Can Cinnamon And Vinegar Banish Pet Odors? We Tested This Hack On A Three-Pup Household

It's official: We've increased our dog pack by 50%. Luckily, dogs are quite literally my favorite creatures on earth, and the new pup is going to get tons of love. But my oh my, less than a week into this addition, the house is much dirtier and much, much smellier than it was with just two dogs. Time to try some new odor-fighting tactics to get the home up to — pun intended — snuff. Thankfully, I found a hack that claims to tackle these odors using basic kitchen ingredients. The recipe calls for steeping two to three sticks of cinnamon in an equal mixture of white vinegar and water for between 12 and 24 hours to infuse the liquid with the spicy scent. Then, strain away any stick debris, pour into a spray bottle, and apply it to nearly anything in a room.   

Cinnamon is renowned as a powerful combatant against some of the worst smells, so it came as no surprise that its spicy aroma also covers evidence of stinky pets. Research has shown vinegar to be a highly effective cleaning agent, killing certain bacteria and viruses. This combination sounded like a winning team for both cleaning and deodorizing the living room, a high-traffic area and is the pups' primary hangout. Always looking for a way to make my home more eco-friendly, I tend to turn up my nose at synthetic scent-masking products, and cinnamon's generally low price also meets my strict budgetary criteria. The price was right, and I had the two simple ingredients — plus water — on hand to give this hack a go.

Vinegar can be a versatile cleaning tool, and we stock up on Safeway's store-brand white vinegar by the gallon. A fresh bag of cinnamon sticks was already waiting in our spice cabinet; we buy Fernandez cinnamon sticks in bulk, also from Safeway. Although it's not mentioned on the label, I discovered that this type of cinnamon is the Ceylon variety, which is thinner than cassia (a stronger-flavored variety) but more thickly rolled like a cigar. In a glass jar, I combined 1 cup each of water and white vinegar and dropped in three cinnamon sticks I'd broken in half. My source for this recipe didn't mention breaking or crumbling the sticks into smaller pieces, but I figured exposing more surface area of the cinnamon could improve the steeping process. I let the mixture marinate for a full day before a sniff test. I was champing at the bit to clean and perfume my home with cinnamon, but after more than 24 hours of steeping three large sticks in vinegar, little more than vinegar's bite came through when I opened the jar.

My foodie husband reminded me that there were two types of cinnamon at our grocery store, and I'd used Ceylon cinnamon, the less pungent variety. So, back to the store I went for a jar of Morton & Bassett cassia cinnamon, and I prepared yet another infusion. Due to, well, adult life, the mixture ended up stewing for several days instead of just one. Still, I figured a stronger scent would be even better for our needs.

I was uncharacteristically excited to clean my house when it came time to strain my cinn-egar potion into a spray bottle. Since very few of the surfaces in the house are not in contact with our dogs, I used the cinnamon-infused vinegar to wipe down virtually every surface in our living room, including upholstery and wood. I even learned that diluted vinegar can be used to clean our leather sofa. In our main living area, the carpets, sofas, and chair got the most attention, but I also used the mixture to wipe wooden pieces — as long as vinegar is diluted and the liquid is used in moderation, it shouldn't damage finished wood.

While cleaning, the scent was strong and pleasant, and it completely overrode the vinegar's sharpness (at least to my nose). I used the spray to clean the wood furniture tops and on the upholstery. I also sprayed the carpet in small sections at a time, let it sit for a few minutes, then vacuumed. I didn't try to remove any stains but instead was hoping the mixture would deodorize the fibers.

As much as 30 minutes after cleaning my living room, a faint cinnamon smell lingered. I know the vinegar part of the concoction did its job since it's been proven to work in studies and is a staple for cleaning our home. The true nose test would be if someone newly entering the space would notice a less doggy smell. To be fair, no visitor has ever commented on this, although the thought may very well have been running through their heads. I'd leave it to both my husband and my impressions of the room's smell after coming in from another part of the house.

Waking up and entering the living room for the first time the next day, I did detect a hint of sweetness in the air, although I no longer smelled distinct cinnamon. But the room certainly didn't shout, "Dogs live here!" to my nose. The true test would be cleaning up after a puppy potty accident, which we'd have to wait for.

My husband and I are far from persnickety about housework, but we do keep up with regular surface cleaning enough to keep our house free of major, set-in pet smells (I think). So, it's hard to say whether truly funky household odors would persist after the cinnamon treatment. We've gotten used to the smell of vinegar for cleaning, but if you're someone who shies away from cleaning with vinegar because of the scent, adding cinnamon may convince you to make this budget-friendly and green recipe part of your regular cleaning routine.