Removing cat urine and smell from basement concrete...

[Jessika]

My boyfriend and I went out of town for 10 days and my sister stayed at my house to watch my zoo while we were gone. Everyone did fantastic; dogs had fun playing in a pool she brought over, cats slept with her at night (which is kind of unusual for them), she even finished painting my bathroom, hallway, and started trimming my guest bedroom!!!!!!

But... when we came home we discovered the cats had been using a folded up cloth pop-up dog kennel as their litterbox. They had knocked it over (along with one of my laundry baskets with clothes in it, which they often do), and when I saw it I went to pick it up and it was filled with urine. The concrete beneath it was soaked.

I tried flooding the area with Nature's Miracle, letting it sit for awhile, mopping it up... but the smell and spots are still there. And it smells BAD down there now

Any suggestions for cleaning products or anything I can do to get rid of this? Pressure washing isn't really an option as there is really no drain in my basement (I know, it's a split level).

AND any suggestions for cleaning the cloth crate? We spent like $60 on it so I would really hate to throw it out... we brought it outside, hosed it off, and generously sprayed it with nature's miracle, rinsed off again, sprayed again, and let it sit outside... and it also still smells terribly.

Thank you all in advance!

[Karen]

Yikes - unfortunately, concrete is porous - I would actually call a professional cleaner and ask them what would be effective. Anything you apply is just going to add another layer of smell - like when a certain brudder of mine spilled an entire banana Fribble in my car once, felt terrible, and tried his best to clean it up, but the cleaning product just added a more chemical smell - so instead of smelling like artificial banana every time it was humid, it smelled like artificial chemical banana!

[Jessika]

I figured as much We have some stripper that we used to strip our deck when we restained it a few months back; says it's safe to use on concrete... considered using that except it is not in a well-ventilated area AND we'd have to keep the cats out for days while it aired out... Not very feasible for us.

[katladyd]

When Nature's Miracle doesn't work (more often than not), I just drench the offending area with Fabreeze every day for about a week. That ususally does it. Hope this works for you.

[Catty1]

Cataholic mentioned this in a post in Cat Behaviour:

"I only use OdorXit. I follow the directions exactly on the bottle. You used to be only able to get OdorXit online. I belive you can now get it at some hardware stores and some carpet stores."

[mon]

I'm pretty sure you're hooped. If bleach and after the fact lotsa baking soda doesn't help. Nilodor, ... not goin' away anytime soon buckwheat.

[Cataholic]

OdorXit will remove the smell/odor completely. From porous concrete and from the cloth dog kennel. I have done this many times before. I once had a underbed clothes storage unit that Minnie was treating as her personal litterbox. Possibly a solid month of pee. It contained pajamas and off season stuff. Everything came out perfect.

The thing with OdorXit is that you must follow the directions. You can get it online (it comes in a concentrate), and some retail stores carry it now.

It will work. It always has for me.

[Jessika]

OdorXit will remove the smell/odor completely. From porous concrete and from the cloth dog kennel. I have done this many times before. I once had a underbed clothes storage unit that Minnie was treating as her personal litterbox. Possibly a solid month of pee. It contained pajamas and off season stuff. Everything came out perfect.

The thing with OdorXit is that you must follow the directions. You can get it online (it comes in a concentrate), and some retail stores carry it now.

It will work. It always has for me.

That is comforting to hear. Thank you! Looking into it now