Christina asked: How do I cat urine from a leather couch? My cat urinated on some clothes that I had sitting on my leather couch. The urine soaked through to the couch, and it smells really bad. I’ve tried all sorts of cleaning products, but yet the smell remains. I’m about to have to throw the couch out. It’s only three years old and was a gift from my hubby, so I really don’t want to do that.
Cat 
urine contains proteins that create the odor and are difficult to remove. There are products available that will remove these proteins and the odor that lingers.
Removing Stains and Odors
You Will Need:
- Biokleen Bac-Out Stain and Odor Remover
- Leather conditioner
Steps to Remove the Odor:
- Disassemble the couch and remove the cushions from the covers (if the urine has soaked through to the cushions). If the odor is only on the cover, it is not necessary to remove the covers.
- Get Biokleen Bac-Out Stain and Odor Remover from a supermarket or hardware store. It is an enzyme cleaner that is specifically formulated to be safe on leather.
- There are many enzyme cleaners, such as Nature’s Miracle, but most of them state on the label that they should not be used on leather, by which they mean genuine leather. The reason for this is that the type of bacteria used in them that eat up the urine might also eat the leather since it is an organic material. However, several site users have commented below that they successfully used Nature’s Miracle Stain and Odor Remover on their leather furniture without any problem, including on genuine leather. This is likely because the leather has been treated and dyed, which makes the bacteria less able to eat it. You can always test a product on a small hidden area first to look for any adverse reaction. Wait until the product has dried to determine the results of the test. Once the product has dried, the bacteria are dead.
- Soak the cushions with Biokleen Bac-Out. If there was a lot of urine and it has soaked into the cushions, you will need to pour on as much cleaner as there was urine so that it can soak in equally as deep.
- Allow the product to air-dry.
- Repeat if necessary.
- Once the odor is removed, reassemble the sofa.
- Apply a leather conditioner to the area. If the urine or cleaner has caused any drying of the leather, it could crack. A leather conditioner will prevent that. In a pinch, a couple drops of olive oil can be used instead.
- Buff the area with a dry cloth to remove any excess conditioner or oil.
Removing Odors with a Homemade Remedy
This home remedy does not remove stains, only odor. Always test a small, hidden area of the leather first as hydrogen peroxide can have bleaching effects and may discolor some leathers.
You Will Need:
- Hydrogen peroxide (3%)
- Baking soda
- Liquid soap
- Small non-metal container
- Spray bottle
- Vinegar
- Leather conditioner
Steps to Remove the Odor:
- Mix together one quart hydrogen peroxide, ¼ cup baking soda and 1 tablespoon liquid soap in a non-metal container. Do not stir or shake vigorously when mixing. Hydrogen peroxide and baking soda create a large amount of oxygen and over mixing will cause the mixture to overflow out of the container.
- Place the mixture into a spray bottle and gently mist the affected surfaces.
- Blot the areas if needed to remove the moisture.
- Allow the area to dry completely.
- Another option is to use white vinegar. Mix equal parts white vinegar and water in a spray bottle and spray the leather.
- Let it sit for a few minutes, then wipe off the moisture.
- Apply a leather conditioner to the leather to keep it supple and flexible.
Additional Tips and Advice
- If the smell is stubborn, you can try deodorizing the entire area. Fill a bowl or plate with either baking soda, white vinegar, activated charcoal or fresh coffee grounds. Put the bowl near the smell and leave it overnight. In the morning, the odor may be gone. If using coffee, keep in mind that although the urine odor will be gone, a coffee odor will remain in its place. Any vinegar odor will dissipate once the vinegar is removed.
- The proteins in cat urine are similar to those in skunk spray. Cleaning products used to remove the skunk smell can also be used to remove cat urine odors.
- Be sure to check the area around and under the furniture as well. If the smell is stubborn, it may be coming from under the item or somewhere else nearby.
- Several site users have commented below that they have used or plan to use essential oils to remove the odor and deter their cat from the area. Be very cautious with this, as most if not all essential oils are toxic to cats. We would recommend that you put the essential oil on a paper towel under the couch or tucked into a cushion rather than onto the actual leather as the oil could get onto their paws or fur if they touch it.
- There are commercial cat deterrant sprays you can get to keep a cat away from the area. Be sure to test them on a hidden area first to ensure they are safe for your leather.
- If your cat is regularly urinating somewhere other than their litter box, take them to the vet to ensure they do not have a medical problem.
- If you determine that your cat’s urinating problem is caused by stress, there are plug-ins and sprays available at major pet supply stores with calming scents for cats. Giving your cat somewhere they can go to feel safe can also help, such as a tall cat tower to sit on.
