Lemme guess it doesn't work? I've found NOTHING that works (I mean erases the smell, not sort of erases it and adds a new smell) for cat urine UNLESS I apply it immediately. For example last week someone randomly peed on an old blanket. I caught it right away, poured the NM on it, let it sit, washed it like normal, and now it's fine (and trust me I sniff all over it to make dang sure!). Phil's clothes all got pitched. The problem was a long time ago, the cat peed in his closet. He never cleaned that (maybe he didn't know it was there) and then put wet, dirty clothes on top of that so the cat peed on that. Then maybe he didn't notice or just didn't care and it would sit there for hours, days. By then it was a done deal. I threw it all out, he needed some new clothes anyway!
I've been using NM on the puppy pee mainly b/c of the alcohol. Nikon's pee doesn't really smell that bad or stain, and he's not a repeat peer (he won't sniff out where he's peed before and do it again there). I just need some liquid to help wash the carpet and I like the NM because it dissolves eventually so the carpet is not soaking wet. I use the SpotBot on top of it and that does the trick, I end up with a spot of carpet that is cleaner than before he peed! I also deep clean it with a machine every once in a while. After Kenya's incident Saturday I'm borrowing the deep cleaner again and will do that area this weekend although right now the carpet looks and smells really nice, lol.
As far as cat urine, I am not convinced that anything can totally erase that after it has sat for a while. The original spot in Phil's closet I sanded off to remove the urine mark and when we move out I have a guy coming to refinish the area. When we moved in the basement smelled like cat so I bought this other stuff called Urine Off b/c I liked the smell and saturated the basement floor, did a mop job (unfinished cement).
There do seem to be some good products out there, but even the best have mixed reviews. When I took my girls in last month to be fixed, the others were really upset for a day when they came home smelling different. One of the boys went into my room and peed on an old pillow I kept on the floor for them to lie on. None of them have ever peed outside their litter boxes, and they haven't since, so I attributed it to them being upset, thinking there was a new cat in the house. It leaked through the pillow, and got onto the floor, which is old and porous, and really needs to be replaced. We were sitting downstairs, and all of a sudden we could smell cat pee - my bedroom is upstairs. I was horrified, the entire house stunk! I left the pillow in place on the floor and immediately started researching online, read some reviews, and got the names of the top 3 or 4 products I could find. I was skeptical about Nature's Miracle because of what you had said in the cat thread, plus other negative things I'd read about it.
All that store had in was NM, and one other product that was on my list. A salesgirl didn't know much about them, other than they sell a lot of NM, and so she got the manager for me. He came over and we talked for like 10 minutes or so. He said that they use NM in the store, he uses it at home, and he couldn't recommend it enough. I told him what I'd heard about it, and he said that when they do get negative feedback about it, he's found that when asking the person more about their experience, the problems in all cases are due to them not using it correctly.
He said that you can't use it with or after using a bleach, ammonia based, or detergent product, because that will negate its effectiveness, and help to set the stain and scent. He said that he tells people that in a pinch, if they're out of it and feel they have to use something prior to picking up NM, to only use vinegar. He also said that you have to
completely saturate whatever it is that you're cleaning, that many people use too little of it. With carpeting, you literally have to soak the entire area, so that it gets right through the carpet and underpad. And then you leave it to dry on its own, which can often take a couple of weeks depending on the thickness of the carpet, the product works as it dries, and the scent won't be fully gone until it is completely dry, but once it is, it's really gone.
He asked what sort of surface I had to clean, and I told him. He suggested that I liberally pour it on the floor, and then to prevent it from evapourating, to cover it with a plastic bag for a few hours, and then remove the bag, wipe the excess, and then let it dry, which would take a few hours. He said that if it didn't work for me, to bring back what I didn't use, and he'd refund the bottle (a really small bottle - 10 oz, maybe, cost me $13). When I took the bag off, I could still smell it, although not as strong, and I wasn't convinced that it was working. But then I went up later in the day, and sure enough, even getting on my hands and knees with my face down there, it was gone. So, I'm a big fan of it now.
I guess in the case of clothes, you would soak the clothes in the product full strength? and then wash through a cycle with only NM, before using detergent on it. He also said that it's a great stain remover in general, and that just the night before, his wife had spilled pomegranate juice on their carpeting, and it came right out with NM.