I shampooed my carpet and now it smells like urine.

Urine has a unique way of hiding. Old urine that hasn’t been activated by fresh pee for a long period of time has had time to air out. Additionally, previous cleanings may have removed urine at the surface level but left urine sitting between the carpet and padding, and sometimes inside the padding if previous pets repeatedly returned to the same spots.

When water hits the carpet two things happen.

1. The bacteria and ammonia in the urine reactivate.

2. Water causes the urine to spread out further.

3. If urine is present and the right enzymes aren’t used to break down the ammonia and uric salts, the rug is going to start producing odor again.

To remove the odor, you must use products designed to break it down. Just like laundry, carpet is a fabric, and sometimes additional products are needed to remove odors. With urine problems, you need a pet odor neutralizer that is designed to kill the bacteria, urine residue, uric salts, and other odor-causing compounds like ammonia. Once the urine has spread out, treating it yourself can be difficult. You must treat everywhere the urine has spread to, including the pad, subflooring, walls, and sometimes even vents.

One of the best ways to track down the areas that have been compromised by urine is with a black light. Black lights are fantastic for highlighting any biological items on the carpet and walls. (We recommend you check your walls with the black light and wash them down with a mixture of half and half, white distilled vinegar, and water if anything shows up. ) While not pleasant, it’s also a good idea to get down and smell the carpet anywhere the black light shows a potential hotspot. This helps to confirm you have located the problem area. Other things besides urine can be spotted by a black light, so it is a way you can avoid using cleaning products where it is not needed.

We recommend a product called Mister Max Anti-icky-poo (Link for purchase below). It is a high-quality pet odor neutralizer that is enzyme-based. It is also safe for your pet, and biodegradable.

Keep in mind that the affected areas may require multiple applications to get the odor under control. Treat it and wait four days. If you can still smell the urine, you need to treat it again. If the problem is from dog pee, it will generally take 2-3 applications in order to completely remove the smell. If the problem is from a cat, it can take even more applications. Cat urine is a lot more potent and is much harder to remove. If the urine is in the padding, you may need to call a professional to handle the problem.

If you were not smelling the odor before cleaning, this is not likely to happen. However, in the event that your entire carpet looks like one huge lit-up mess, then we recommend you get a professional to treat the carpet or replace it. Sometimes carpet can be just too far gone to salvage the situation. When we come out to clean, if we don’t believe we can remedy the situation, we won’t clean the carpet. Instead, we will let you know your money is better saved for replacement.

Treating urine odors can get expensive. Hiring a professional cleaner will give you the best chances for fast, effective results. We offer odor treatments that are guaranteed. If you would like more information on our odor treatments and costs, please check out our pet odor removal page. Our treatments will also work for human urine.