- To help your cat get back to using a litter box, you can try different types of litter to determine what they like and also try different types of boxes, such as ones with lids, low sides, top entry or a deeper litter. There are even planters and end tables that have litter boxes inside that you could put near the area where they seem to like urinating.
I have used Nature’s Miracle on my top-grain leather sofa, and it doesn’t harm it in any way. I follow with leather cleaner and conditioner just to keep it soft, however, I find Nature’s Miracle doesn’t always do what it should, and works better on cloth than leather.
Our cat is 11 years old, and in the last year she has decided that going poop outside her litter box was the way it was going to be. She has pooped on my leather furniture, and I am unable to get the smell out (I need help). This morning she pooped on my rug by the front door and her litter box was completely clean. I am desperate and need help with our cat, I am on the last straw and I am thinking of getting rid of her, but she is my daughter’s cat and my daughter loves her. Please, please help!
Perhaps try changing the type of litter you use. See your vet, as well.
Your cat could have a medical issue. You should take your cat to the vet and explain the issue to him/her. I have a cat who has pooped on the floor (but urinates perfectly in the litterbox) since I got him at 7 months old. He is now 7 years old. Sometimes you just gotta put up with your pet’s idiosyncrasies if you love them. Please don’t just abandon your pet to someone you don’t know. Try a new, lower side litterbox, or change the type of litter you are using.
My cat started going on our furniture because of a health problem. It turned out he had diabetes and his ability to hold and go was lost. The vet saw that inside the mouth or ears was a yellowish color that indicated the liver had stopped functioning properly. Hence, go where they lay.
I followed a very similar “recipe” that I found on another site to clean the urine out of my pillowtop mattress. It smelled perfect afterward. First, I applied the vinegar/water mixture, let it soak in, then dry it out. Next, I used baking soda, then hydrogen peroxide mixed with dishwasher soap (the recipe called for powered but I used liquid just fine) mixed slightly; I soaked it, blotted, and then let it dry. Now, the stain is gone and it smells like “fresh scent.” I didn’t even need to use citrus to mask it.
Nature’s Miracle doesn’t work for beans! I used almost a whole bottle and it did nothing. The baking soda and peroxide mix didn’t work either. I’m going to try the vinegar mix too; if that doesn’t work, then I’m afraid that my lovely leather chair is ruined.
One of my cats urinated on my leather sofa in two places. I followed this website’s cleaning instructions and the smell is now completely gone. It is crucial to the cleaning process to follow Nature’s Miracle’s cleaning instructions. I sprayed the leather cover and after 24 hours, there still remained a slight urine odor. So, I repeated the process. This time, after 24 hours, the odor was completely gone. The drying time is important to the process. For me, Nature’s Miracle really worked and saved my leather sofa from being trashed!
Which Nature’s Miracle product did you use? They make so many now.
I have tried using Nature’s Miracle, but still have lots of work to do. The odor seems to linger and UGH. My leather sofa is also a recliner type – no removable cushions, just a complicated mechanical and leather contraption! I’m having the rug professionally cleaned to remove the smell. Now that it is out of the house, I realize I still have work to do. My kitty did have a urinary tract infection and is better now. Unfortunately, this has been quite an ordeal and a source of terrible stress between my husband and I. As much as I love my kitties, I doubt I’ll ever replace these pets when they are gone.
Is there anything common that happens around the times the cat does that? Something either physcially or environmentally is causing the cat to do that. For us, it was adding a puppy to the household who loved chasing the cats and playing. We had to learn how to make sure the cats had places to escape, along with teaching the dog not to play so rough and our problem stopped. Watch “My Cat From Hell” on Animal Planet. He deals with these type situations all the time and we learned a lot from it. So, look for ways the cat may be stressed or upset around these times it happens. Also check with the vet to see if it may be a physcial issue like something causing urinary tract issues. There is a reason for it and can be stopped.
When I relocated due to illness, had to drive my roadster from the East Coast back to the Midwest (my nephew did the driving). The car only has two seats, and Max, my 17-year-old cat, was either on my lap or on the floor with his blanket along with my purse… LONG story short, Max somehow peed in my purse (a $300.00 designer bag)! Granted, it’s a pretty big purse, but I’m still wondering how he managed to pee with me right there the entire time! We made frequent stops throughout our trip & had several disposable litter boxes, which I begged, coaxed and even left him alone for privacy (tied his leash to a bench away from everything) & put his clean litter box close by (his bottled water & fresh food was in a different area). The ONLY time he used any of those boxes were when we were in a hotel! I did an online search & went through several steps and all the odor was gone!
