The links in this post contain affiliate links and I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on my link.
After reading reviews and advice on how to clean doggy pee, I purchased both a shop vac and an animal urine and odor spay solution to clean up after my pup.
I started off with the shop vac that I purchased from Lowes for around $30. I purchased a 2.5 gallon, 2 horsepower shop vac. According to experts from the web, I soak the area with water and then use the shop vac to vacuum it up. This works best when the urine is fresh. If the urine stain is dried, it's the same process but will require repeating the steps multiple times. I like the shop vac because it removes the urine/water liquid from the carpet. However, despite multiple efforts of soaking the affected area with water and vacuuming it up, I can still see the urine stain.
I also tried a pet urine stain and odor remover solution that I purchased from Amazon. There are several products. I chose one that has an enzyme cleaner, although I don't fully understand what these chemicals do. Nonetheless, with the spray solution, I first soak up as much of the urine as possible using paper towels. Then I apply a generous amount of the spray solution on the urine area and let sit for 5-10 minutes before either drying it up with a paper towel or vacuuming it. I was lazy in the final steps and just left the urine area after I sprayed it with the solution. The solution has a pretty strong smell, probably all the chemicals. I feel the spray solution is definitely more effective when applied to fresh urine. Both the stain and the odor are gone, and whatever chemicals are in the solution also deters my puppy from peeing in that area.
In comparing the two, I definitely prefer the solution over the shop vac because of
1. Convenience: it's much easier and faster to grab paper towels, soak up the area, and spray vs pouring water over an already wet area, plugging in the shop vac, vacuuming up the area, and then eventually having to dump out the liquids from the shop vac.
2. Effectiveness: The solution is more effective in removing the stains and keeping my puppy from peeing in the area again.
There are a couple things that are concerning about the solution. What happens with the urine? Do the chemicals break down the urine and it just goes away? I am comforted in knowing that a shop vac sucks it all away into the little vacuum container and I can see all the filthiness when I clean it. Also, since the solution is so powerful, is it safe to breathe this stuff? And is it safe for my puppy?
For now, the spray solution seems to be work the best for us and we'll stick with it. We've had our puppy for a couple months now and are about half way through the spray solution. Hopefully the puppy will be potty trained before we use up all the solution.