet.

Urine Gone is what I recommend. It uses enzymes etc. to be rid of the smell and the stain of pee.

For this brown caused by the vinegar freaks use some resolve or oxi clean made for carpet. It should life it. If worst case use the Bissel spot cleaner. That thing gets everything out.

Answer 8

First you must use paper towel, to blot up as much of the moisture as possible. Then use 1/2 cup of vinegar to 2 cups water and blot that on. Now Take your dish washing detergent (dawn or joy etc) and water and sponge that on and rub gently. Now take your paper towel and blot, blot. and blot this part is very important put paper towel down and set on it, do this until you see no more moisture on the towel. then if you want you can sprinkle baking soda to freshen it and it will also help with any moisture left.

Answer 9

Try Resolve Carpet cleaner with the red scrubber brush on top to really get down in the carpet fibers. Also Woolite makes a pet stain & odor remover that works good. I found it in the pet section.

Answer 10

have one tougher a lady i used to know had 5 cats in her home but no matter what i tried it still smelled until i went to cvs looking around i found this great stuff called C-D-10 neutralizer and the smell will vanish also try oky clean on carpet next time it will not stain