The animals R confined to the DR? What about the other flooring in home? The animals don't enter into other rooms? Some train their pets to remain outside, not an option for all, I realize. How about installing tile wood-like planks? Here's an interesting article: http://learn.builddirect.com/flooring-info/animals/pets/

Pets never grow up - the whole point of having animals as pets is to keep them babyfied. Most folks wouldn't want a mature and grown up animal in their home, but we domesticate them and they stay babies so we can enjoy them. You'll have to work around the older ones as they become incontinent and the others have a long lifespan ahead of them. Decide what you want for yourself, and then try to accommodate the pets somehow with boundaries and limits. I know it is hard - I have two cats that are in charge of my house.

For whatever reason there is one part of the dining room that the pets have mistaken for the great outdoors, time and again. Nothing stops them. This Includes the cats who are old and resistant to both training and herding! Thinking of ways to protect from further damage and get a cleaner look in the process

A floating laminate wood floor will protect your floor. The better choice would be a vinyl plank wood look floor by Karndeen. The have one that is a non glued down install. It just lays in place lifts back up without any problem or damage. You can even reuse it somewhere else when your done with it. The stuff is the best thing I have ever used for my clients. It is almost indestructible.

III, that's a great idea. The only thing I worry about is that the cats can smell the urine in the hardwood below and will still use this area as their toilet. That's why I'd prefer to see the existing floor replaced. I recognize this is a major job, but sometimes you just have to do it properly.

@Cynthia Taylor-Luce it is a waterproof floor when installed. If it sits long enough to soak through the joints. Then you just pick those pieces up and clean the area with a urine eliminating cleaner (Petco) and put it back down.

Thanks III. Great information. I haven't yet used that particular floor, but I am a big fan of the brand.

Seal the existing floor with a coat of shellac before covering if you want to be sure about sealing in the odors

These are great ideas thank you very much. Fortunately the smell is gone, at least for the human sesnse of smell. I thought id put down a floor, then under the area rug put a tarp to prevent soak through even to the laminate. Ug, but the things we do for pets.

Also, to III, did you mean laminate will or will not protect my floor? Can't really be sure if you mistyped. Thanks. The vinyl seems very expensive and this is temporary..

Whatever you do, Make sure to clean the existing floor well with an enzyme cleaner (kids n pets, natures miracle, etc). That will help remove the faint odors that encourage your pets to use that area. Good luck!

Yes, nancy, the vinyl is not cheap. That's why I'd prefer you to install it "properly" as a permanent practical fix...

I would suggest a tile if you could. As a pet owner myself I know the frustrations of animals. Mine are the scratches of dogs running on our precious hardwoods and nails catching on the berber carpet. I realize that I would love my house to look beautiful but I also know that I am a pet person and once these ones have passed I will probably get more. Your puppies will grow up and get old and might have the issues that come with old age. I think you should look into a permanent solution if it is within your budget. I find that tile is the best solution for houses with pets. Easy clean up, does not retain smells, resistant, and many options to choose from. For our basement we are planning on tiling it with a porcelain tile that mimics the look of hardwood floors. Hope this helps !

Anything but carpet !! cheapest solution is to oder the sunday paper...and use that...or call the dog whisperer. If the dogs are 6 months or more they should be trained same with cats and a litter box. Whats seems to be the issue? They wont learn or you have no way to take them out? maybe try to resolve the real issue first. Just a thought not being mean.

I agree 100% with olldj22, the porcelain wood-look tiles are impervious to pets and their habits! Also, you could wash your existing floors with Pine-Sol which should make your pets forget they ever used that area.

I have been involved in the refurbishment of several homes that had pet "problems" and the only solution to get rid of the smell permanently is to replace the flooring and the subfloor. Even though you can't smell anything, animals have a much sharper sense of smell. It's not something you can ever wash out of wood permanently because wood, especially subflooring, acts like a sponge for liquids.

While I agree with the porcelain tile suggestion, and almost made the same suggestion myself, I recognize that budget is an issue, and the increased cost of installation could be too much. It will also affect the floor thickness and require further costs in accommodating such thickness--for example door frames, having the doors cut down to size, meeting up with other floors that aren't so thick, etc.

I'll try the pinesol! Ive used a few products and mostly the odor is confined to the area rug, which is going.

We have three dogs and two cats, currently. We have had laminate floors for at least 15 years. They do not show scratches from their nails but if moisture sits on them for any length of time the laminate swells in the area and does not shrink back. Also, chair legs have worn areas away from constant sliding. Now, I am thinking that manufacturing methods have improved since we put our floors in. So, we may try it again. Hardwood floors are beautiful, but not when you have this many pets. I love ceramic tile and the cost per square foot can be doable if you install them yourself, but there are the issues with different floor heights and the fact that a mud base would have to be laid over your hardwood. The Karndean vinyl sounds intriguing.

