Why Enzyme-based Odor Removal Products Don't Work on Cat Urine Odors

In this post we’ll cover the most common, offensive, and difficult odor to eliminate…cat urine odor. Removing cat urine odor makes up about 50 percent of our business due to the offensiveness and permeability of the odor. Part of the reason for this is that the urine itself has a very low surface tension. So, when the problem is in carpet, the urine immediately penetrates into the carpet backing and seeps behind the baseboard. If your cat has gone in the same spot repeatedly, as they’re prone to do, the urine will soak through the carpet pad, into the sub-floor and will actually run under the wall. 

This is why you can clean the surface of carpet until you go blind without accomplishing anything except for wasting your money, time and ultimately wind up making the problem worse.

A little over 11 years ago, my wife’s cats (when they’re bad…they’re her’s!) peed on the carpet in my Man Cave and no one could fix it.  So I decided to do some research and wound up testing nearly a dozen different products. What I discovered over a three-month testing period really opened my eyes to why some products work and others don’t. There are basically two classes of odor elimination products readily available to the public: the “New Generation” organic compounds that work, and “Stone Age” products that don’t. The primary ingredients of the new-generation products are essential oils, whereas the Stone Age products are enzyme based.

Theoretically, odor-eating enzyme products should work, but the fact is they’re very inconsistent and unreliable. Each new bottle that leaves the factory contains millions of live enzymes capable of consuming the odor causing bacteria from organic materials such as cat urine, dog urine or even human urine, but they have some real-world problems. For instance:

• Enzymes start to die off as soon as they’re bottled reducing potency
• Enzymes are fragile and die when exposed to extreme temperatures
• Enzymes are not discriminating as to what they attack. They’re just as likely to attack dried soap residue in your carpet as they are the offending cat urine salts and urea.

The end result of pouring unreliable, and possibly dead, enzymes on the cat urine stain is washing the urine deeper into porous surfaces and spreading it over a larger area. Plus, it re-hydrates the dried urine, which will make the smell worse. 

Our new-generation Odor Medicine products contain essential oils derived from exotic plants and work on entirely different scientific principles than the enzyme products. The natural ingredients bond with odor molecules and break them down at the molecular level—permanently destroying the ability to generate odor in as little as 24 hours. Not only are these new-generation compounds more effective, but they’re also more reliable due to their tolerance to temperatures and ability to work where other chemicals, soaps AND enzyme products had already been applied. 

Another benefit, our Odor Medicine products are absolutely safe to use around humans, pets and plants. They are non-toxic, non-staining, biodegradable and have a neutral pH.  For added value, they’re highly concentrated and very economical to use—when mixed with water, just one quart of concentrate turns into multiple gallons.

In 11+ years of fixing odor problems as a commercial services company, we have not found anything better. We’ve done the research for you and only offer proven products along with our proprietary processes and personalized service. 

We don’t have ANY unhappy customers.

odormedic.com

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Common Mistakes to Avoid When Removing Cat Urine Odor from Wood and Concrete Flooring

In this article we will cover two common mistakes to avoid when getting rid of cat urine odor from concrete and wood flooring. These mistakes can make eliminating the cat urine odor much more difficult, and in some cases unfixable.

Painting Over a Concrete Floor Contaminated with Cat Urine
When the cat urine is in concrete flooring, a common mistake is trying to seal in the odor by painting over it. This is a critical mistake to avoid because the gaseous odor molecules will work their way through the paint—leaving a situation that’s untreatable because the paint acts as a barrier and effectively seals out the larger molecules of the treatment solution. Plus, due to low surface tension, the cat urine will seep into places that you can’t paint such as in between the baseboard and wall.

Once a surface has been painted, the only alternatives are to keep applying coat after coat of paint, or removing the paint so that the contaminated floor can be treated.

Laying Down New Wood Flooring Over Surfaces Contaminated with Cat Urine
A much worse scenario occurs when a new wood floor is put down over a contaminated floor that has been painted over and is seemingly odor free. In this scenario, the only course of action to remove the cat urine odor is to pull up the floor, grind off the paint, treat the floor with a proven odor elimination solution such as Odor Medicine OF, and then reinstall the floor.

At Odor Medic, we stress that the application process is just as important as the product. Our successful formula for permanently eliminating cat urine odor combines our proven products and processes with free personal consulting and custom treatment plans.

We guarantee permanent odor elimination or your money back!
Our advice is FREE! Don't hesitate to call us at +1 612-270-2953 to discuss your specific problem, or by email at sales@odormedic.com

Avoid These Common Mistakes When Trying to Remove Cat Urine Odor

There are a few common mistakes that are made when trying to remove cat urine odor from carpet. In reality these make fixing the problem more difficult and, in some cases, unfixable. In this article we will cover mistakes to avoid when removing the smell of cat urine from carpet and other fabric surfaces such as furniture.

Removing Cat Urine Odor with Home Remedies
Some of the most common mistakes are home remedies comprised of various household items such as vinegar, baking soda or peroxide. While sometimes offering temporary relief, these remedies are short-lived and don’t permanently eliminate the smell. In reality, they only succeed in making the problem worse by spreading out the contamination and washing it deeper into carpet, carpet backing, carpet padding,rugs and furniture, etc.

It is essential to “pull out” as much of the cat urine from the fabric as possible, and then apply a proven odor eliminator solution such as Odor Medicine O.F. so that it’s able to come in contact with all of the contaminated surface area.

Fixing Cat Urine Odor with Enzyme Solutions from the Pet Store
Another common mistake is pouring gallons of enzyme-based odor eliminators on the spots. These products don't work and make the problem worse in most cases. They are intended to work by consuming the contaminate, but one drawback is that the living bacteria begin to die from the moment they are bottled for sale—immediately reducing effectiveness. Furthermore, when applied to a contaminated surface such as carpet, they are unable to determine the difference between the cat urine and other residues such as leftover soap from your last carpet cleaning.

The result is that the carpet, carpet pad and sub-floor get saturated and stay wet for months—causing an offensive ammonia-like odor to develop (in addition to the odor from the cat urine). Enzyme-based products are outdated solutions and we have yet to find one that proves effective.

At Odor Medic, we stress that the application process is just as important as the product. Our successful formula for getting rid of difficult odors combines our proven products and processes with free personal consulting and custom treatment plans.

We guarantee permanent odor elimination or your money back!

Our advice is FREE! Don't hesitate to call us at +1 612-270-2953 to discuss your specific problem, or by email at sales@odormedic.com