A crucial step in reducing cat odors in your home is to consistently clean your feline companion’s litter box.  Just like humans, cats can be very picky about the place where they “do their business,” so if it’s too dirty they will probably find somewhere (your carpet, for example,) that’s cleaner.  Depending on the number of cats you have, you may have to change the litter daily.  However, if you just have one kitty you might be able to get away with cleaning every two or three days.

Adjust the amount of litter boxes you have to account for how many cats you have in the home.  Ideally, every three cats should have a litter box.  Again, this goes back to the idea of cleanliness.  Also, be sure to use scoopable litter.  Generally, I recommend using Tidy Cats, which comes in several different varieties depending on your individual circumstances (there’s even one for homes with multiple cats.)  There are also other brands, such as Fresh Step, that are just as useful.  Just make sure that you can scoop it, otherwise you will have to empty the whole box every couple of days.

If all of this fails and your feline companion still sees fit to pee on the floor or other spot (bed, couch, etc.,) there are several steps you can take to minimize the odors.  First, make sure you take a paper towel and absorb as much of the urine as you can before it soaks into the carpet.  The more you take out with the paper towel, the less odor you will have to try to overcome.  Then, using a general carpet cleaning product (which you can usually find for as cheap as $1 at the Dollar Tree) and a scrub brush, thoroughly scrub the area.  This will make sure there are no stains, while also beginning the process of removing odors.

Once you’ve done the hard work of scrubbing, the next step is to find a product that will completely remove  the smell of urine from your carpet.  Febreze has recently released a product that is especially designed for removing pet odors, and I have found it to be very effective.  With this particular product, however, you will want to make sure that you saturate the affected area at least once a day for a couple of days.  This will make sure the smell is completely removed.  Other products are also useful, including Baking Soda (which is especially good for beds and couches) and ammonia.  

Your final step in removing pet odors will be to find a product that discourages your feline from making a mess in the same place.  Again, ammonia might do the trick for this, but you might have to go to the Pet Supplies aisle and find a particular product designed especially for discouraging urination.  Unfortunately, these do tend to be rather expensive, but they will save you money in the long run, as they are usually good at keeping cats from urinating in a particular spot.

Although it can sometimes be difficult to keep cats from urinating on the carpet (especially if they’ve done it before,) it can be done.  A standing rule of thumb, however, is to do everything you can to prevent it from happening in the first place, in order to make sure that you don’t have to do a lot of damage control after the fact.