How to Get Pee Out of a Mattress: Fresh Accidents, Dried Stains, Smell and Pet Urine

Act fast, use as little liquid as possible, and dry it completely. For a fresh accident, strip the bed, blot the wet patch hard with towels, spray it with a mix of equal parts distilled white vinegar and water plus a tablespoon or two of laundry detergent, wait 15 minutes, blot again, then bury the area under a thick layer of baking soda for at least eight hours before vacuuming. That is the method Sleep Foundation recommends, and it works on almost any mattress.

For a dried yellow stain, switch to a paste of one cup of hydrogen peroxide, three tablespoons of baking soda and a few drops of dish soap, applied sparingly and left to dry. For dog or cat urine, skip the home recipes and use an enzyme cleaner made for that animal: pets can smell what you can’t, and they tend to go back to the same spot.

The one rule that matters more than any recipe: don’t soak the mattress. Nectar says plainly that memory foam mattresses “are not supposed to be soaked at all”, and Sleep Foundation notes that memory foam is not designed to get wet. Pouring cleaner onto a urine stain just pushes the urine deeper into the foam, where it is much harder to reach and where the smell will keep coming back.

We don’t run a cleaning lab and we haven’t tested these methods ourselves. This guide pulls together cleaning guidance from Sleep Foundation and Nectar, pet-accident advice from the ASPCA, bedwetting guidance from the NHS and the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the stain clauses in our partner brands’ published warranties. For general mattress care beyond urine, see our full guide on how to clean a mattress.

The biggest mistake people make is using the wrong method for the situation. A fresh accident is mostly a moisture problem: get the liquid out before it travels down through the comfort layers. A dried stain is a chemistry problem: the water has evaporated and left behind the yellow pigment and the waste products that turn into that sharp, stale smell. Pet urine is its own category, because the goal isn’t just a clean-looking mattress, it’s removing the scent that tells your dog or cat the bed is a toilet.

Why does old urine smell worse than fresh? Urine is mostly water, roughly 91–96%, and more than half of the dissolved solids are urea. Fresh urine from a healthy person has only a mild smell. Over time, bacteria break the urea down into ammonia, which is the sharp smell you notice in a mattress that wasn’t cleaned properly. The yellow colour comes mostly from urobilin, a by-product of the body breaking down old red blood cells. That is why a dried stain can need two treatments: one to lift the colour and one to deal with the odour.

It is also why speed matters. Sleep Foundation puts it simply: stains get harder to remove the longer they sit. If you can deal with an accident the same night, even just by blotting and putting down baking soda until morning, you are doing most of the work.

This is the method to use when the mattress is still damp. It relies on blotting, a mild acid to neutralise and lift, and baking soda to pull out the last moisture and odour. You need old towels, a spray bottle, distilled white vinegar, laundry detergent and a box of baking soda.

1. Strip everything. Pull off the sheets, the mattress protector if you have one, and any pyjamas. Start a wash straight away. Sleep Foundation suggests adding a one-pound box of baking soda and a cup of distilled white vinegar to the load to tackle the smell, but check the care labels on anything delicate first.
2. Blot, don’t rub. Press a folded towel firmly onto the wet patch and stand or kneel on it if you can. Swap to a dry section of towel and repeat until it comes up only faintly damp. Rubbing grinds urine into the cover fibres and spreads the stain sideways.
3. Mix the spray. Combine equal parts distilled white vinegar and water in a spray bottle with one to two tablespoons of laundry detergent. Shake gently.
4. Spray the whole affected area. Cover the stain and a margin around it, because urine spreads further under the surface than it looks on top. Mist rather than drench, especially on an all-foam bed.
5. Wait 15 minutes. This dwell time gives the solution time to break up what’s in the fabric.
6. Blot again with clean towels until no more moisture lifts.
7. Cover with baking soda. Spread a thick layer over the area and leave it for at least eight hours. Overnight is ideal; sleep in another bed or on the other side if you can.
8. Vacuum and check. Use the upholstery attachment. If you can still see a ring or smell urine, repeat the spray, dwell and baking soda steps, or move on to the dried-stain method below.

What about a wet vac or a hairdryer? A wet vac can help pull liquid out of a hybrid or innerspring bed, but don’t use it to flush water through the mattress. Gentle airflow from a fan or an open window is the safest way to speed up drying. We would avoid heat on memory foam: no brand we cover recommends it, and you can’t see whether the inside has dried even when the surface feels dry.

A dried urine stain usually shows up as a yellow or brownish ring, sometimes with a darker outline where the liquid stopped spreading. You might find one when you change the sheets on a guest bed, flip a teenager’s mattress or move house. It’s ugly, but it can usually be lightened a lot, and the smell can usually be removed.

