Smelly House Woes

Alleviating that stinky pet smell is as difficult as it seems!

By Beth Bates

We are in the process of trying to sell our house. Selling in a slow market has been bad enough, but combating the pet odor of four dogs has been a nightmare. We bathe our dogs and wash their bedding, but there's no denying that dogs smell like dogs.

We've done several open houses with the same response: "we like the house but we notice pet odor." We, personally, don't smell it, but I suspect it's because we live with it every day. We have to live in our house while we are trying to sell it, so it's been difficult enough keeping it clean. Now we are on a crusade to alleviate the pet smell.

As I've talked to other pet owners, I've found that this is a common problem. We've tried several different solutions, and some work better than others. So I thought I'd share my findings in the hopes that they might be helpful. Please feel free to share your tips as well!

We tried a top of the line ionization contraption--it cost $250 to rent two of them for five days and they didn't work. Don't waste your money.

Avoid air fresheners with flowery fragrances. For whatever reason, flowers and pet urine don't mix.

Febreze is your friend. We spray the furniture and dog bedding with it before every showing and it really helps. Febreze also makes a spray air freshener for pet odors. I think the smell is a little overwhelming, but once it settles it does a great job.

Try slicing lemons and oranges, covering them in water, and boiling them in an uncovered pot. It gives your house a clean, natural smell. When you're done you can put the pieces down the disposal to freshen it up too!

Burn fresh-smelling candles--Yankee Candles are great.

Use Nature's Miracle to clean pet stains on carpet. It helps neutralize and alleviate the smell.

Febreze also makes a dual plug-in air freshener that works wonders. We put one in every room and two in rooms that the dogs frequent.

Note: The warning about normal use of Febreze harming pets is false. see Snopes.com. 

The true winner in our house was the Febreze plug-in air freshener. Since we've started using them, we've had an open house and the first woman who arrived noted "This house smells great!" We've also had no more comments about the pet odor.

These suggestions will hopefully work for you, but it's important to remember the other key points to selling your home: Keep your house clean, Remove clutter, and Fix things that are in disrepair. It's a tough market, but with a little TLC, luck, and Febreze, you just may sell it sooner than you think! I hope I do!