Mom's Bad Idea: Will Bleach Help Cat Pee Smell?

[Assilroc]

TL;DR

Cat urine and bleach

So my cat peed on the towels(bu the smell not today) It stunk really bad, like ammonia. Then my mom said it will be fine and put them in the washing machine. As she added the bleach I said that would be a bad idea. How wrong is she?

 

[berkeman]

Good question! Certainly mixing ammonia and bleach is a very bad thing, but the question is whether the smell of cat urine is really due to the presence of ammonia? I'll leave that to the PF cat experts...

https://wcpinstitute.org/effects-of-mixing-bleach-and-ammonia/

Effects Of Mixing Bleach And Ammonia

Contents

1. Ammonia produces extremely dangerous toxic vapors
2. Scene cleanup cost
3. Crime scene cleanup cost?
4. Effects. young children

Mixing bleach and ammonia is extremely dangerous …

 

[chemisttree]

Summary:: Cat urine and bleach

So my cat peed on the towels(bu the smell not today) It stunk really bad, like ammonia. Then my mom said it will be fine and put them in the washing machine. As she added the bleach I said that would be a bad idea. How wrong is she?

Chloramines are produced when bleach comes into contact with ammonia. NH2Cl, NHCl2 and NCl3 are strong oxidizers bit not stronger than bleach. They are toxic to fish but not so toxic to humans. In fact, they are used to disinfect water in most water systems. Gasp! You’ve likely been drinking it your entire life!

At the concentration you are likely to encounter in the washing machine, you are probably as safe as you would be if you used bleach without any ammonia present.

Bleach (chlorine) is nasty stuff too, y’know! It produces trihalomethane in drinking water. Carcinogen, it is.

 

[256bits]

Gasp! You’ve likely been drinking it your entire life!

And swimming in it in the pool.
( Of course no one pees in the pool ).

 

[stefan r]

Natures miracle brand cleaner has enzymes that break down the stinky molecule in cat piss. Works well. Can be used on color clothing and furniture.

Bleach tends to oxidize everything including the fibers that make your clothes hold together. Burning things with a torch will remove cat odors too.

 

[hmmm27]

Within context of a tub full of water, the amount of ammonia in the cat pee won't cause a problem : there will be reaction products, but not enough to jump out of solution.

 

[Rive]

If you are worried you could insist on doing a pre-wash or a 20min before going serious with the bleach.

By the way, I've just come across what 'chamber lye' meant

 

[chemisttree]

And dentists use chloramines to dissolve cavities as an alternative to drilling. Product is known as CariSolve.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/12968635/