Cat sprayed my wedding dress - ok to get rid of it?

[wearfannypacks]

Due to negligence changing his litter, our cat peed all over my wedding dress. Message received, dude. Litter was getting bad.

My wedding dress was gorgeous. Paid $250 for it. But am I every going to show it off again? Probably never. It's bulky and now smells like cat pee.

Is it terribly wrong to forgo drycleaning it and get rid of it?

Edit: I've been married 8 years, I haven't taken my wedding dress out once.

[Cornbread OMalley]

Me thinks it is time to ship that dress out!

[seattlecyclone]

Yes, there's no law saying you must keep your wedding dress clean until the day you die. By the time you have offspring who might be getting married, it will be yellowed and/or out of style and/or the wrong size. You keep it for sentimental reasons only. Consider whether this sentimental value is worth the real cost of cleaning it and continuing to devote storage space to it for the foreseeable future.

[paddedhat]

And here I sit, all warm and fuzzy, thinking the cat is going to be "let go". So much for ambiguous titles, LOL. How about a two for one special? One box big enough for the cat and dress...............no..............to harsh?

[StacheInAFlash]

Jesus...dump the thing. Covered in cat piss, and a $250 investment almost a decade ago--you're free to ditch it guilt free. I can see the frustration if it was an expensive dress and you had a daughter on the cusp of potentially wearing it (if she wanted it), but it is neither of those things. One thing you could consider is cutting it apart and salvaging the unsoiled parts (if there are any...that smell is potent! If you're a crafty person, you could turn those scraps into a quilt or something along those lines.

[RecoveringCarClown]

From the title, I thought you meant "it" was the cat. ;)

[LeRainDrop]

Yeah, get rid of the wedding dress without feeling guilty.  If you really feel terribly about doing that, consider salvaging a special piece of it and turning it into something else beautiful.  I'm not crafty at all, so forgive these probably lame ideas, but perhaps it could become an accent pillow or a doily or even just a little keepsake of fabric that you keep tucked away with other sentimental things.

[Larsg]

I'm mixed on this one iff there is any chance the dry cleaner can restore it. Precious life hours were spent in earning and making that dress that served tremendous value for you. Not saying that you have to keep it but you could sell it for someone else to enjoy and put that money to good use, or donate it to charity, go onto share net and post it out there for some one. Either way, if it can be restored, it is an asset that can be used instead of winding up in a landfill and then all that work is lost for nothing. Or, I like the other idea someone posted about salvage. Could you repurpose it. quilters and creatives love spare fabric like this, especially if there are beads, silk, lace, etc. I would hate to see it wind up in a landfill all over inconvenience of having to have it cleaned. which is not MMM. Stuff happens with our beloved pets - not the first or last time they make a mess like kids. Glad you are keeping the cat. They definitely tell you when they need attention. What I have heard about cleaning things of value from pet stains like this is that the material is fine for human use and there will be no odor. Only thing is that other pets can still spell the enzymes but if hung up and well cared for, it should be fine for reuse if the cleaners can get out the stain. Good luck!

[Expatriate]

Here at MMM the mantra is that you should own only what you really use, so I don't think there will be many more in favour of having it cleaned

[somepissedoffman]

Uh, the cat sprayed it fair and square, pretty sure that means it now belongs to the cat, so it's not really your decision anymore

[Fishindude]

YES .... get rid of the cat.

[AZDude]

You can get rid of it. Cat spray is meant to smell strongly and last a long time. It never truly goes away. Best to placate the cat and ditch the dress(and the old litter).

On a side note, once had a cat pee on my pillow because he wasn't fed on time. They are mean, vengeful little critters.

[Friar]

I think they key question to ask yourself is: why were you keeping it?

My general rule is, if I've not used something in 6 months, and it's not a seasonal item like a Christmas tree, or a winter coat, then I get rid of it.

There are, naturally, exceptions, such as tools for repairing the cars, but if you've not touched it for 8 years then it can't be that crucial to keep.

[lunahsol]

You have permission to get rid of the dress. 

A cat sprayed in my car once (it was loose, not in a carrier) and the seats never ever recovered no matter what I did.  I tried every possible thing I could to get the smell out.  It was even worse when it rained.  Anyway, yeah . . . just get rid of it.

[Conjou]

Cat did you a favor. Now you can liberated from your attachment to this particular material good. Cats and Buddha go way back.

[ponyespresso]

Maybe you could freecycle it but of course with a notice about the cat pee! Someone maybe willing to figure out how to get the stain out, or use the rest of the fabric, and that way it doesn't go to waste. You could cut out the bad part and donate the rest of it to Goodwill (for use as fabric or even rags! They take the bad stuff and do things like that with it). I also think tossing it is OK, too.

[Zamboni]

Rubbish bin.

[GuitarStv]

Wedding dresses are kept because that's what's done.  They're never worn again, and thoughts of some day giving the dress to a daughter are virtually never borne out.  It becomes a useless bit of stuff, weighing your life down forever.

I think the cat did you a favour, because now you've got a reason to dump it.

[AlwaysBeenASaver]

Offer the dress on freecycle or craigslist, there might be someone needing a wedding dress who's wiling to pay for the dry cleaning to get a free dress. Allow 3-4 days, then if no takers, dump it.  You'll probably be happy in the end to have the space back that it was taking up.

[MsPeacock]

Why not toss the dress in the washer and see what happens? asit is now it is not useable. I seriously doubt anyone on free cycle or Craigslist wants a cat peed on dress. Dry cleaners, sadly speaking from experience, can't get cat urine out of fabric. So washer, detergent, borax, oxy clean, or whatever, (no bleach) cold water, medium cycle and see what happens. If the dress was $250 it is most likely polyester, which is highly machine washable. Dry on low. Worse case scenario is that it is garbage, which is what it is now anyhow. 

Eta the sooner you clean it the better.