Here is how to get cat pee smell out of clothes. Rinse the wet spot under cool water. Wash the item in its own load with your usual detergent plus 1 cup of baking soda. Then smell it before it goes anywhere near the dryer. If the urine is still there, wash it again with an enzyme cleaner added to the load, and let it air-dry.
That routine comes from PetMD's vet-reviewed guide to cat pee smell, and the guide is honest about one thing: you may need to rewash a few times before the scent is completely gone. So don't judge a shirt after one wash. Judge it after it's dry.
Duvets, wool, silk and memory foam need gentler handling, covered further down.
Keep it out of the dryer until the smell is gone
The dryer is the step that turns an easy fix into a hard one. PetMD warns that dryer heat may lock the smell in before it's completely gone, which is why it tells you to air-dry. Tide's laundry guide says the same about stains: if the stain or odour persists, repeat the wash before drying, because hot temperatures can set it.
So make the sniff test a habit. Pull the item out of the washer, hold the worst spot to your nose, and move on only when it smells of clean laundry and nothing else. Once it passes, follow the care label for drying, and dry it all the way through before you put it away. Tide warns that storing laundry damp invites musty, mildew smells.
Already dried it? It's still worth another try. See what to do after the dryer.
Rinse it in cool water and keep it out of the hamper
Get the item away from your clean laundry first, and don't let it wait. Cat urine gets worse with time. PetMD explains that bacteria break the urine down into an ammonia smell, and that the odour then gets stronger as the urine starts giving off mercaptans, the same compounds that make skunk spray smell.
Rinse the spot in a sink under cool water. That's PetMD's first step. Press the water out gently. Don't wring or scrub a delicate piece. If the label says dry clean only, don't wet it at all: take it to a cleaner and tell them it's cat urine.
Wash it on its own, too. One owner on TheCatSite forum put soiled laundry through the wash and came back with: "My whole load smells like cat pee and poo."
Give it a 15-minute baking soda soak
For a strong smell or a pile of bedding, a presoak helps. Tide's method: dissolve baking soda in warm water in a sink or tub, push the items under so the stained parts stay submerged, and leave them for 15 minutes. Then rinse them thoroughly. Tide's reason is practical: baking soda's high pH can get in the way of your detergent if it isn't rinsed out.
Check the care label before you use warm water. Wool, silk and anything with filling get their own rules below.
How to get cat pee smell out of clothes, step by step
- Rinse the spot in cool water as soon as you find it.
- Soak it if the smell is strong. Baking soda in warm water for 15 minutes, then rinse, if the care label allows warm water.
- Wash it on its own. Your usual detergent plus 1 cup of baking soda, on the normal cycle. Tide recommends the warmest temperature the care label allows.
- Smell it before drying. Check seams, armpits, waistbands and every layer of bedding.
- Still there? Wash again with an enzyme cleaner added to the load. Use one made for laundry, at the dose on its bottle. Repeat until the smell is gone.
- Air-dry, then make sure it's completely dry before you store it.
Vinegar, bleach and the mixes to skip
Vinegar is where the sources split. PetMD offers ¼ cup of vinegar as an alternative to baking soda in the wash. Cornell's Feline Health Center says to avoid cleaning products containing ammonia or vinegar, because they smell like urine and can be irritating. Humane World for Animals agrees, warning that strong chemical smells may encourage a pet to mark the same spot again. PetMD and Humane World both recommend baking soda and an enzyme cleaner, so that's the pair we'd use.
Never mix cleaners. Poison Control explains that bleach mixed with ammonia can produce chloramine gas, while bleach with an acid forms chlorine gas. Vinegar is an acid. If fumes make anyone feel unwell, get to fresh air and call a poison centre. Trouble breathing needs urgent help.
Skip scented sprays and extra fabric softener too. Cornell's rule for cat odour is that it has to be neutralized, not just deodorized, and perfume only covers it.
Use an enzyme cleaner made for the wash
When a normal wash doesn't get it out, enzymes are the next step. PetMD says the enzymes in these cleaners break down the acid in cat urine and get rid of the smell. Humane World for Animals gives the same order: wash with baking soda first, and if you can still see or smell the soiling, wash again with an enzymatic cleaner.
The catch is the label. A carpet spray isn't automatically a laundry product. Nature's Miracle's laundry product, for example, is an in-wash formula, and its maker lists wool and silk among the fabrics to keep it away from. Use the dose on your own bottle and match the product to what you're washing.
Can cat pee smell be washed out after the dryer?
It's worth another go. Start again from the cool rinse, use the enzyme wash at its full treatment time, and air-dry every round. Expect it to take longer than a fresh accident, since dryer heat may have locked some of the smell in.
For a valuable or delicate piece, stop after one careful try and ask a professional cleaner. Tell them it's cat urine and what you've already used. No fixed number of washes proves a garment can't be saved.
Adjust the routine for the fabric
- Cotton and synthetics: the standard routine. Read the label for blends, dyes and trims, because the fibre name alone doesn't set the cycle.
- Wool and silk: Woolmark recommends a mild wool detergent and says to avoid "bio" detergents containing enzymes, so pick a product that says it suits wool.
- Down and feather bedding: follow the label on that piece. Brooklinen's care guide shows how much the right wash and dry depend on the product.
- Memory foam: don't soak it or machine wash it unless the maker says you can. Tempur-Pedic separates washable covers from pillow inserts.
- Dry clean only: tell the cleaner what happened and what you've tried.
Bedding and mattresses: check every layer
A duvet cover can come out clean while the insert underneath still smells. Check the cover, the filling, the mattress protector and the mattress one at a time, and follow each piece's own care label.
A mattress can't go in the washer. PetMD's mattress method: blot up as much as you can, soak the spot with enzyme cleaner, let it sit for 15 minutes, then blot again. If it isn't dry by bedtime, lay several clean towels over the spot, make the bed over them, and swap the towels each day until the mattress is dry. It may take several applications.
Other surfaces have their own methods. Read how to get cat pee smell out of a couch for cushions, where the foam inside is the real job, and how to get cat pee out of carpet for carpet and padding. If the smell is in more than one room, start with the whole-house cat pee smell guide.
Why your cat peed on your clothes or bed
A thorough clean matters for more than the laundry. Cornell's Feline Health Center: "Cats will re-soil and spray areas they have marked with their scent, so cleaning cat-soiled items is crucial for breaking the cycle of elimination."
Then find out why it happened. New or repeated accidents call for a vet visit, because Cornell says any medical condition that interferes with normal urination can cause litter box problems. A cat straining again and again while passing little or no urine needs a vet right away. Cornell calls urethral obstruction a true medical emergency, and male cats are at greater risk.
Once your vet has ruled out a medical cause, look at the box and at recent changes at home. In the TheCatSite thread above, the accidents started after the litter boxes moved to the basement. Cornell's house-soiling guidance covers quiet access, cleanliness, litter preference and one box per cat plus one. Don't punish your cat. Cornell says punishment is ineffective and the anxiety it causes may make house soiling worse.
A fresher box is one change you can make today. Purrify is a fragrance-free coconut-shell activated carbon additive for the litter box, and it works with the litter your cat already uses. Use 2 tablespoons of Purrify per litter box. Sprinkle on fresh litter, mix gently. Top up whenever the box starts to smell again. It isn't a laundry treatment, and it can't undo an accident that already happened.
If the smell is still somewhere in the house
Clean laundry and a lingering smell mean the source is elsewhere. Check other household odour sources and the ammonia health guide. Match each fix to its source: the wash routine for fabric, the right cleaner for floors and furniture, and a vet for any change in how your cat pees.
