Even the best-trained pet can have an accident in the house from time to time.  A dog or cat may urinate indoors because he’s sick, stressed or he’s simply been inside too long. Since it’s difficult to predict these occurrences, it’s a good idea to have a pet urine odor remover on hand.

Once your pet has an accident in the house, he’s more likely to return to that spot and urinate again. The chemicals in his urine serve as an invitation to mark his territory over and over. By treating stains, puddles and odors quickly, you can help reduce the incidence of repeat behavior. The right pet urine odor remover can remove all traces of the stain while deterring your pet from “going” where he’s not supposed to.

It’s difficult to remove the stain entirely without cleaning agents that are specially formulated to treat pet urine. Even if you treat the spot with fresh-smelling detergents and remove the odor, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the stain is gone.  Urine soaks into carpeting, and can also seep through to the padding and the floor beneath.  It can also saturate fabrics and be absorbed into wood surfaces. It’s difficult to reach these deeper areas with topical cleaners. In order to be effective, cleaners must treat not only the surface of the stain, but the areas you can’t see, too.

Most products simply mask the smell.  Since dogs and cats have such acute senses of smell, it’s likely that they will continue to detect the smell of their own urine, even if we can’t, and return to those areas to relieve themselves. Unless the spots are treated with enzymes that remove all traces of urine, rather than just covering it up, your pet may be more likely to urinate in the house.

If you do use a product that appears to remove the stain and the odor, it’s possible that the odor may reappear in different environmental conditions, like heat or humidity. These conditions can reactivate the urine crystals that appeared to lie dormant after cleaning, which is why you may sometimes smell pet odors on hot days.  To ensure a fresh, clean home year-round, it’s important to choose a product that eliminates odors thoroughly.

The best pet urine odor remover contains enzymes to break up the salt crystals in urine, which are the most difficult component of pet urine to remove, and that also cause the lingering odors. These cleaning agents destroy the molecules so that urine spots and pet odors are virtually undetectable, no matter what the weather.  Pets won’t smell their own scent, or the scent of other animals in the house, so they won’t be compelled to mark the spot again.