The soft padding of a pillow-top mattress helps ensure a good night's rest, but it also provides a highly absorbent surface for stains. Urine, blood or spilled liquids quickly soak into the cushioned top. Acting promptly can minimize the depth of the stain, but only proper cleaning will remove it completely. Pillow-top mattresses require similar stain removal methods as a regular mattress, but it can take longer for the thicker padding to dry properly. Blot up the stain with with a clean rag if it's still wet. Removing the liquid promptly prevents it from soaking into the pillow-top padding. Vacuum the mattress surface with the upholstery attachment to remove any dirt on the surface prior to stain removal. Dilute an upholstery shampoo with water per the package instructions. Apply the shampoo sparingly to the stain, working it into the fabric with a soft brush. Avoid applying too much and keep the padding in the pillow top as dry as possible. Moisten a sponge with white vinegar. Blot the stain with the vinegar to remove the shampoo residue and to help neutralize any odors, such as from urine stains.
Air-dry the mattress quickly and thoroughly. Set the mattress outdoors in sunshine or aim a fan at the wet spot to hasten drying. If moisture penetrated deeply into the pillow top, use a wet-dry vacuum to suck out the excess moisture. Sprinkle baking soda over the stain if an odor remains. Leave the soda in place for eight hours, then vacuum it from the mattress. Things You Will Need Rags Vacuum Upholstery shampoo Scrub brush Sponge Vinegar Fan (optional) Wet-dry vacuum (optional) Baking soda Tip References Michigan State University: Matress Care and CleaningOhio State University: Quick and Easy Stain Removal Photo Credits Gabriel Garcia/Demand Media Suggest a Correction Can you ever get rid of cat urine odor? It is possible to eliminate that awful scent. Cat urine odor is one of the most offensive you'll ever encounter. When your cat decides to mark his territory by urinating somewhere other than the litter box, the ammonia smell will linger indefinitely. Cat urine dries into crystals and continues to give off odor until you get rid of it.
Your cat will return to this spot to urinate repeatedly as long as the scent persists. To remove cat urine odor from clothing, add 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar to the wash. The odor will be gone and your clothes will smell fresh. Mix 3 parts warm water and 1 part white vinegar. Thoroughly saturate the area with the solution and dry it completely. Vinegar will neutralize the ammonia and eliminate the odor. Step 1 - Absorb the Urine Cat urine odor is more difficult to remove from carpets. It saturates the carpet all the way through to the floor. If the urine is fresh, blot it firmly and repeatedly with absorbent towels. Don't rub because that will cause the urine to spread. Continue until no more urine can be absorbed. Step 2 - Neutralize the Ammonia Mix a solution of half warm water and half white vinegar. Pour enough of the solution on the area to make sure it reaches the bottom fibers. Allow it to sit for 15 minutes, then absorb the vinegar and water the same way you did the urine, using towels, until it's dry.
Step 3 - Deodorize Sprinkle baking soda to cover the entire area. Mix 3/4 cup of 3 percent hydrogen peroxide and 1 tsp. dish detergent. Test this solution on an inconspicuous spot to make sure it doesn't cause discoloration of the carpet. If it does, use water instead of peroxide. Sprinkle the solution on the baking soda and use a brush to scrub the carpet. Allow to dry completely, then vacuum up the powder. If there is any remaining scent, repeat steps 2 and 3. Use the same procedure as for cleaning carpets to get rid of cat urine odors in upholstery and mattresses. Cat urine smells can be very stubborn. If you still have odors after your best efforts to get rid of them, try sprinkling coffee dry coffee grounds on the area overnight to absorb the smell. Charcoal is a natural odor absorbent. Use regular charcoal, not the kind that is pretreated for instant lighting. Put these charcoal briquettes in small baskets and place them in out of the way places in the affected rooms.