It had worked!!! I remember using activated charcoal, borax, baking soda, leather cleaner & a solution from the pet store which is used to remove pet odors, a large plastic bag and a box with lid. I wish I didn’t have MS or I may have remembered the process, which lasted over two weeks. BUT, my point in writing this is to let you know that it IS possible to get rid of that horrible smell. Today, my handbag looks great & believe it or not, it smells like brand new leather!!! SOOO, get a mug of coffee, put on some music & get to Google! Good luck 🙂
I was told to check this out by mother-in-law, since our cat peed on my leather jacket. Vinegar works miracles on clothes for pet odors, as well as b.o., but I wasn’t sure if it was safe for leather. My daughter, when potty training, pooped smack dab in the middle of an area rug, which I told my ex not to put out ’til both kids were potty trained. I laughed. Things are just things. What’s more important here? Stuff that can always be replaced, or living, breathing companions? I would no sooner get rid of the cat than my child. Our cat, however, will be neutered because that is something I can do to remedy the situation.
Our 11-year-old female cat peed on our leather couch. It soaked into the grain of the leather and the cushion from underneath. She did it while we were asleep, so it had time to really set. I must have washed the sponge out a dozen times and tried every thing I could think of to totally rid us of the odor, but with no avail. I even totally submerged the leather coverings in Natures Miracle for hours, but still we could smell it. Lysol, vinegar, baking soda…anything I could find, I tried. No luck. Then, we had the idea to rub essential oils on the still afflicted areas…instant solution. After rubbing a liberal coating of this stuff on the leather grain just one time, voila…perfect. Four days now since we tried this and the odor has not returned. I can only figure that the oil soaked into the grain too and overcame what was left of the urine. I was seriously ready to give up on this couch until we tried this. Just wanted to share this experience with those others who are at their wits end as to what to do over cat urine odor from their couch. I suspect that this technique might also work on certain jackets and purses too. I would say the grain of the leather item in question and its permeability to oil determines how successful essential oils might be to their situation.
Hi. What essential oil did you use?
Thanks!
I had oils from doTERRA and tried On Guard. From the ones I had, it seemed the most sensible as it “protects from illness”. I figured maybe it’ll protect from urine odor too. It’s been 24 hours and I still cannot smell any urine odor. I am hoping this lasts.
Shane, could you be more specific about what essential oils you used?
If you have a window in the affected room that you can open and put a fan in, do so. It sucks a lot, if not all, of the cat urine smell out. I have a leather chair I soaked in vingar. So far, he has not urinated on the chair again.
Years ago, when I had an elderly cat who had accidents, I used a product based on orange oils that worked really well to clean the spots and counter the smell. I have not been able to find it lately and cannot remember the brand, but would recommend to seek a natural cleaner based on orange oil.
Donna, I know it’s been a few years, but you can find Angry Orange on Amazon. It’s worked well for me!
Our cat peed on my leather chair and our leather sofa. We took her to the vet and she was free from infection, so we can only assume it is behavioral (she is two and a highly anxious cat). We definitely tried everything imaginable…Nature’s Miracle, Icky Poo, and vinegar solutions. The smell diminished, but was still present in the creases of the furniture. Today we tried orange essential oil we bought at our health food store. I’m told that cat’s don’t like the citrus smell, so we are hoping it deters her from going on the furniture again. Not sure how long the oil will cover up the urine smell, but we are hoping for the best.
RE: How to keep them from peeing on it again once you get it clean: We cleaned up our leather furniture as best we could and then put clear plastic shower curtains over the furniture anytime we were not sitting on it (and some times just sat on the plastic ourselves rather than take it off and put it back on!). Those clothe pet couch protectors didn’t really work because the cat would pee on them and it would soak through. If someone had produced a clear plastic cover that completely covered our leather furniture, we would have purchased it! Our cat was afraid of everyone other than family and so he would hide when someone was here so we would take the plastic off when we had company and return it as soon as they left. He would pee on the plastic after they left, but that was much easier to clean up.
Our old cat was also very stressed by anyone bringing their dog into our house, so we had to disallow our friends’ dogs from coming inside. When our cat went blind, he was stressed by anything new on the floor of our house and by things like re-arranged furniture. He also became terrified of the vacuum cleaner. Our vet suggested a litter box without a lid and with a lower entry point – just a few inches off the floor and those things also helped. This probably goes without saying, but you should have at least one more litter box than you have cats, and you should frequently clean them.
It seems to us that there was always a reason for the peeing and pooping in inappropriate locations. It was usually either medical or stress related. So our advise is to take your cat to the vet to make sure it is not a medical condition and to eliminate as much stress as you can for your cats. You may have to try to “think like a cat” to do the latter.
The things that have seemed to have helped us so far are: taking the door off the covered litter box…it seems the smell gets trapped inside the box and our cat hated it and instead would pee on our couch. We changed the litter to Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract Scoopable Cat Litter and that really seemed to work, it’s a money back guarantee too. When I replaced it, I accidentally bought a different litter with a similar name and immediately she peed on our other couch…I know cats have personal taste when it comes to everything, including cat litter, but this is an option, if you haven’t tried it yet. I will be back for Dr. Elsey’s brand for sure.
