Here’s how to get cat pee smell out of clothes:
- 1. Separate the smelly clothes from the rest of your laundry
- 2. Rinse the affected area with cold water
- 3. Soak the clothes in distilled white vinegar
- 4. Pre-treat with an enzyme cleaner
- 5. Machine wash with baking soda
- 6. Hang the clothes to air dry
There’s a certain level of betrayal that comes with finding out your cat skipped the litter box and peed on your clothes. It's like they looked you dead in the eye and decided to ruin your day. Now you’re stuck with the stench of cat pee that feels like it’s fused with the fibers of your favorite outfit.
If you’re reading this, we don’t need to remind you how stubborn this stench is. For that, you can blame the proteins and ammonia in cat urine, which even the best-smelling laundry detergent can have a tough time conquering.
But fear not—we have a step-by-step process to erase the evidence of your cat’s mishap.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Cold water
- Vinegar
- An enzyme cleaner designed for pet odors
- Baking soda
- Laundry pods
Pro tip: Always check the care label on your garments before trying any odor-removal techniques. Otherwise you might accidentally damage your clothes while cleaning them.
1. Separate the Soiled Clothes from the Rest of Your Laundry
Before you grab your laundry basket and throw everything in the washing machine, hold up.
The last thing you want is for the stench of cat pee to transfer onto your entire wardrobe. Cat urine contains proteins and ammonia, which can easily cling to other fabrics if you’re not careful. Accordingly, you’ll want to do a separate load of laundry for the items that smell like cat pee, whether those are clothes, towels, or bedsheets.
2. Rinse with Cold Water
A preliminary rinse is essential to get any excess cat urine out of your clothes. The key here is rinsing with cold water. While it might seem like hot water would be more effective, it can actually do more harm than good.
Heat causes the proteins in urine to set into the fabric fibers, making the smell harder to remove. Cold water, on the other hand, helps rinse out the urine without locking it in. Run the fabric under cold water, focusing on the stained area. This step helps flush out as much of the urine as possible before you start the full cleaning process.
3. Soak the Clothes in Vinegar
Vinegar’s acidity is exactly what you need to break down the alkaline properties of cat urine odor. Start by mixing one cup of white vinegar with three cups of cold water to make a solution. Next, soak the smelly clothes in the solution for at least 30 minutes.
Don’t worry—once washed, your clothes won’t smell like a jar of pickles. Vinegar’s scent is strong, but it evaporates, taking the urine smell with it.
4. Pre-Treat with an Enzyme Cleaner
Laundry detergent is strong, but sometimes the smell of cat pee is even stronger. That’s why it’s helpful to pre-treat the clothes with an enzymatic cleaner—specifically one designed for pet odors.
Cat urine contains proteins that latch onto fabric, and unless you break those down, the smell sticks around. Enzyme cleaners are specifically designed to tackle those proteins. When you spray or apply an enzyme cleaner to the stained area, you send in microscopic enzymes that digest the proteins in the urine.
Let the cleaner sit for at least 10-15 minutes to give those enzymes time to do their thing.
5. Machine Wash with Baking Soda
Once the clothes are pre-treated, it's time for a trip to the washer, but not without one crucial addition: baking soda. Add about half a cup of baking soda to your washer drum along with an enzyme-based laundry detergent pod, and make sure you use cold water to avoid setting any lingering odor or stain.
Baking soda is a natural deodorizer that doesn’t just mask cat urine smell; it neutralizes it. When cat pee dries, it leaves behind uric acid crystals that regular detergent can’t always fully remove. Baking soda breaks down those crystals, leaving your clothes fresh without adding a perfumed cover-up.
6. Hang the Clothes to Air Dry
Steer clear of the dryer when you’re dealing with cat pee. Instead, hang them up to air dry.
Heat from the dryer can cause any remaining uric acid crystals to bond with the fabric, making it even harder to remove the smell in the future. Heat can also cause “bake” yellow cat urine stains into fabrics.
Air drying gives your clothes a chance to naturally freshen up. If you can, hang them in direct sunlight. The sun’s UV rays have natural deodorizing and antibacterial properties, which can give your clothes an extra boost of freshness.
Once the clothes are fully dry, give them a good sniff. If the smell is gone, great! If it’s still lingering, repeat the process.
Common Questions About Getting Cat Pee Smell Out of Clothes
Here are a few questions you might run into when dealing with cat pee-soaked clothes.
Is Cat Pee Smell Permanent?
No—cat pee smell isn’t permanent, but it can be notoriously stubborn. If left untreated or if washed incorrectly, the odor can linger. But with the right products—like enzyme cleaners, vinegar, baking soda, and laundry pods—you can break down the urine and get rid of the smell for good.
Is Cold or Warm Water Better for Getting Cat Pee Out of Clothes?
Cold water is better for getting cat pee out of clothes because hot water can set the smell into the fabric, making it harder to remove. Always rinse the affected area with cold water first to flush out as much of the urine as possible before washing.
Does Laundry Sauce Get Cat Pee Smell Out of Clothes?
Laundry Sauce pods contain a custom blend of bio-enzymes that’s 4x more concentrated than typical liquid laundry detergent to neutralize odors, including pet urine. We also recommend getting some extra assistance from vinegar and baking soda in your wash cycle to completely conquer the stench.
Laundry Sauce doesn’t stop at removing bad smells, though—we infuse your clothes with amazing ones like Australian Sandalwood, Egyptian Rose, and French Saffron. After the assault on your senses from cat urine, you’ll love how these little pods turn your laundry into a fragrant escape.
