Getting rid of dog smell?

RoyMi6

RoyMi6

RoyMi6

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Joined
9 Mar 2010
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We find ourselves in a little bit of an annoying situation... we bought our car back in November from a dealer 500 miles away... It was second hand, got the usual walk around and were happy with the price/spec/condition so hit the button.

The car was delivered the next week. We still had the option to reject but everything LOOKED great.

I've not had a sense of smell for a while (multiple years) and, being around the winter months, my wife just so happened that she couldn't smell anything for a while either. Come this start of this month however, she has gained her sense of smell back and I, after taking a little bit of better care of myself, have coincidentally gained my sense of smell back at the same time...

And the car reeks of dog :cry:

Long story short, we find ourselves in the situation of owning a car that smells of dog, and we both HATE the smell of dog. Anyone had much success removing the smell from a car? If so - what did you use do?
 
Shampoo the fabrics and carpets, and leave an ozone generator in it for a while. It’ll be completely fine after that.
 
Clean it is basically the answer.

Carpet cleaning machines have a hand held attachment usually. Use that and some decent carpet shampoo. You may need to do it more than once.

Ozone generators can help it you can’t shift it but I would give it a good wet clean first.
 
Have sorted this myself a few times.

Step 1: Replace cabin air filter
Step 2: Vacuum really well
Step 3: Clean all fabrics with detergent (wet clean with a wet vac to suction off moisture after) including seats - it’s imperative the seats are done if fabric
Step 4: Steam clean all surfaces
Step 5: Deodoriser can



Where are you based? If local I’m happy to give this a go for you (for free of course!).
 
MrRockliffe said:
Have sorted this myself a few times.

Step 1: Replace cabin air filter
Step 2: Vacuum really well
Step 3: Clean all fabrics with detergent (wet clean with a wet vac to suction off moisture after) including seats - it’s imperative the seats are done if fabric
Step 4: Steam clean all surfaces
Step 5: Deodoriser can



Where are you based? If local I’m happy to give this a go for you (for free of course!).
Click to expand...
Good shout on the cabin air filter.
 
MrRockliffe said:
Have sorted this myself a few times.

Step 1: Replace cabin air filter
Step 2: Vacuum really well
Step 3: Clean all fabrics with detergent (wet clean with a wet vac to suction off moisture after) including seats - it’s imperative the seats are done if fabric
Step 4: Steam clean all surfaces
Step 5: Deodoriser can



Where are you based? If local I’m happy to give this a go for you (for free of course!).
Click to expand...
Ha, that's incredibly generous but I'm up near Dundee in Scotland. We bought the car from a Kia garage in Exeter, should have got it sent via you! :D

Thanks folks, obviously "clean it" was on the list, be reassuring that people have had some success - and a good take away seems to be that it might take one or two tries at least. So I won't let myself get disheartened if it doesn't totally work on first go!
 
We had this and after using some shake and vac on all carpeted areas and leaving a bowl of bicarb in car for a few nights there is no smell at all now.
 
RoyMi6 said:
Ha, that's incredibly generous but I'm up near Dundee in Scotland. We bought the car from a Kia garage in Exeter, should have got it sent via you! :D

Thanks folks, obviously "clean it" was on the list, be reassuring that people have had some success - and a good take away seems to be that it might take one or two tries at least. So I won't let myself get disheartened if it doesn't totally work on first go!
Click to expand...

Yeah that’s a long way to travel :D


You’ll be surprised how much is sorted just from the cabin air filter :-)
 
Use a wetvac spot cleaner to spray cleaner across the entire car, upholstry, seats etc then let the wetvac suck it all up,


Fill the clean water tank with part warm water and buy some cleaning solution to mix in there

you may need to do a few passes on the car?


if its dirty, you will see the waste water container fill up with dark black rubbish water, as you go through the cleaning cycles the waste water tank should get cleaner.

Worth a shot



I dont have a dog, nor does my car smell of dogs. But i clean the upholstary and seats with a wetvac cleaner
 
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I find Holts Car Air Freshener Spray Bomb works pretty well though you may have to pay attention to the upholstery as well as some have mentioned.

After some of these processes you might find it worth sticking a dehumidifier either electrical or absorption type for awhile to reduce the amount of moisture inside that might steam up windows, etc.
 
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