I find the vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, dish soap mixture very effective, more effective than Nature’s Miracle or any other enzyme mixture from pet stores, and much more affordable as well. Unfortunately, I am out of hydrogen peroxide at the moment and only used the vinegar, dish soap, bubbly water mixture this time around and the smell is still 90 percent gone. I don’t even measure anymore; I just dabble a bit here and a bit there of each ingredient and spray and it works. When my hubby wakes up to take over watch of our kids, I will return to the store for the correct cat litter and hydrogen peroxide. Maybe I’ll give the essential oils a try too… maybe tea tree oil or grapefruit. I now remove the treated and clean couch pillows from their cases and covered them in plastic trash bags and then put the covers back on over the bags, in case of another pee attack, so I can just wash the covers in the laundry and follow the drip pee trail through the couch and replace the plastic trash bags. This helps very much because the pee doesn’t get deep into the cushions, leaving the odor and the irresistible urge for my cat to continue peeing in that spot. Although I know most of you are more interested in leather treatments…hope this helps someone. It is so very frustrating to deal with cat pee issues…squirting them with water when they are near the peed on areas, or during the crime can deter them a bit, but probably not the end game.
One of my cats peed on my mattress & it soaked through to my feather topper. It left both a yellow stain and an odor. I mixed 1 cup of peroxide & 2 tablespoons of baking soda together in a spray bottle. Don’t mix the solution, just gently swirl, then spray it on the area. Cover it with a towel. Said it would work in 5 minutes, which I did not believe. However, to my amazement, 5 minutes later both the smell & odor were gone. Cat pee contains crystals that must be broken down or the cat & as well as you, will still see & smell it. You need an enzyme solution and so this solution really works. It’s been 10-12 months now & my cats have not re-marked that area. (You don’t want to mix the solution vigorously as it will foam all over before you put the cap onto the bottle. Just spray the area, cover it, & you will see the stain and odor will be gone.)
Evonne,
Thank you. I think I will try your home remedy. My aging cats have peed on my leather sofa many times and I have used commercial cleaner… it works for awhile, but the oder comes back on a hot muggy day… very embarrassed when company is in my home. I paid a lot of money for my leather sofa and would hate to give it up… will let you know how it works for me.
Carol
Has anyone got any tips–my elderly cat just peed all over my suede boots???
My black leather purse was urinated into by a drunk person and was soaked inside and out. How can I clean it?
Jen,
The same products can be used on a purse. Test any cleaner on a small hidden area first to look for any adverse reaction. Good luck!
Great comments from all…
I have 2 cats (male, 8, and female, 14) and a four-year-old male dog. All animals get along well, but there is a bit of rivalry between the male animals. When battling with my own health issues, I was delinquent in cleaning the litter box and the older cat would pee elsewhere (usually in the unfinished basement). After cleaning all that up, changing boxes and location, and new brand of litter, the problem stopped, but I did find some cat pee in the stitching of a leather couch. And then realized the dog would pee over top of that.
So, after reading all of the recipes here I decided to go extra stong and combined my own, using a majority of what was already listed, and a few additional things.
I found an old bathroom cleaner spray bottle…its main ingredient was citric acid…I left a tablespoon of it in the bottle. I added a squirt of dish soap (lemon scent), the baking soda and peroxide. I then grated a teaspoon or so of peel off a fresh orange and added that in, and then added a couple of drops of a natural mouthwash with spearmint oil.
I sprayed the stitching of the couch until the sprayer got clogged with the orange peel! So then I just poured it on, laid a light towel over it (soaked up some of my over-pouring), and let it soak in the seam. I also washed the floor (laminate) under and around the couch, out about 2 feet and a foot up the wall. Waited for a while until things dried somewhat, blotted up the rest, and let it dry completely. There was a good breeze flowing through the window that day too.
I wiped my couch with leather cleaner a couple days later.
In the end…no colour issues with the laminate or couch and no strong pee smell anymore.
(Elderly humans, like our pets become incontinent. But I’m not giving my mother away any more than I would my fur companions…just gotta love and take care of them until their time comes.)
My cat has been peeing on my butter yellow leather couch. ????! I’m having some luck with the smell, but how do I get the stains out? Thanks! Heidi
Hi Heidi,
We just updated the article to address stains! Use the section: Removing Stains and Odor. Good luck!
With hydrogen peroxide solution, do you spray entire quart on affected area at once or just portions and repeat if necessary?
Lila,
You only spray the mixture once unless repeated treatments are needed, but don’t use the whole amount. Only spray enough to wet the area. Too much would soak the leather and possibly cause damage. Just a light mist is all that’s needed. Good luck!