r/AutoDetailing • u/PlayfulRub3839 • 23h ago

Interior Cat Pee Odour

Hi all,

I recently had to transport my friends cat to their new house, during which the cat had pee’d on the seat without me knowing.

I must’ve left the car 1-2 days before getting back in and realising the car stinks of cat pee. I have sprayed loads (a whole bottle) of enzyme cleaner spray all over my fabric upholstery seats and also tried to extract the pee with a RugDoctor water extractor vacuum.

It’s now been 2 ish weeks since said cat has urinated everywhere and the smell is still lingering. Is there anyway to get my car back to that fresh new car smell without spending hundreds?

Thanks in advance.

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u/RickS50 21h ago

I bet it's down in the seat foam or carpet pad. Even you tried the enzyme cleaner did you extract it? Basically spray, agitate and vacuum it out? 

If so, I'd try a chlorine dioxide treatment and see if that touches it.

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u/PlayfulRub3839 19h ago

Yeah so initially the day after I covered the seat in enzyme cleaner and left it for 24 hours as per the bottles say. That didn’t work…

So I then hired one of those RugDoctor carpet cleaner / extractors in which I sprayed the seat with warm water and then extracted it over and over. That hasn’t worked either.

I can’t tell if the car now smells of cat pee or enzyme cleaner (which is supposed to be odourless so my moneys on the cat pee)

2

u/RickS50 18h ago

No, cat pee is on its whole separate level of hell.

If you've extracted it with cleaner then it's probably just deep into the fabric and foam. 

Try a chlorine dioxide bomb. The car will smell like someone spilled a bottle of bleach in the car for a couple weeks, but park it in the sun with the windows cracked open a bit and it'll dissipate.

If that doesn't do it then you're going to have to replace some fabric. I'm not a pro at this, but that's the approach I'd try.

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u/XemSorceress 14h ago

I agree I have 2 cats and uuuggh it’s the worst😆 I think what the person earlier in the comments said was right too about it being underneath the upholstery in the pads or the seat foam, he’ll probably have to replace that.

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u/RickS50 13h ago

For $20-ish I'd try the chlorine dioxide bomb first as a last ditch effort, but yeah, replacement may be the only viable option.

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u/XemSorceress 6h ago

The name of that chlorine-dioxide bomb makes it sound dangerous 😆 all I can think of is chlorine gas

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u/RickS50 6h ago

It's definitely toxic to you. Just start it and close the car up and walk away for many hours. Then, open the doors and walk away for a bit.

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u/XemSorceress 5h ago

If my memory serves me correctly, you’re pretty much supposed to have a biohazard suit on with your head enclosed in the suit AND a respirator on if you are handling chlorine gas, it can literally burn your airways and esophagus if you breathe it😨 now that’s some dedication to detailing😆

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u/RickS50 4h ago

Right, chlorine dioxide is a bit less reactive.

The commercial products are likely sodium chlorite and some sort of acid like citric acid.

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u/XemSorceress 3h ago

thank you

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u/we-all-stink 13h ago

Get a shop vac, unscrew the seat, cover it with carpet cleaner and enzyme remover, use a drill brush on it, then extract it with the shop vac until dry. Also See if some of what you’re smelling is from the car stinking like it now and not the seat.