I must post this, even though many readers may find it beyond disgusting. It’s just too useful. It also takes profits from a specialized industry (enzyme-cleaner formulators) and returns autonomy to individuals, microorganisms and fungi—lifeforms that existed long before, and hopefully will exist long after, industry.
This may be a solution to animal-friend urine-odor contamination: mildew & vinegar. The mildew eats the ammonia compounds and pheromones, then can be completely purged with regular washing plus a cup of white vinegar (as my blog post about mildew and military surplus explains).
I adopted a little shelter kitten, Pozzo (Beckett, not Italian) who is the dearest animal I’ve lived with out of a life of several dogs and cats. We are a little too close because she spent every waking hour with me or my girlfriend for her first 10 months. She was never alone. So when I am too busy to pay attention to Pozzo, or she’s annoyed that other animals or people are around, she pees on anything of mine I left on the floor. I can’t even stay mad at her and it’s made me a cleaner person.
I found a solution for where it affects the floor, but the clothes stumped me for months so I shredded them for “pee flags”. Strategically used to mark territories, pee flags are useful to keep squirrels out of the garden and mice out of my studio, but some valuable things were affected as well: a Chrome bag, a vintage ugly Swedish Army sweater, and a net bag I use daily for produce were all marked.
The net bag was the least prized, so I clipped it to the inside of the utility sink where my washing machine drains. It’s made of nylon or some ungodly polyester. Forgotten for several weeks and occasionally rinsed with greywater, it became very mildewed. I threw it in to wash with some warehoused surplus and a cup of vinegar added to usual wash soaps.
It emerged smelling fresh and new! I’ll try it with another rag, leave it for the cat, and update the blog if she renews her claim to it.
Art of Olive Green 