If you have pets, you’re going to be cleaning up their urine at some point. It’s as simple as that. Even the most housebroken pets have accidents every once in a while. And while we can forgive and forget, carpets have a much longer memory when it comes to urine. It’s time to come clean and get down to the science of urine removal! Grab your lab coat and your petri dish, the carpet pros at Brody’s Dry are taking you back to high school chemistry!
What is “urine,” really? Is cat pee the same makeup as dog pee?
By nature, all pee has similar components. Over 95% of urine is water, with the rest being a combo of urea, uric acid, sodium, potassium, creatinine, and a few other elements. However, all pee is not created equal! You couldn’t hand in a sample of your dog’s urine and pass it off as your own (although some people have apparently tried this!) because the difference lies in the types of hormones, metabolites, and bacteria that are specific to each animal.
Also, cats and dogs don’t drink as much water as humans, so pet urine is much more concentrated and much more odorous than human urine. This concentration is a big deal when it comes to removing urine from your carpet!
So, what’s that smell? And why can I still smell it after I clean my carpet?
Mostly, it’s uric acid. Uric acid consists of nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms. The solution crystalizes and doesn’t dissolve in water. That’s why traditional household cleaning products and steam cleaning systems are ineffective when removing pet urine. It requires much more than soap and water to eliminate uric acid from your carpet.
When pets urinate, the urine has the tendency to penetrate carpet fibers, carpet padding, sub-floor, wood floor or whatever porous flooring you may have, thereby introducing uric acid salt crystals which tend to bind tightly to whatever porous surface they come into contact with. These uric acid crystals bond to these areas and are invisibly to the naked eye, showing up only when a black light is used.
Since these crystals reform upon exposure to moisture or humidity (hello summer!), the smell usually resurfaces after you think you’ve removed it. Yuck. The only way to remove the smell is to remove the uric acid completely.
Is there a silver bullet for removing uric acid?
Yes. The only way to remove these crystals is to destroy the chemical bonds that form uric acid. There are specific enzymes that break down uric acid into carbon dioxide and ammonia, both of which easily evaporate. Enzymes are biologically-active proteins that either cause or speed up a chemical reaction. This bio-enzymatic technology is the only way to successfully remove uric acid from your carpet.
Can these enzyme cleaners be purchased for home use?
Yes. The professionals at Brody’s Dry Carpet Cleaning care about your family’s health and comfort long after we’ve cleaned your carpets. We recommend starting with a professional deep clean of pet-stained areas, and spot treating in between cleans with our NEW enzymatic cleaner, Urine You’re Out!
Urine You’re Out! is a special formula only available from the professionals at Brody’s Dry Carpet Cleaning. It consists of four different families of acid-removing enzymes and is concentrated at 229 BILLION enzymes per gallon! That means it is over 3 times stronger than any enzymatic cleaner on the market!
Urine You’re Out! is also great for stains involving blood, vomit, food, grass and any other organic mess. It’s great for families with active kids as well as those with pets! Just spray the area as directed on the label, leave it to dry and let the enzymes do the rest. Urine odors will be replaced with a clean, fresh scent once the carpet is dry.
Got pets? Got kids? Got messes? You need Urine, You’re Out! Call the Brody’s Dry professionals today to get your hands on a bottle or two! Give us a ring at (816) 895-7000 or just click HERE.
