I have a puppy who I am trying to potty train right now and she sometimes has accidents. I know that dogs like to go where they can smell they have peed or pooed before, so I want to get a cleaner that will completely eliminate the smell from the carpet. The cleaner I have now eliminates the odor for me, but apparently she can still smell it, since dogs have a keen sense of smell. I have read about enzymatic cleaners that can eliminate the smell but I am unsure about what brand to buy. At the pet store there are so many brands and I’m not sure what exactly to look for.

I have also heard about using vinegar to get rid of the smell, but I don’t want my carpet smelling like vinegar anymore than I want it to smell like pee or poop.

I adopted my cat from a shelter about a year ago. She was about six months old at the time. She’s always been kind of high-strung, but she’s very cute and friendly. Since the time I first got her, though, she’s had a bit of a marking problem. I took her to the vet, thinking it could be a urinary infection. It wasn’t. I had her spayed, and that seemed to help for a while… But then I found where she’d been marking. We moved to a new apartment, and I thought things had gotten better… But now my wife is finding new places where the cat has marked.
It isn’t a problem with the litter box. I switched to a silica litter to control the odor, and as far as I can tell, it’s working great. Annie (the cat) has no problem using it. She just likes to mark other places, too. She’s an indoor-only cat. She’s the only cat in my two-bedroom apartment, and I’ve never seen another cat outside to make her insecure from the window. I’ve tried using enzyme-based pet odor cleaners formulated specifically for cat urine.
The biggest problem is that the odor gives my wife migraines. We’ve only been married for a couple of weeks, and she still lives out-of-state. When she comes to visit me about once per month, she spends the entire time shut up in the bedroom, complaining about the cat. If she walks out into the rest of the apartment, she gags. I can’t even smell any markings… As far as I can tell, the cat has nearly stopped. But she assures me that the cat is continuing to mark, even during her visit. Her sense of smell is better than mine.
I’m in class most of the day, so I’ve not actually seen Annie mark on anything in several months and can’t directly discipline her. I’ve not smelled it in a couple of weeks. I’ve added cat urine cleaner to the pet formula carpet cleaner and shampooed the carpets. I’ve ordered some Feliway cat pheromone stuff, and it should be here soon, but I don’t really expect any miracles there. I don’t know what else to do.
My wife refuses to come back until the problem is solved. The only solution she offers is to get rid of the cat. I’ve grown pretty fond of Annie, since she’s my only companion when my wife and daughter are away (which is most of the time). I’m in a bit of a bind; common sense would say the simplest solution is to get rid of the cat, but this apartment would get pretty lonely without my kitty. Can anyone offer a solution?