Removing dog pee stains

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Living in a city centre, and having a building that fronts on to the street, means our local canine population use the corners, door posts and pavement as their toilet. Often.

A lot of folks here have a little squeezy bottle with a disinfectant solution that they squirt, after the dog has squirted. It’s not a legal requirement here yet, as it is in Sevilla, but in reality it doesn’t do much good.

We hose down the front and pavement every other day or so, as do most folks here. However, the dog pee stains. We’ve tried bleach, soap solution, vinegar etc but you can still see the markings. What we can’t do is use something that needs to sit for a period of time (baking soda etc) or is particularly caustic.

I know several folks on here have businesses that involve dogs, do you have a magic solution for dealing with dog pee? Or are you set up in such a way that it isn’t an issue?

I’m going to try using a jet washer on it this weekend, but would rather have a simpler solution.

Anyone?

JF

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I have a dog business but not the same situation. There are products that claim to remove stains but I haven’t had issue with stains per se. I don’t know much about chemistry but I imagine there could be multiple variables.

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If what you are trying to clean is staining on concrete…My background is concrete technology - supplying chemicals to make concrete as well as topical coatings and cleaners. There is a chemical reaction between the dog urine and calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) or what makes up 3/4 of a cement particle. The stain will not be removed by bleach. You could try a muriatic acid based cleaner with buffers (used to remove efflorescence on concrete) as it will remove a thin layer of cement paste from the surface of the concrete. Concrete efflorescence cleaners can be found at hardware stores. But - as I tell my customers this may not solve the discolouration issue and there truly is no good solution for horizontal surfaces, it may lighten the stains but you can’t do this process weekly as it will destroy the integrity of the concrete. You could clean the concrete with the efflorescence cleaner and then put a silane/siloxane sealer to help prevent the urine from soaking into the concrete and then wash down the concrete daily or every other day. This would help minimize the discolouration.

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You could try this stuff:

I used the cat version last summer when a new cat moved into the neighbourhood and managed to get into our house. My own cat went crazy and started spraying on the stone steps and doorframes. I tried everything but he kept doing it in the same spots no matter how much I scrubbed.
This stuff truly worked like magic. It not only got rid of the stains and the smell for us humans but for the cat - he hasn’t sprayed there since. Worth a try?

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I think you need both @Magwitch’s suggestion (an enzyme cleaner) and @MissMarple’s suggestion (a concrete sealer). You may need to put up plastic or something over the area for a day while you’re cleaning off the stains the very first time, then seal it. After that, you should be able to clean it in just a few seconds if you do it regularly. You’ll also need to re-seal it periodically, but that will depend on the sealer.

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Thanks folks.

This is actually a pavement (basically small stones set in concrete), owned by the local authorities, which restricts what we can do. We have to be extremely careful that we don’t do anything to damage, or even just give the appearance of damage, to the surface.

We have a new deputy mayor in charge of the urbanismo (roads, planning etc) and he has his minions out scouring the city for infringements of any shape size or form. It’d be my luck that if did anything that takes the pavement out of action for more than a few minutes one of these inspectors would pop up!

I’m going to try @MissMarple’s suggestion of a concrete efflorescence cleaner, if I can get rid of the worst then its a start. Maybe try early on a Sunday morning :wink:

JF