Incontinence problem, removing urine smell naturally and cheaply from soft furnishing

squeaky

It sounds as if the smell has penetrated deeply into the seat cushion and so, as you say, you'll need to get in deep with a cleaner too.

Liquid mixes of bio powder well soaked in may help, and otherwise febreeze (poured on rather than sprayed on in this case) might also do a good job.

Other than that, there are other suggestions to be found in the Cleaning section of the MEGA Index sticky listed under "baby" and also under "carpet" that may be of help.

Money_Saver

I'd go with the bio powder too. Once you "hopefully" remove the odour, I saw in the local "pets at home" pet shop, Puppy training Pads. They are the exact same as the type you see when you go to visit elderly people in hospital they have them sat on it to protect the surface. That's if your Mother agrees to sitting on one. This could prevent further washes on the chair. I hope something works for you.

MS

beverleyhills

Slightly off topic: are you getting advice on management from the continence nurse?

morganlefay

Poor you - we had that problem a bit but then my Ma had a fall, broke femur, had to have it operated on and the anaesthetic accelerated her Alzheimer's to such a severe level that she is now in a home. The only thing I can say is make sure that anything you use to mask the smell is a smell you can bear. Ma's home use these nappies which are impregnated with some 'pleasant' smell, and now if I smell one of those I think it's just as bad as the wee smell.
I know it sounds mad, and you'd have to pick your time, but I was always taught that anything which smelt nasty would be cured if left outside in the night air for a night. I realise it's not quite the time of year but could you rig up some sort of tarpaulin cover and leave the whole chair outside for a night ? I have had v good results on smelly clothes, cushions etc doing this (in summer, tho). (and recently had to suggest that mydaughter did this with a ciggie-smelling sofa. I wish you good luck, and hope it all goes well.

poorbutrich

We used to have a similar problem in our home - one thing that seemed to help is having a yucca plant in the room. I heard that it helps a little with absorbing the general smell in the air -worked for us.

Mrs_pbradley936

I put this on another thread when someone wanted info on odour control.

Also in the USA you can buy underwear with this charcoal impregnated into it but I have not seen it here (they look a bit like j cloths not very flattering but they work). In your case I would put th odour eaters under a cushion for a few hours or overnight.

If you put an odour eater (the insoles you put in sweaty shoes) in the bag the smell will be gone in no time (cut it up if you cannot squeeze it through the hole in the bag). You must get the ones that contain activated charcoal because charcoal is the strongest adsorber known. Details here:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activated_carbon

[Deleted User]

I'm glad this sensitive subject has been raised. My mum has MS and suffers with leaky incontinence.

She also insists on using an electric blanket at night!!

People with MS cannot obviously move about as well and feel the cold far more easily. A hot water bottle is out of the question, not just because of the electric blanket but because she could not manage to fill it herself.

She does not live with me (she refuses to leave where she is and I doubt she ever will and she is not local to where I am although there are other family members within 10 mins of her).

When she comes to stay with me the incontinence thing is a huge issue for me mainly because she ignores it and refuses to acknowledge the fact that she may need to change clothes several times a day. She brings so few clothes that I am washing them constantly on a very hot wash.

morganlefay

Despite being in a v nice home my mum is like that about wetting herself - she looks surprised and says 'I'm wet, how did that happen ?' She was in such a good mood yesterday that I felt bold enough to say 'In the usual way I expect' and she laughed ! They often put her in a nappy and she whips them off all the time . I am not sure if it would help you but we have just decided to get her lots more clothes, and just keep changing her and I have just got a new Landsend catalogue - with Santa on front - which seems full of nice new designs of fleecy tops and some fleecy trousers which seem to me to be likely to be very warm and cosy and completely washable. They are pricey but we've found it hard to find nice things which are both warm and which can have a darn good wash and these seemed just the thing to me. Could you keep a couple of outfits for her at yours so when she comes to stay and gets wet you can produce tham, da da - magic ?

taplady

I work in a residential care home and its a problem we have a lot.To be honest we havent managed to solve it yet and sometimes the furniture just has to be thrown out. To try and prevent it we use Kylies which are a pad that the person sits on which absorbs urine and keeps the seat clean.(also use them on top of bed sheets to prevent having to keep changins the sheets all the time) They are washable and tumble dryable. HTH xx

alwaysonthego_2

taplady wrote:

I work in a residential care home and its a problem we have a lot.To be honest we havent managed to solve it yet and sometimes the furniture just has to be thrown out. To try and prevent it we use Kylies which are a pad that the person sits on which absorbs urine and keeps the seat clean.(also use them on top of bed sheets to prevent having to keep changins the sheets all the time) They are washable and tumble dryable. HTH xx

I would suggest as the above to use kylies if too pricey maybe a towel folded over. Sounds like your mother suffers from stress incontinence leaks when she coughs, laughs etc maybe you could get her referered to a incontienence nurse advisor who will assess her and she maybe able to get discreteet pads and lots of advice how to manage it ( I am an ex care manager). if the cushion gets wet to wash it in biocarbonate of soda and leave it to air outside if poss