How to get cat pee smell out of plush toys without ruining them
Plush toys and delicate items absorb cat urine easily during moves or storage, leaving a persistent odor that standard washing risks destroying. People avoid cleaning them because they are afraid of ruining the fabric or plastic, often leaving them stuck between throwing the item away or living with the smell.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Use an enzyme cleaner
- 2Wash plush toys in a lingerie bag in the washing machine
- 3Take them to a laundromat
- 4Call a doll hospital for professional treatment
- 5Soaking in a sink or bathtub with normal laundry detergent and air drying
- 6Using a warm water and dish soap bath
- 7Adding an enzyme cleaner to neutralize urine odors
- 8Testing a small spot with rubbing alcohol or dish soap before washing
- 9submitting maintenance requests to the building
- 10living with the odor without addressing it directly
- 11Smoking the place out with wormwood in a cauldron with windows and doors open
- 12Spraying cheap vodka on materials and surfaces, wiping with paper towels, and letting them air dry with windows open and a fan running
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I thrifted this pretty plastic flower curtain with a beautiful iridescent, stained like colour but a little bit after hanging it I realized it has a smells that look like cat pee...I really don't want to throw it away but I don't want to ruin it.”source ↗
“I though about a soapy water bath ? I know that if it is truly cat pee the smell is going to be hard to wipe out but I'm afraid of ruining it.”source ↗
“the space right outside the elevator of my floor has a very strong cat litter smell that I believe is coming from the carpet.”source ↗
“I can’t keep coming home and smelling this.”source ↗
“My problem is I cannot for gods sake get rid of this daunting smell of idk what cat urine mixed with bad mental health or it’s like a smell of someone not hygienic but it’s a place.”source ↗
“It’s in my clothes tho i washed them, on my coach, bed, everywhere I go.”source ↗
“unfortunately my cats peed on the bag I had them in after I moved into a new place.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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