Sleep Foundation gives two methods for dried urine. Start with the gentler one.

Method 1: vinegar. Use the same one-to-one vinegar and water mix with one to two tablespoons of laundry detergent. Sleep Foundation says to soak the stain thoroughly for this method, because large dried stains penetrate deep into the mattress. That’s fine on an innerspring or hybrid with a thin comfort layer. On an all-foam bed, we would use several light applications instead of one heavy one, letting the mattress dry between rounds. Air dry for several hours to several days, then finish by blotting with a damp cloth to remove residue and some of the vinegar smell.

Method 2: hydrogen peroxide paste. This is the stronger option for stubborn yellow stains. Mix one cup of hydrogen peroxide, three tablespoons of baking soda and a few drops of dish soap or liquid laundry detergent. Dampen the stain with a small amount, let it sit and dry completely, then vacuum off the dried baking soda. Repeat until the stain fades. Nectar recommends the same three ingredients for both fresh and old urine on its foam mattresses, with the important instruction to dab the mixture on “without completely drenching the stain spot.”

Set your expectations. A light cover on a mattress that was wet more than once may never return to its original colour. That is a cosmetic problem, not a hygiene one, if the smell is gone and the mattress is dry. If the stain has lightened and the bed smells neutral after drying, stop. Repeated rounds of peroxide on the same spot are more likely to damage the cover than to improve the look.

Sleep Foundation also advises against bleach and harsh chemicals, which it says can harm people and pets and damage the mattress. We would add one rule of our own: use one method at a time, and blot with a damp cloth and let the area dry before switching to another.

Most of what you need is already in your kitchen. Here are the quantities in one place. Print it, screenshot it or stick it inside a cupboard door if you have a child who is still learning to stay dry at night.

Why each ingredient works. Blotting does most of the work on a fresh accident: it physically removes urine before it spreads. Vinegar is a mild acid that helps cut through residue and neutralise odour. Detergent helps lift what the vinegar loosens. Baking soda absorbs moisture and odour as it sits. Hydrogen peroxide breaks down the colour compounds that make the yellow stain. None of them is magic, and all of them work better on a mattress that hasn’t been soaked.

Does vinegar remove urine smell? It helps, and it is cheap and safe on most covers. But vinegar has a strong smell of its own that takes a while to fade, and Sleep Foundation notes that its scent may encourage some pets to mark the spot. On a pet accident, an enzyme cleaner is the better choice.

Baking soda and vinegar together. You may see recipes that mix the two into a paste for deodorising. Sleep Foundation includes an equal-parts version for set-in smells, scrubbed in with a brush. Expect it to fizz heavily when you first combine them, so mix it in a large bowl over the sink. For most fresh accidents, though, using them in sequence (vinegar spray first, dry baking soda after) is simpler and gives you more control over how much liquid reaches the mattress.

Sometimes the stain is gone but the smell isn’t. Or there was never a visible stain, but the room smells faintly of ammonia every time the heating comes on. This usually means urine reached deeper layers than you cleaned, or a previous cleaning left the mattress damp inside.

1. Find the source. Strip the bed in daylight and use your nose. Old urine often shows up as a faint ring under good light even when it’s not obvious.
2. Treat it as a dried stain. Use the vinegar method, or an enzyme cleaner if a pet might be responsible.
3. Deodorise with baking soda. Cover the whole area thickly. Leave it for at least eight hours, longer if you can.
4. Dry completely. Air the room, run a fan, and if possible stand the mattress on its side so both faces get airflow. Foam traps liquid and smell; Sleep Foundation warns that all-foam beds may hold odour longer.
5. Vacuum and smell-test the next day. Odours often return as a mattress warms up and moisture moves, so check again after a night of use.

If the smell is unchanged after two full cleaning rounds with complete drying in between, the urine is probably in the core of the mattress where you can’t reach it. See the section below on when a mattress is beyond saving.

What about sprays and fresheners? Fabric fresheners mask smell rather than removing its cause. They’re fine as a finishing touch once the mattress is clean and dry, but they won’t fix a urine problem, and on a pet accident a perfumed spray can leave the underlying scent for your pet to find.

The method is broadly the same on every mattress, but how much liquid you can safely use depends on what’s under the cover. This is where most cleaning guides go wrong: they tell you to saturate the stain without asking whether there’s 12 inches of foam underneath.

