Removing cat or dog odors in the home can be difficult, as these odors come from various sources and are composed of different elements that cause the odor. Most often, the odors come from urine or fecal matter, litter boxes, and scent glands secretions as our pets (especially cats) mark their territory. Getting rid of all the small skin flakes or dander and hair is important, as well, as these all have skin oils on them that can contribute to lingering odors once they get mixed with house dust and become circulated by the air conditioner.
Along with regular cleaning, if you buy a room air purifier with the right type of filters, you can remove over 99% of these pollutants and the odors that go with them. If the unit has a quality HEPA filter, that should remove the particles pretty well. Where it gets tricky, however, is the carbon filters. Obviously the air cleaner needs to have an activated carbon filter, but the type of carbon does matter. First, the air cleaner you buy for pet odors needs to have several pounds of quality granular carbon, not crushed carbon and not a thin foam sheet. Carbon becomes saturated and stops working at that point, so if there isn't much carbon in the filter, it's going to get used up quickly and stop removing odors.
