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I have an old house with very old wall to wall carpets. The carpet by the front door is just awful, and I have been trying to clean it for a while, with poor results.

Recently, however, my kitten, who is not yet house broken, peed on a spot on the carpet, and it was immediately cleaned of all the old dirt (the pee needed cleaning up, of course)!

Since I have no plan to make the kitten pee everywhere, does anyone know exactly what in the pee cleaned the carpet, and maybe how to duplicate the effect in a more sanitary way?

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    the one component that comes to mind is ammonia
    – ratchet freak
    Sep 22, 2020 at 10:38
  • 1
    I think it is time to replace the carpeting in the house.
    – d.george
    Sep 22, 2020 at 10:47
  • I don't disagree. Saving up for it.
    – Henry Stone
    Sep 22, 2020 at 13:48
  • 5
    We have all been there, when peeing on the floor makes it look better.
    – DMoore
    Sep 22, 2020 at 16:32

1 Answer 1

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Urine (human and animal) contains ammonia, paricularly if it's left for a while, e.g. if you didn't notice it at first. Ammonia is used in carpet-cleaning products. In fact it's been used for stain-removal since Roman times.

You might want to track down an ammonia-based carpet cleaner, but use it when you can open all the windows and sit outside for a bit afterwards.

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