Memory foam and all-foam mattresses. Foam is a sponge. It absorbs urine quickly, holds it, and dries very slowly from the inside. Use the lightest touch: blot hard, mist rather than spray, and favour dry baking soda over wet pastes. Several small treatments with full drying in between are far better than one heavy one. Memory foam beds such as the Nectar Classic and the Puffy Cloud fall in this group. Our memory foam vs hybrid guide explains how the layers differ if you’re not sure what you have.

Hybrid mattresses. A hybrid has foam or latex comfort layers over a core of pocketed coils. Urine that gets past the comfort layers drains into an open coil unit with lots of airflow, so hybrids generally dry better than all-foam beds. The comfort foam on top still needs a light touch. Most popular beds, including the DreamCloud Classic Hybrid, are hybrids.

Innerspring mattresses. Traditional coil beds with a thin quilted top are the most forgiving. You can use the full vinegar method and even a wet vac, as long as you dry the mattress thoroughly. The quilting can trap moisture, so give it time.

Latex. Natural latex is durable, but Sleep Foundation flags that peroxide can damage it. Treat it like foam: light moisture, patch-test anything stronger than vinegar. Latex beds such as the Saatva Latex Hybrid are expensive enough that a protector is well worth it from night one.

Removable covers. Some covers zip off and are machine-washable, which makes clean-up much easier. But check your warranty first: DreamCloud and Nectar both say removing the mattress cover voids their warranty, and a claim requires the mattress to be returned with the cover still on. If a cover isn’t sold as removable, clean it on the bed.

Pet urine needs a different approach for two reasons. It’s typically more concentrated than human urine and its smell is harder to shift, according to Sleep Foundation. And pets go back to spots that smell like urine, so a mattress that looks clean to you can still be an invitation to them. The goal isn’t just stain removal; it’s scent removal.

Why enzyme cleaners work. Enzyme cleaners contain proteins that break down the organic compounds in urine, rather than just covering them up or diluting them. That breakdown is what removes the smell signal your pet can detect. The ASPCA recommends cleaning accidents thoroughly with “an enzymatic cleanser designed to neutralize pet odors”, and Sleep Foundation recommends an enzyme cleaner designed for pet urine over homemade solutions. There’s no universal dwell time; each product has its own instructions, and Sleep Foundation says to follow them.

Why you shouldn’t use ammonia or vinegar. The ASPCA warns against ammonia-based cleaners because urine itself contains ammonia, so cleaning with ammonia could attract a cat back to the same spot. Sleep Foundation makes a similar point about vinegar, whose strong scent may encourage some pets to mark.

1. Blot up as much as you can with towels, exactly as for a human accident.
2. Apply an enzyme cleaner made for your type of pet, following the label. Some contain deterrent ingredients such as essential oils, according to Sleep Foundation.
3. Go lighter on foam. Enzyme labels often say to saturate the area. On a foam mattress, work in repeated light applications instead, and let it dry thoroughly in between.
4. Let it air dry completely, then use baking soda and vacuum.
5. Keep the pet off the bed until the mattress is fully dry and the smell is gone.

If you’re a parent of a young child, you’ll probably do this more than once, and usually at night. The aim is a routine you can run half-asleep that protects the mattress without turning it into an event for your child.

• Prepare in advance. Two waterproof protectors, two sets of sheets and a stack of old towels within reach. A pre-mixed spray bottle of one-to-one vinegar and water (detergent added) saves time.
• Double-layer the bed. Put a protector and a fitted sheet on, then another protector and another sheet on top. After an accident you peel off the top two layers and the bed is ready again.
• Keep it calm. Change pyjamas, change the bed, back to sleep. Deal with the laundry and any mattress clean-up in the morning.
• Check under the protector. If an accident got past it (the protector shifted, or it soaked through at the edges), use the fresh-urine method in the morning.

HealthyChildren.org, the American Academy of Pediatrics’ parenting site, suggests involving your child in clean-up in a neutral way, such as helping to strip the sheets, but only if it doesn’t feel like a punishment. If it does, skip it.

The mattress matters too. Some kids’ mattresses have water-resistant or washable covers that make accidents much easier to deal with. Our best mattress for kids guide compares covers on the main kids’ beds and explains which ones still need a protector (all of them, in practice).

If you’re reading this because of bedwetting, you are not alone, and it isn’t anyone’s fault. HealthyChildren.org estimates that about 5 million children in the US wet the bed. About 15% of five- to seven-year-olds wet the bed, and by age 15 fewer than 1% still do. The NHS says bedwetting often runs in families and that most children grow out of it.

Both the NHS and the AAP are clear on one thing: don’t punish a child for wetting the bed. It isn’t something they can control, and the NHS notes that punishment can make it worse. Low-key reassurance, a waterproof mattress cover and a predictable routine help more than anything you say in the moment.

