Vent The Cat Peed on my Marathon

I went to bring up the Marathon from storage to put my 3 and a half month old in (switching from the safe seat) when I noticed it was dripping and there was a horrible smell coming from it.

The cover felt damp, but not soaked. I began pulling it apart and the foam underneath was saturated with pee and it had collected into the little openings at the back of the seat. :thumbsdown:

I took all the straps etc. off, let it air outside for two days and then tried washing the cover. It still reeks of cat pee. The other part that smells is the versa tether strap, it seems to have collected a large portion of the urine.

So, I tried pricing out replacement parts (straps etc are 55 dollars from Britax, but the shipping is nearly 30!), I found a used cover on eBay, but I'm wondering if I should even bother if I can't get the smell out of the versa-tether.

Is there anything safe I can use to try and clean the strap? Vinegar? Baking soda?

Could someone please explain why I can't soak it? I know I'm not supposed to, but I guess I don't really understand the reasoning as to why not. The strap has already been saturated, correct, if it sat in pee? Does that make the seat unusable now (safety-wise, not cat-pee wise I'm still hoping I can get the smell out).

It just seems so wasteful to have a perfectly good shell of a seat that was expensive get thrown out because I can't wash the strap, YKWIM? If all else fails, I'll probably replace the seat with a Flora Radian, but if I can save the money I would prefer to go that route.

Actually, when you washed everything you probably re-activated extra uric acid There are sprays (designed for carpets) you could use on most parts--although, obviously, using anything potentially abrasive on webbing would be a bad idea. I know for a fact that I did swap out the versa-tether on my Roundabout at some point... Another idea might be to obtain some of the parts from a recently expired seat... I'm not sure how comfortable I am about that, considering we don't don't know what breaks down at what rate.. but seatbelts/webbing are good in cars for, what, 20+ years, so I personally would probably be comfortable with a versa tether from a 6 year old seat still in use another 3 or 4 years. I'd love to here how others feel about this...?

You should check out Swap here for a used cover--somebody might have one that's slightly faded or marked up that they can send you relatively inexpensively, as well. Or same idea--an expired seat with a cover, and versa tether? {But again--I'd love to collect other opinions on using a 6 year old versa-tether for another 3-4 years on a different seat..I probably wouldn't be comfortable doing it with the actual harness, since there's more friction on those parts.}

-N.

Thanks for your response!

I was looking online from Britax and there was no option to purchase another Versa-tether. Is their customer service very helpful? Perhaps if I call them to ask they may know how I can get another tether.

ETA - do you know if shipping from britax for parts is always so ludicrous? Is there a cheaper way to get the harness straps than directly through them? 25.00 shipping for a harness set seems to be a little ridiculous.

If the tether is not replaceable and you can't get the smell out of it, I personally would probably remove it and use the seat RFing as long as I needed it and then trash it. I'm not a RF tetherer, though.

Hadn't thought of that. Thanks!

Just wanted to update that I contacted Britax and even though you can't purchase the versa-tether online, it is a replacement part if you call customer service. 24.99 + shipping. :thumbsup:

FWIW, as far as the cover, foam & hard plastic goes, the only way to really clean/get rid of the smell of cat pee is to use an enzymatic cleaner. Vinegar actually does nothing (you are trying to clean up an acid with another acid), and though baking soda works its impossible to get penetration into fabrics with baking soda (even in a solution). Since you have a cat, you will probably find more uses for this stuff so I would recommend going to a PetSmart & picking up a jug of PetZyme. Soak the fabric in it (diluted) for at least 10 minutes and then allow to air dry. Sunlight also helps but use caution with sunlight and car seat parts that can be damaged by UV light. If one treatment doesn't work, try full strength.

I have 4 cats & a dog and went through a jug of this every 2 weeks when I was house training my dog; I still use it regularly with my cat who has litter-box refusal issues. I tried every other cleaner out there and this was the only one that worked!
It also works on human urine & vomit.

Personally, I would be comfortable using this on the versa tether, and the actual harness, but very diluted only & no sunshine drying. I would also rinse it off after the petzyme had some time to work rather than letting it dry with the petzyme in it.

Good luck,
Melissa