Put them behind the couch, under the bed, in a closet or anywhere the offensive odor of cat urine persists. Replace the charcoal weekly as needed. These methods will get rid of cat urine odor without having to get rid of the cat.What do you do when your kitty is leaving little landmines around the house—a.k.a. pooping outside the box? Unlike urine, which cats often use to spray-paint invisible but pungent messages such as “I was here” or “This is MINE!” on your walls, misplaced poop as well as large puddles of pee usually has a whole different meaning. Basically, when cats poop (or pee large puddles) out of place, it’s for one of two reasons. They don’t like their litter box or they like their new taboo toilet better. You’re probably asking yourself, “Why wouldn’t a cat love a little plastic box piled deep with cat litter and filled with the scent of past visits? My dogs love it. They visit it every day and sometimes help with the cleanup.” (Note to reader: do not let such dogs lick you.)
Well, it could be a lot of things. Maybe the litter’s not deep enough or the lining is a pain to negotiate, or the box is too small – it should be 1.5x the length of the cat. Or it’s so dirty and stinky that your feline has to hold his breath while watching his step. Your cat’s behavior could lend a clue. If he stands on the litter box edge and drops his duty along the sides or is in and out faster than your kids on the way to soccer practice and leaves his mess uncovered, he may have an issue with the litter. Cats tend to like the feel of finer litters and most of them regularly cover their feces or urine. In fact, cats generally spend over 20 seconds pawing around in the litter. Also, some cats prefer unscented litters. While “spring” might smell nice to us, to the cat’s keener schnozzle, the blend of deodorizer with fumes of excrement may be an olfactory no-no. Even a whiff of pure “perfumey fresh” without the poop might hit a cat like a punch in the nose, sending him in search of a better bathroom site.
To see whether litter type or cleanliness have a hand in your cat’s pooping (or peeing) problems, clean the litter boxes twice a day and set up a litter-box lineup for a week or two. In this choice test for litter lavatories, place three or more temporary boxes side by side with only one thing varying between boxes. For instance you may be comparing scented vs unscented, Brand A vs Brand B, large box vs small box, and so on. Even try covered versus uncovered boxes, and if he’s going on rugs, try one with bits of carpet to see if it’s the surface type that he likes. Generally if the cat has a preference you’ll know in just several days. If you’re already compulsive about cleaning your cat’s litter box and the box is unscented, unlined, and filled with litter that the litter box choice test shows that he loves, then you should look more closely at the litter box location. Is his box right next to his breakfast room? If so, try moving his food bowl farther away.
Is the box in the right location? Just like some people (usually men) who decide that using the bushes is more convenient than using the designated bathroom, cats may choose more convenient sites too. So provide plenty of boxes (one for each cat in the household plus one extra) in different, easily accessible places in the house. For those of you who live in multi-level houses, be sure to place a box on each floor. And make sure that boxes can’t be blocked by bully cats or other bothersome animals in the household. Also, for older cats with arthritis, try a box with lower sides so they can easily enter. For ideas on how to make the multitude of litter boxes looking nice in your home as well as having multiple entry points, go to www.ikeahackers.net. For some cats there’s nothing wrong with the box or location. These cats may have just had a painful incident, such as diarrhea or constipation, or fearful experience, such as a sudden loud noise piercing their peaceful pooping episode, which they now associate with the box.
That’s one reason why it’s best to keep the litter boxes away from loud areas or appliances, such as a laundry room or furnace. A sudden loud, Bang! or the thud of a detergent box landing on your head is enough to keep even easy going cats away from that dangerous litter box location. Still, others cats just happened to discover a new location or special surface that they like much better. In any case, in addition to making the litter boxes extremely appealing, make the off-limit toilet sites inconvenient or unattractive. ) on these sites so that the faint whiff of past deeds no longer entices your cat to perform the undesirable act. Then deny access by closing the room off, placing tin foil, upside-down carpet runner, or other blockades over the area, or by spraying with an over-the-counter cat repellent. Alternatively, place the cat’s food, bed, or even his litter box over the location. If he’s been using sites for a while, you may have to break the habit, retraining him to his box for weeks to a month or two.