How to Get Pee Smell Out of a Mattress

Your bed is supposed to be a comfy place to retire at the end of the day. Sleeping on a mattress with a dried urine stain is an unpleasant experience, whether it’s cat or dog pee or human urine. Discover how to get pee smell out of a mattress by removing old and fresh urine stains and ensuring your sleeping area smells fresh.

There are many reasons for a mattress urine odor. You may have a naughty cat or an over-excitable dog, or perhaps your child had an accident that slipped past the waterproof mattress protector. Whatever the cause, it’s essential to clean urine stains promptly with a proper cleaning solution to eliminate urine smell.

Unlike other stains, urine stains are tricky to remove. Often, the fabric looks clean, and you think you’ve finished the job. However, urine contains uric acid, which causes staining, a musty mattress smell and lingering pee smell. Fortunately, there are simple ways to remove odor-causing stains from human and pet urine.

Easy Ways to Get Urine Odor Out of a Mattress

It’s difficult to get a good night’s slumber if you get a whiff of urine odor each time you toss and turn. Fortunately, there are ways to get pee out of the mattress, even if it’s an old urine stain.

Before Cleaning Urine Smells From the Mattress

Consider how to remove a pee smell before cleaning the mattress. For example, is it pet urine or human urine, and is the stain fresh or old? Learn the differences between yellow stains on the mattress top to help you choose the right cleaner for the job.

Urine Stains

All urine contains ammonia, urea, and creatinine, but pet pee is more concentrated than human urine. Additionally, non-neutered male cats mark their territory with urine, and it has an extra pungent odor due to the presence of steroids.

Fresh pee hasn’t had a chance to seep into the materials and is easiest to absorb with paper towels and clean with a basic cleaner. Dry urine settles deep into the fabric, making it more challenging to remove from the mattress.

Tips for Removing Fresh Urine Stains From a Mattress

It’s always best to get to a pee stain right after it happens to prevent it from seeping into the plush fibers. Discover how to remove urine smell from a mattress while it’s still wet.

Remove the sheets, blankets, and mattress pad as soon as you discover the urine stain, and wash the affected bedding in the washing machine. While the washer does its job, use paper towels to blot as much of the pee as possible.

Put on rubber gloves and press dry towels onto the stain to soak up moisture, discarding the wet towels as you work. After absorbing the pee, make a cleanser with warm water and dish soap or laundry detergent, and clean the affected area with soapy water and a sponge. Rinse with cool water and let it air dry completely.

Getting Pee Smell Out of the Mattress After It Dries

While getting pee smell out of the mattress while the urine is still wet is ideal, you may not be aware of the stain until it dries. Follow these tips for cleaning a dry urine stain from the mattress.

Combine an enzyme-based stain remover with warm water and clean mattress stains with a scrub brush. Start from the outside of the pee stain and work your way in while applying a homemade cat urine cleaner as needed until the stain is gone. Finish by blotting the spot with a towel and letting the mattress air dry before making the bed.

How to Remove Urine Smell From a Mattress

Sodium bicarbonate, popularly known as baking soda, has excellent odor-absorbing qualities that make it perfect for removing pee odors. Here is how to remove urine smell from a mattress quickly with baking soda.

Create a cleaning paste by combining one tablespoon of distilled water and a cup of baking soda. Expose the part of the mattress with the urine stain and spread the paste liberally over the affected area.

Scrub the spot with a soft-bristled brush to work the solution into the fibers and let it sit until dry. After several hours, vacuum the odor-absorbed powder and check to ensure the odor is gone.

How to Get Pee Smell Out of a Mattress with White Vinegar

Try using white vinegar to get pee smell out of a bed fast. This acidic liquid neutralizes the components in urine that create a foul odor, and it’s safe for cleaning dog pee from a mattress with a spray bottle and a fan as your tools.

Fill a bottle sprayer with distilled white vinegar and spray the liquid directly onto the dog or cat urine stain, ensuring that you apply enough vinegar to absorb pee smells.

While the white vinegar has a strong scent, it eventually fades as it dries, taking the urine odor with it. Position a fan toward the mattress to speed up the drying process.

Making a Borax Paste to Eliminate Mattress Urine Odors

Borax is an alkaline mineral salt readily available in your local market’s laundry aisle. Not only is it popular for cleaning clothes, but this natural powder also helps neutralize acidic urine stains.

Since Borax is toxic, wear rubber gloves while applying it. Make sure your mattress is completely dry and vacuumed before using it again.

Start by mixing Borax with water to form a thin paste and apply it to the urine spot. Work the mixture into the stain with a soft-bristle brush and allow it to dry completely. Vacuum the remains with the hose attachment.

Remove a Urine Smell From a Mattress

Hydrogen peroxide is an oxygen-based bleach and mild disinfectant, and it’s great for getting pee smell out of the mattress. It cleans away the pet stain and eliminates the odor without damaging the mattress surface.

Pour 3% hydrogen peroxide into a spray bottle and spritz the peroxide over the pee-stained area. Let it air dry completely, check for remaining odors, and reapply if necessary.

Steam Cleaning a Mattress to Remove Urine Odor

The best way of removing human urine odor from a mattress if the spot cleaners don’t do the job is to use a steam cleaner. While it takes more effort and you have to wait longer for the bed to dry, you end up with a clean and fresh-smelling mattress.

Since each model is different, it’s essential to check the manufacturer’s instructions for your steam cleaner for optimal results. Add the recommended amount of cleaning solution and water to the tank, and use the hose attachment to clean the mattress.

Steam clean the surface in both directions with overlapping passes, and let the mattress dry thoroughly before making the bed.

How to Clean a Memory Foam Mattress to Remove Urine Stains

Memory foam is comfy and conforms to your body’s shape, but it’s not as simple to clean as a regular mattress. Eliminate urine stains and odors from a memory foam mattress.

Prepare a cleaner by filling a spray bottle with equal portions of water and white vinegar. Spray the liquid over the stain and sprinkle baking soda over the top of that. Let it sit for several hours until dry, and use a vacuum to suck up the cleaning residue.

Ways to Prevent Urine Odors in the Mattress

While the rare urine mattress stain is one thing, regular accidents from pets or humans quickly leave the mattress stinky with bacteria and stains. Luckily, there are various ways to protect your mattress from a urine stain.

Mattress Stain Prevention

If you have pets that tend to have accidents, try to keep them off the bed. If your dog sleeps on your bed, take your pup outside right before you go to bed at night to ensure they don’t have a night-time accident.

Protect your mattress from stains by covering it with a mattress protector. If you encounter an occasional pee stain, remove all bedding immediately, including the mattress pad or protector, and wash them accordingly.

While human or pet urine stains are a little more challenging to clean than other stains, there are ways to remove the stain and smell. The key is to use an odor-absorbing product to clean pee stains, or an enzymatic cleaner to break up the bond of the urine, leaving the mattress surface odor-free.

Now that you’ve learned how to get pee smell out of a mattress using simple methods, why not share our tips for getting urine odor out of the mattress with your family and friends on Facebook and Pinterest?