Although cats are considered clean pets they do create a certain amount of mess. Your clothes and couch will be a little or a lot furrier, depending on the breed of your cat, hairballs will appear on your carpet, nose prints will dot the windows and dust bunnies will become dust monster bunnies.

The first thing to learn in cleaning after your pet is the power of dilution. Get yourself a little wet vacuum cleaner, I find Bissell’s Little Green machine to be a great investment. It is more effective than paper towels and ecologically sound.

After you have armed yourself with the wet vac you need to learn how to clean up the vomit as it is one of the most common messes that your kitty will make. First use paper towel to pick up the solid part of the vomit and then dilute the remaining stain with plain water. At this point you can sop up the water with paper towels or the wet vac. If the vomit has dried out before you had a chance to clean it up soak it for a while and then use the wet vac to suck it up.

While cleaning the vomit is not that complicated, getting rid of urine or spray is more difficult because you actually have to eliminate the urine odour so that your cat doesn’t feel compelled to re-offend. I find that the best and cheapest way to clean and deodorize the area is to use plain distilled white vinegar for cleaning, baking soda for deodorizing and vanilla for adding scent because vanilla actually absorbs odours instead of masking them.

First clean up the area dry with paper towels and dilute with plain water then wipe dry or use the wet vac. Use vinegar to rinse, if the cat soiled a carpet or a sofa use vinegar liberally so that it soaks into the object as deep as the urine; wet vac or towel-dry the area. For old stains, let the vinegar soak through for 15-20 minutes; let the vinegar air-dry. When the area is dry cover it generously with baking soda and leave it for several days. If your cat had soiled the area repeatedly leave the baking soda for a month, cover it with heavy plastic that extends one foot beyond the stain in all directions. Change baking soda twice a month and mist the area with water as baking soda works better when slightly damp. Use a brush and a dustpan to clean up the baking soda. To absorb any odour left use an unlit vanilla-scented candle.

Cleaning up vertical surfaces is a little bit trickier and some wall treatments might be damaged by vinegar and baking soda. As with the flat surfaces, clean up the urine from the wall with plain water and then spray vinegar on the area and don’t forget to treat the floor beneath as well. Rinse the wall with water thoroughly, dust baking soda on the wall, and tack an oversized thick plastic over the cleaned area until the odour vanishes. This will prevent your cat from re-offending.

To clean up feces first pick them up with paper towel, then mix water and vinegar in equal proportions to clean up any residue.

Always wash your hands thoroughly with soap and hot water after cleaning vomit, urine and especially feces. Also, remember if you are pregnant do not handle you cat’s litter and ask someone else to clean up cat’s urine and feces.