When to see a doctor. We’re a mattress site, not a medical one, so here is only what the health services say:

• The NHS suggests seeing a GP if a child keeps wetting the bed after you have tried home measures, or starts wetting again after being dry for more than six months.
• The AAP suggests contacting your paediatrician if a child who has been fully toilet-trained for at least six months suddenly starts wetting the bed, or if bedwetting comes with signs such as pain or burning when peeing, unusual urine, daytime wetting, or constant dampness.
• For adults, the NHS says anyone with urinary incontinence should see a GP, and that it’s nothing to be embarrassed about. It is a common problem thought to affect millions of people, and there are many ways to manage it.

On the mattress side, the practical help is the same at any age: a good waterproof protector, a spare, and the clean-up routine above. Adults may prefer a quieter, more breathable protector than the crinkly plastic kind; our best mattress protector guide covers the options.

Usually, yes, in the sense that a stained mattress gives the brand grounds to refuse a claim. Mattress warranties cover manufacturing defects, mainly sagging deeper than 1.5 inches at our partner brands. They don’t cover damage you cause, and every partner brand whose terms we could load lists stains among the exclusions.

Saatva is the bluntest: its warranty “does not apply if the mattress has been stained, burned or otherwise abused, damaged, or tampered with.” DreamCloud and Nectar, which share a parent company and the same wording, exclude defects caused by physical abuse “including, without limitation, burns, cuts, tears, liquid damage, or stains”, and both void the warranty if the cover has been removed for any reason. Puffy excludes “stains, tears, burns, and discoloration that occur over time and/or are caused by you.” Bear’s warranty page (checked 27 October 2026) excludes stains and liquid damage where they cause the defect, and says removing the cover voids a claim — so a urine-soaked bed that later sags is exactly the kind of claim it can refuse.

In practice, a warranty claim usually starts with photos and can end with an inspection. A mattress with a big urine ring is an easy claim to turn down, even if the sag you’re reporting has nothing to do with the stain. It may also matter for returns during the trial: brands such as Puffy donate returned mattresses, and a heavily stained bed is a poor candidate for donation.

What to do if you’ve already had an accident: clean it promptly and thoroughly using the methods above, keep the cover on, and put a protector on before the next night. A faint cosmetic mark on a mattress that is clean and dry is a very different thing from a soiled bed, though we can’t promise how any individual claim will be judged. Our mattress lifespan guide covers the rest of the warranty fine print.

Most single accidents can be fixed. But some mattresses have absorbed too much, too often, and no amount of surface cleaning will reach the problem. Consider replacing it if:

• The smell comes back after two full cleaning rounds with complete drying, especially when the mattress warms up overnight.
• It soaked right through to the base or the underside of the mattress.
• There’s mould or mildew, such as black or green spotting, or a musty smell on top of the urine smell. That points to moisture trapped inside.
• Repeated accidents have built up over months on a mattress that never had a protector.
• It’s already near the end of its life. If it was sagging or uncomfortable anyway, the accident just settles the question. See our signs you need a new mattress.

Before you replace a child’s mattress, remember that cheap, well-protected beds are the sensible choice for kids who are still learning to stay dry. For an adult bed, our best budget mattress picks and the full best mattress rankings are good places to start. Whatever you buy, put a protector on it before the first night.

Getting rid of it. Recycling programs and donation centres may refuse a soiled mattress, or charge extra for one. Wrap it in plastic, be honest about its condition and check your local bulky-waste rules; our lifespan guide lists the state recycling programs.

Every cleaning method on this page is a repair. The fix that actually works is prevention, and it costs far less than a new mattress or a denied warranty claim. The NHS and HealthyChildren.org both recommend a waterproof cover for children who wet the bed, Nectar “highly” recommends a waterproof mattress cover for its foam beds, and four of our five partner brands exclude stains from their warranties.

Which protector? A good waterproof protector fits like a fitted sheet, has a waterproof layer that doesn’t feel or sound like plastic, and washes well. Encasements, which zip around the whole mattress, add bed bug and allergen protection but are harder to change at night. For bedwetting and pets, a fitted protector you can swap quickly is usually the more practical choice. We compare the options in our best mattress protector guide.

Pets. If your dog or cat sleeps on the bed, a protector is essential, and a washable throw on top of the duvet makes daily clean-up easier. If you have a new puppy, an elderly pet or a cat with litter-box problems, keep the bedroom door closed when you’re not there.

Kids. Our kids’ mattress guide lists the beds with washable or water-resistant covers. Even those need a protector, because a water-resistant cover only buys you time; it doesn’t stop a full accident reaching the foam.