Why Are Pet Urine and Odor So Difficult To Remove During Carpet Cleaning

     Copyright (c) 2014 Michael Furcron

Here in America we love our Dogs and Cats, but as we all know they sooner or later they are bound to use the bathroom where you don't want them to. What many owners don't know is these unfortunate accidents can cause more damage then they know. Dog or cat urine on carpet is a breeding ground for bacteria. When if goes unnoticed urine can actually deteriorate the carpet fibers causing permanent damage.

Pet urine odors and stains can be surprisingly complex and can be difficult to remove from carpet & other fabrics. Many factors come into play when trying to remove pee stains, such as the size and location of the spot, carpet fabric type, length of time the stain was allowed to set, age of the pet, breed, medications that the animal is on, even the pets diet can effect the removal.

Why don't topical treatments work on urine! Even a small amount of cat or dog urine can cause a lot of damage by quickly soaking into the backing of the carpet, padding, and even the sub floor where it is even more difficult to remove... Think of an Iceberg! A topical treatment may temporarily mask the odor, but the remaining contamination in the carpet pad & sub floor will quickly creep back to the surface.

What's in Urine That Causes the Difficult Stain? Urine is made up of several things like urea, creatine, cholesterol (lipids), and uric acid, which are waste products of our metabolism. It is another bi product that gives urine its yellow color call urochrome. Health, age, diet, gender, breed, and many other factors all change the make up of the animals urine. When urine exits the body it is acidic, but it quickly starts breaking down into ammonia and carbon dioxide. The ammonia is highly alkaline (ph 11+) and can damage dyes and create permanent color loss. So when urine is left in the carpet for a longer period of time, what looks like a yellow spot might actually be permanent color loss.

Many people ask... Why is animal urine so hard to remove from carpets? The warm acid environment created when the urine leaves the body is the perfect breeding ground for bacteria, which begin to flourish almost immediately. As the pee passes through the urethra, it comes in contact with bacteria in the animals skin, urethra, and the microorganisms in the carpet. Much of what we can smell is the bacteria off gassing. As the urine decomposes it changes in pH from an acid to an alkali. Alkaline salt crystals from when the acidic urine reacts with the ammonia being created.

Why Can I See Urine / Pee on Some Days and Not others? After the urine has dried on the carpet the hygroscopic salt crystals that formed during the pH change draw moisture from the air, remaining slightly moist and chemically active all the time. As long as the bacteria remains active it will continue to off gas. When the urine salts are re-wet sometimes with more urine, an attempted cleaning, or even on humid days the urine salts will give off more gasses.

What all of this tells us is that the #1 most important thing to remember about removing pet urine from carpets is.... Do it as quickly and thoroughly as possible!