How to clean cat urine

Introduction
It's penetrating. It's foul. It stinks. And unfortunately for you, the smell never seems to leave. It's cat urine. Anyone who has a cat knows how pungent cat urine can really be. Cat urine that seeps through carpet, into padding and down to the floor beneath can give your home an unpleasant aroma and bad look. In almost all cases, cat urine is the worst perpetrator for pet stains and pet odors. Luckily there are some tricks to cleaning cat urine.

Instructions
Difficulty rating: moderate

Steps
These steps will vary slightly depending on the surface you're trying to rid of cat urine. Carpet and upholstery, however, are similar in the process and therefore will be the focus of these steps.

1. Identify the location of the odor. You may notice that somewhere in your house smells like cat urine, but it may be difficult to detect exactly where the odor is coming from. So first you must search your house until you have found the exact area of the cat urine. If you're having trouble locating it, use a black light, in which the offending area will show up.

2. If the spot is fresh cat urine, use a towel (paper or fabric) to soak up as much of the urine as you can. If it is not a fresh, wet spot skip this step.

3. Next, make a mixture of one part white vinegar and two parts water. Mist vinegar spray over the areas of cat urine and then rub it with a paper towel. If the spot is too resilient for simply spraying, dip a cloth into the mixture and scrub the area.

4. After the vinegar dries, wipe away the stain with warm water.

5. Hire a professional for any large problem areas. You should be able to handle areas that are smaller than a foot in diameter. Anything larger may require professional help.

Tips and Warnings

• There are alternative methods to the vinegar solutions, such as oxidation or baking soda solutions.  Both of these methods may also work on cat urine if the vinegar does not. 
  
• Patience is very important when dealing with cat urine, especially if it's been there for a while.  You may have to try the process above several times before you finally see results and eliminate the smell.
  
• Household chemicals generally will not get rid of urine stains and smells.  If you can't rid yourself of the smell with something simple like vinegar or baking soda, go to pet stores to purchase enzyme cleaners made for the task, such as Nature's Miracle. 
  
• If you can't find the stain with a black light or by smelling it out yourself, bring the cat into the room.  He or she should go straight toward the stains to sniff them. 
  
• Sometimes soaking the spot with your solution (vinegar, baking soda, or other) will help to ease the process of odor elimination. 
  
• Remember that cats like to return to the areas where they've urinated time and time again.  Spray something like Listerine or Febreeze over the spot to discourage the cat from returning again and to the area. 
  
• If you decide to use enzyme digesters, remember to follow the directions on the bottle.  Always test for color fastness before using any method.  This is especially true on upholstery- you don't want to ruin any of your furniture with too powerful of a solution. 
  
• Remember to never use products with ammonia to remove cat urine odors.  Urine already consists of a large amount of ammonia and the lingering smell will encourage rather than discourage urination.