Cleaning
How To Get Pee Out Of A Mattress
Whether you’re a parent or a pet owner, you will to need to know how to get pee out of a mattress at some stage in your life.
It’s not the most exciting subject to discuss, but it’s something that gets asked a lot in my Facebook group (you can join here), so here goes!
Last week, I was looking after my mother-in-law’s poodle while they were away for the weekend, and she peed on my bed, not once, but twice! (not my mother- in -law, it was the dog!)
Being a cat person, I didn’t have a clue about how to get dog pee out of a mattress. As an owner of many kittens, I knew how to get cat pee out of mattresses but I was stumped when it came to dogs! Is a dog’s wee any different to cat’s? How do I clean it up?
What I did know, is that the longer you leave urine, the harder it is to remove. Therefore, it is best if you clean it properly the first time.
So, in this post, I’ll be advising you how to clean pee out of a mattress the correct way!
What is urine?
Let’s understand what we are dealing with before we start trying to clean it.
Urine is a body’s liquid waste product. Urine is made up of 95% water and 5% water-soluble organic materials, ions and electrolytes. It contains salt, potassium, phosphorus, urea and uric acid. Urine is produced by the kidneys when they filter toxins and other unwanted stuff from your blood.
How to get pee out of a mattress.
Whether it’s a drunken friend, a child or someone who was so deep in sleep that they dreamt they were using the toilet, there’s a good chance you’re going to come across someone who peed the bed at some time in your life! (no judgement here!) You’re going to have to know how to get urine out of a mattress to prevent urine odour and urine stains permanently spoiling your bed.
You will need:
- Old towels or paper towels
- Dish soap
- Scrubbing brush
- Water
- Laundry detergent, hydrogen peroxide or white vinegar
- Baking soda
- A dustpan and brush
- A vacuum cleaner
How to get pee out of a mattress.
- Remove everything from the bed
Strip the covers off the bed as quickly as possible and remove the duvet, put them in the bath where the remaining urine can not soil anything else. You can deal with them after you have cleaned the mattress.
- Blot, blot, blot!
Using paper towels or old bath towels, blot up as much of the pee as possible, as quickly as you can.
If you can deal with the urine immediately, you will avoid getting permanent pee stains and urine odour on your mattress.
Do not be tempted to cut corners on this step; this is the most crucial part of the process, you need to absorb as much of the excess liquid out of the mattress to allow the cleaning solution to work.
Apply plenty of pressure to absorb the pee until the mattress feels almost dry.
Be careful at this stage not to scrub at the urine as this may spread it around or embed it further into the mattress.
- Scrub scrub scrub!
Using a small bowl of soapy water and a scrubbing brush, scrub the affected area well, then pat with clean water to rinse.
Take care not to over soak the mattress as you need to prevent the water from running through to the base.
I put a bin bag between the base and the mattress to avoid any spillage. - Blot, blot, blot!
It’s back to blotting up the excess water again!
Blot up the water with paper towels or old towels as you did in step two until the mattress is almost dry. - Deodorise
Fill a spray bottle with a mixture of either:
✔️ Water and laundry detergent
✔️ Water and hydrogen peroxide 3%
✔️ Water and vinegar
Spray the area liberally and rub again with a cloth, making sure you go over the edges of the soiled area this time. - Blot, blot blot!
Time to blot again!
Blot again as you did in step two until all the excess water is gone and the mattress feels less damp. - Sprinkle baking soda over the stain.
Baking soda will help to absorb any moisture and odour which may be left on the mattress.
Sprinkle baking soda over the wet patch to help get rid of the remaining urine smell, you can add some essential oil of your choice to the baking soda before you apply it to give it a better fragrance. - Air dry
Allow the mattress to air-dry overnight by sleeping in another bed if possible.
If you need to use the bed to sleep in, you can always dry the damp patch with a hairdryer before vacuuming and remaking the bed.
Whichever way you choose to do it, you should make sure the clean mattress is completely dry before use, to prevent mould and mildew forming. - Brush, then vacuum
Brush the excess baking soda off the mattress using a dustpan and brush, then vacuum the affected area until all the baking soda has gone.
- Launder your bed linen and duvet.
Make sure you take your duvet to the laundrette and wash all the bedding immediately to clean the urine from your sheets. The quicker you can do this the less chance the urine will set and smell.
How to get dog pee out of mattresses
As much as we love our dog, there will come a time when the lovely little creature decides to pee on the bed. If you don’t clean the mess up correctly you will soon find your mattress smells like urine, and the dog will keep peeing in the same area to mark their territory.
✔️ Because dog urine consists of virtually the same amount of organic water-soluble materials, ions and water as human urine, you can check out the procedure above to learn how to clean urine from a mattress that a dog has peed on.
✔️ Make sure you remove and wash any soiled bedding, duvet or towels immediately, so the dog doesn’t smell the urine and keep peeing in the same area.
How to get cat pee out of mattresses
Cat urine is slightly different from human and dog urine. You’ll need to know how to get pee smell out of a mattress when your cat has had an accident, or the cat will return to the same place to pee again!
