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My dog is 16 and for the past year she has been having many accidents inside due to her age. I clean it up as soon as it happens, but if I'm not home, it's apparently left long enough for a stain to set, so now my tiles have this terrible grayish stain build up, and I need to clean it. I've tried a baking soda and peroxide mix with no luck, same with vinegar. Any ideas?

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Have you tried Nature's Miracle?

I've used it for years to get stains and odors out of hardwood, carpet, linens and it's always worked great. Even on older, set-in stains Nature's Miracle has been helpful.

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I know this sounds crazy, but a brilliant solvent for urine is … urine.

Seriously!

Next time she has an accident while you're there, pull on your rubber gloves and use a thin absorbent sponge cloth to mop up all the fresh urine. Then use the sponge cloth to re-wet a historic stained area.

Initially, just work on an area the size of the sponge cloth - this'll show you whether the technique is successful, and will also ensure your "cleaning fluid" is concentrated.

Place a kitchen towel over the top of the area you've just dampened, place the sponge over the kitchen towel, and put another kitchen towel over the sponge. Leave this soggy sponge sandwich in place for at least an hour, with an upturned bucket over the top to keep smells in and feet out.

After it's had a really good soak, don the rubber gloves again, and use the complete "sandwich" as a wiping cloth - you should hopefully see the bottom kitchen towel is a much darker colour than the upper - a delightful mix of dissolved old urine and fallout from daily traffic across the tiles.

Dispose of the kitchen towels, rinse out the sponge cloth and use it with detergent (e.g. washing up liquid) and water to clean the urine-treated area. Sprinkle some baking soda over the top to absorb any lingering smells (and to discourage any – ahem – further treatment :)

Incidentally, this technique is also fantastic for getting bird deposits off cars without damaging the paintwork.

P.s. Here in the UK the sponge cloths are sold under the Spontex brandname and look like this.

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  • hmm.. You could get the same effect with water instead of urine. The stain left particles soluble in urine/water If you place fresh water/urine on the stain that has a lower concentration of soluble particles the fresh fluid will attract particles until all areas have the same concentration.
    – James Jenkins
    Commented Nov 17, 2016 at 19:17
  • There's a lot more to urine than just waterlink, and – more importantly – once it's left the body, it starts breaking down into a whole bunch of components with wildly different chemical properties. The tell-tale smell of stale urine, for example, is due to ammonia – which isn't present in fresh urine, but forms from the decomposition of urea. Similarly, urine was historically used for tanning leather, bleaching cloth, etc. – once it's interacted with other materials, water (literally) won't cut it.
    – Sean D. Sollé
    Commented Nov 18, 2016 at 1:41
  • There's an simple-to-perform controlled experiment to demonstrate the principle. Next time a bird decorates a car windscreen, use two folded kitchen towels – one soaked in urine, the other in tap water. Place over the the affected area, and leave for an hour or so. The urine-treated bird deposit will easily wipe away, while the water treated area won't (water's lesser effect on bird splats is why they seldom wash away in the rain).
    – Sean D. Sollé
    Commented Nov 18, 2016 at 1:45
  • It's a pretty good demonstration of the "like dissolves like" rule in chemistry – as the fresh urine decomposes, all of the resulting parts have a likelier chance to dissolve any similar parts in the stained area.
    – Sean D. Sollé
    Commented Nov 18, 2016 at 1:55
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    Reasonable argument, are there any reliable references that support your answer other then just the like > like?
    – James Jenkins
    Commented Nov 18, 2016 at 8:55
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As with any product that you would put on your carpet, flooring, or furniture, please test for colorfastness. To test for colorfastness, mix a small amount of the solution and place on a hidden area of your carpet. Wait 24 hours or until carpet is dry before proceeding to full treatment.

We recommend extreme caution when treating fine fabrics and upholstery. You must be extra careful in checking for colorfastness. Do not skip this step, thinking, "Oh, I'm sure it will be fine." It may not. You must test a hidden area and wait 24 hours before proceeding to a full treatment. Odor Remover

16 oz. (2 cups) hydrogen peroxide

2 tsp. baking soda

2 small drops liquid dishwashing soap (Dawn, Palmolive, etc.)

Place all ingredients in a glass jar or bowl. Gently stir do not beat or shake, until baking soda is dissolved. If urine is fresh, be sure to blot up any excess urine with dry paper towels or a dry washcloth before the next step.

Pour mixture over urine spot, making sure to cover the entire spot. Allow mixture to completely soak the area being treated. Do not rub or scrub. Let sit for 24 hours without disturbing. After 24 hours, take clean paper towels or a clean, white washcloth and blot up any remaining liquid. Again, do not rub or scrub. Allow area to air dry completely. If you are treating carpet, you can vacuum over the area when dry.

Makes 16 oz. (2 cups) of solution.

Tips:

The solution is most active for one hour after mixing. Be sure to apply the solution within this time period for maximum effectiveness.

Do not enclose the mixture in an airtight container, or you could have a big mess on your hands. The reason for this is because when the ingredients are combined they release oxygen (Remember making "volcanoes" out of baking soda and vinegar when you were a little kid? Similar principle here.).

Two alternate methods of applying the solution are using a spray bottle or a garden watering can. A spray bottle works best for applying the solution to hard surfaces like concrete or linoleum, or to vertical surfaces like walls or shower tile. This is not the best method for carpet. Just be sure to thoroughly spray the area you are treating. A garden watering can is best for medium to large areas, indoors or outdoors.

For really tough odors, you may have to treat the area more than once. Carpet, furniture, and mattresses typically require 1-2 treatments. Concrete, wood, tile, and other hard surfaces usually need 3-5 treatments (1 treatment per day).

For concrete and other hard surfaces, you want to make enough of the recipe to completely cover the stain. Pour or spray the solution on and let it soak. Do not mop or wipe up. Let it sit for 24 hours (depending on the humidity level, it will usually evaporate during this time). Repeat the treatment once a day for 3-5 days.

For mattresses, the best thing to do is to make a double, triple, or even quadruple batch of the recipe, enough to completely cover the stain and then really pour it on. Don't be afraid of saturating the mattress. The urine has gone deep into the mattress, so you need to make sure that there's enough solution to go deep into the mattress as well. The solution has to reach the urine to neutralize it. We recommend treating the mattress in the morning so that the solution can work through the day. The mattress will often be dry enough for use by bedtime.

or use an ENZYME based pet odor and stain remover. I've used a few brands, they all have worked. You can read reviews Best Enzyme Cleaner for Dog Urine On Get Cleaning Done.

Also, you can use a blacklight to find stains on your dark carpet. The urine will fluoresce.

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