Q: I’ve had my carpets cleaned professionally, but I still have urine odors. Why didn’t cleaning work?
A Fresh urine deposits, when cleaned up immediately, normally respond to conventional detergent cleaning for two reasons. First, the urine doesn’t have time to penetrate through the carpet backing where you cannot reach it. Secondly, the urine is still acidic and will be neutralized by an alkaline solution such as ammonia. Over time however urine changes into an alkaline crystal (salts) which will no longer respond to conventional methods, (even if you use an acidic cleaning solution you may not reach the deeper regions of the carpet backing or between the carpet and the under pad). This change is caused by the proteins present in urine and the bacteria that form during the decomposition phase. The presence of odor is a by product of the bacteria feeding upon the urine.
Q: I no longer have a pet, but the odors keep coming back. Why?
A The urine salts, can go dormant after the bacteria dies off, or the moisture content becomes very low. However the urine salts never really dry up completely, and are actively seeking moisture in order to reactivate. Liquid spills or high humidity, especially in Spring, provide enough moisture to allow for new bacterial growth, thus the return of the odor. As mentioned above, conventional cleaning is not effective at removing urine odors.
Q: My pet has occasional accidents, but I do not have a real problem…do I ?
A Perhaps not, but consider this…spayed or neutered animals usually have the occasional accident, and are normally found near the entrance door as they are in anticipation of being let outside, but eventually their bladder must be emptied. Un-neutered animals on the other hand are still very much driven by instinct and will mark and maintain their marked territories, over and over in the same spots.
Q: Do males and females mark the same areas?
A No, generally males will urinate in the corners of rooms or on upright objects, such as drapes furniture or floor lamps even the walls are not safe. Females on the other hand usually mark the open areas of a room and sometimes on the front portion of a furniture piece. Both sexes will mark the entrance to certain rooms.
Q: My pet would never urinate on the carpet he’s house-broken, it’s just not possible right?
A Wrong. Unfortunately I hear this a lot, while I’m standing in a room with urine odor and the moisture meter is going off the chart. Many times what can happen is the pets’ feelings are hurt. Perhaps a new pet or baby is introduced into the family and the old pet doesn’t get the same attention as before, perhaps you scolded the animal more harshly than ever before, it is very hard to determine exactly what might cause an accident.