Cat pee is composed of different amino acids called felinine, after a while, bacteria decomposes the urea in the urine and gives off a smell of ammonia.
If cat urine is allowed to sit for any length of time, the urine produces mercaptans, which are also what gives skunk spray its foul smell!
An older cat will produce more pungent smelling urine as it tends to sit in the cat’s bladder for longer.
Urine from male cat contains steroids, so it also tends to smell worse than female urine.
- Blot up as much of the cat urine as you can with paper towels.
- Use an enzyme cleaner to break down the proteins in the cat urine. Following the instructions on the enzyme cleaner, spray the affected area being careful not to over soak the mattress.
- Scrub well. Scrub the area thoroughly with a scrubbing brush, then rinse if required.
- Blot again! Blot the damp patch again to get it as dry as possible.
- Sprinkle the damp patch with bicarbonate of soda. Sprinkle the area with sodium bicarbonate and leave overnight if possible. You can add a few drops of essential oil to the bicarbonate of soda for a subtle scent.
- Sweep the excess. Using a dustpan and brush remove as much of the powder as you can, then vacuum the mattress to remove any remaining powder.
Read how to make moving house with a cat less stressful in this post!
How to get urine smell out of bedding.
To remove the smell of urine from bedding, you will need to give your bedding a vinegar bath.
- Rinse. Rinse the soiled bedding in cold water to remove the cat pee.
- Fill a bath or bucket with cold water.
- Add vinegar. Add one part vinegar to three parts water to form a 1:3 part solution.
- Soak the bedding in the vinegar bath. Allow the bedding to sit for at least an hour, longer if possible!
- Machine wash on cold.
- Air dry. Allow your bedding to air dry rather than using a dryer.
Frequently asked questions from our Facebook group!
It sounds like the previous tenants haven’t cleaned up after an accident.
You will need to get out the big guns for this job!
If your mattress smells of urine, you will need to use a strong hydrogen peroxide solution:
• 250ml of 3% hydrogen peroxide
• 3 tablespoons of baking soda
• A small squirt of dish soap
1. Combine the ingredients. Using a spray bottle combine the hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and dish soap and rotate the bottle to combine.
2. Spray the affected areas thoroughly. Allow the solution to sit for about an hour or two, longer if you can.
3. Rinse the area. Use a damp cloth and clean water to rinse the area.
4. Blot, blot, blot! Blot the damp area well with a dry towel to remove the excess solution.
If the smell is still there after you have used this method, try a protease enzyme cleaner which will help break down the protein in the urine.
If you think that you can still smell urine after trying all of the methods above, you may feel better getting the mattress professionally cleaned.
Knowing how to get urine out of memory foam mattresses can be daunting if you’ve never owned one before.
There is not much difference in treating a memory foam mattress than a standard mattress. However, it is good to bear in mind that the memory foam will soak up the urine like a sponge, so it is best to work as quickly as possible and to remember not to oversoak the area.
You will need to assess which type of urine you are treating, either human or pet and follow the relevant steps listed above.
It sounds like you may have missed out the baking soda stage or have used too much vinegar, either way, it’s easy to fix.
1. Slightly re-dampen the affected area with a spray bottle of water being careful not to oversoak the area.
2. Sprinkle bicarbonate of soda over the damp patch.
3. Allow the powder to sit for approximately two hours or more if you can. You will see the bicarbonate of soda start to cake, that’s when it will be absorbing all the nasty vinegar odours with it!
4. Brush and vacuum the remaining powder from your mattress.
5. Allow to air-dry. Make sure the mattress is thoroughly dry before use.
If the urine stain has dried in or is old, you can use any oxygen-based bleach, OxiClean, Clorox 2 or Oxo Brite but you must take a patch test somewhere inconspicuous before use.
I would also avoid using any form of bleach product on a mattress as this is where your family sleep and you don’t want to expose them to harmful chemical fumes whilst they sleep.
Your dog loves your smell and loves anything that smells like you. There are many reasons your dog may be peeing on your bed.
• The dog may be young and not trained
• The dog may be old and incontinent
• The dog may be frightened or stressed
• The dog may be excited.
The best way to stop your dog peeing on your bed would be to stop allowing them on the bed. It is best to close the door to keep them out of the room. If your dog does have an accident, clean it up immediately because if they can still smell their urine, they will probably do the same thing again!
There may be many reasons your cat is weeing on your bed:
• Urinary tract infection
• Anxiety
• Separation anxiety
• Marking their territory
If you are worried about your cat’s behaviour, take them to the vet to get checked out.
You can read more about why your cat might be peeing on your bed here
Top sleep tips
✔️I like to keep spare bedding under the kid’s bed in a lidded box, so if there are any accidents or sickness, the bedding change is super quick.
✔️Make sure you make up the bed using waterproof mattress protectors. Be aware that many mattress protectors are not waterproof, so they will allow urine to pass through to the mattress. If you have pets or kids, always go for a waterproof protector like this one.
Now you’ve learnt how to clean a peed on mattress, why not read how to clean bloodstains off a mattress in this post.
Do you know how to get pee out of a mattress any other way? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!