Marilyn thanks. The swelling of the laminate is something I need to consider. Funny, people think when you say your pets have accidents that you don't let them out or train them. But in reality when young and again when older, the accidents happen! And some dogs are occasionally nervous and can't help it. All our pets are rescues and considering, the house is pretty good. Just have that one problem area where one went once and started the ball rolling!

We adopted a Jack Russell last year that was over-trained. Scared to death of everything, especially water bottles! He's been excellent about keeping his toilet to the backyard but 2 nights ago he lifted his leg on the coffee table for the first time. So, you're right, accidents happen, and that's exactly what they are, accidents.

awww pets! Love em. I have two dogs and now two visiting (short term) pups. I have laminates and they work quite well. One thing about laminates, dogs have a hard time learning to walk on them. Gaining purchase can be slippery especially for old dogs. Keeping the nails short helps but there is still some slip and slide.

Juliedotcom, you're right about the slippage. We have washable rugs in front of "their" couch to help them up.
Nancymic...the moisture problem on our laminate is at the seams. We have a Jack Russel who rules the roost. Her name is Betsy, but we have started calling her Queen Elizabeth because of her haughty nature. She demands to be let out at a certain time in the morning and on her terms. If she doesn't get what she wants she sometimes pees on our ceramic kitchen floor. UGH! At least it is easy to clean up.

My mom had a similar situation with one of her cats. She was able to show insurance company proof that she had attempted to remedy smell/damage over a period of time and got all new flooring installed through insurance. Worth a shot!

I had this same problem with an old dog who decided my bedroom was her spot. I actually had her in diapers for the last year of her life. When she died, I ripped down to the subfloor, then saturated it twice with an enzyme cleaner. As I recall, I used Simple Solution. I'm pretty sure it neutralized the smell because my current two basset hounds don't sniff the area at all, and they sniff pretty much everything.

I wouldn't do anything major to the floors until the offending animals are gone. In the meantime though, you could try an enzymatic cleaner, then try to redirect the animals. That way, any new animals you bring in won't be attracted to the spot.

BTW, if you decide to go the diaper route, doggy diapers are expensive. I bought baby diapers at Target and cut a sit in the back for the tail.

That is why I am glad I do not have an open concept house!!! This house was 5 yrs old when we bought it and it has doors everywhere - children and dogs do not always need to go everywhere. But I do love my doggies. I did have a Borzoi once who was amazing and never had accidents - so smart. She even barked when her house mate wanted out - he did not and barked when I should let him back in.

nancymic, don't even bother with PineSol. The problem with a floor that animals have used is that the urea crystals remain embedded after the liquid has evaporated. There are only two choices: rip the floor out, or neutralize the crystals. The enzymatic cleaners do a pretty good job, but you have to fully saturate the area. If any crystals remain, the smell will always return. (We may not smell it, but animals will.) That's why I recommend you neutralize now--you'll have to neutralize before refinishing anyway--and then replace later when dogs are gone.

I did saturate with anti icky poo (kids just love that name). Smell is gone. I am now very interested I. The expensive vinyl mentioned earlier for my kitchen! Much smaller than my dining/living which is one floor about 450 sq ft.

Solution achieved! Not that I would recommend to others as I often take chances, but I bleached out obvious stains where the poly had worn off, washed whole (half of room) with bleach solution, and applied three coats of semi gloss water based polyurethane. It blended well into other part of room where poly was still good and evened the tones well enough for now. I'm now replacing area rugs but will put a waterproof material under them. great improvement, and three coats of the poly went on in one day and we could walk on it the same night!
I'm going to poly the other part of room once furniture is moved back to other side.

Sorry to say, but I'm in the Cynthia T-L. Cats have a sensor in their noses/back of the throat that detect the hormones in the urine! You can remove the "smell" all you want, the urine's chemical markers are still there to be detected. Cats are ALSO creatures of habit. Put those two, strong instincts together and you have a "cat area" in your room.

There is no way to remove the "hormones" from a wood floor. There is also the possibility that it has soaked into the drywall, the trim, the under pad, the studs behind everything....you get the pic.

It is quite possible that you could do all of the suggestions in this post and NONE of them will work...because you have (A) the hormones of cat, + (B) the habituated cat that likes that spot.

You may have to wait until this old lovely has gone to the great mousing fields in the sky before you can bring in change. Even then, if the urine has hit other objects, you may still have a problem in that area if you bring in another cat.

This is the nature of our beasts...sorry to say.

Right that's the reason for the waterproof layer under carpet

mr. cork...................my new name for you. omg.. you make me laugh

You may have to wait until this old lovely has gone to the great mousing fields in the sky before you can bring in change.

I know this is an old post, but one thing to do when your pets keep using a particular spot is to put a litterpan in that spot. You can put a small table over it or even build or buy something to hide the litterbox. The cats will then have an area to go. I've had to put down litterboxes in my hallway because my cats were not satisfied with the other locations for their litterpans and kept going on the carpet all along the hallway. I'm planning to replace it with vinyl plank and build something to house the litterboxes. I have a long-handled litter scoop so I can easily clean the pans frequently.

I do hope that the solution you used worked, Nancy.