Suze likes to play it fast and loose and is your classic risk taker.

When Suze’s cat Fiona hosed her new leather couch on one fateful evening Suze did not have a specialized cleaning product available. Suze noticed the container of dishwashing liquid on her counter and decided to give it a try.

Rather then testing in an inconspicuous area she threw some in an empty bottle added water and began to spray.

Mind you she did not know it would work but for only a couple of dollars why not give it a try? Well the dish washing liquid did not remove the cat urine.

Suze finds a product on the internet and orders their complete kit which consists of a special powder, tonics and brushes. After considerable product preparation and wrestling the products did not perform.

A heavily marketed cleaning product from Missouri appears to be powdered laundry detergent. Another liquid cleaning product from Georgia appears to be liquid laundry detergent. You could purchase products similar to theirs at your local wholesale warehouse.

On Saturday November 15, 2008 we shopped Costco online and found the Tide Powder Detergent Original 317 ounces for $33.70 and the Kirkland Signature Institutional Laundry Detergent 28 pounds for $15.72.

Sam's Club online had the Tide® 2x Ultra Liquid Original Scent - 170oz for $21.87.

As a point of fact if powdered laundry detergents or liquid laundry detergents were effective on cat urine their manufacturers would make a fortune. They are not effective so they have focused on what their products were designed to do clean your clothing.

Suze finally does her homework and finds an excellent leather cleaner with a demonstrated track record of success with cat urine. How did she do it? She asked one of her friends who had actually purchased the product.

Suze orders the product confident that she is finally on the road to success. The fateful day arrives when she sees the red white and blue van pull up to the curb heralding the arrival of the leather cleaner.

Suze carefully reads the instructions including the correct operating temperature, shaking etcetera and begins to spray away. She patiently waits and after several minutes she concludes that the cleaner did not work.

Suze cheated herself by experimenting with the dish washing liquid. There are ingredients in common dish washing liquid which when sprayed on carpeting and upholstery will render those areas a chemical wasteland.

Suze had to throw her leather furniture away. Had Suze taken her time and properly researched all of the available cleaning strategies she would have enjoyed a successful result.

Choosing the best cleaning strategy will always produce the best results.

 Overview of leather maintenance products.