I want to start by saying that we are clean people. This past winter was very cold because of the polar vortex. To our dismay, we had a visitor that explored our stove. A mouse, eek! To an even bigger dismay, we realized that when we tried to use the oven, it stank to high heaven. To make a long story short, this is how you clean it. Trust us, we tried everything.
Clean the oven thoroughly. Remove broiler drawer and clean underneath that. Slide out oven and clean the floor. You'll be surprised how much a mouse can squish down and get under anything! Now that that is done, it's time to get the stink out. We boiled two pots of 1:1 ratio of water and vinegar in the oven. You will notice it still stinks but bear with it. Start on the broil setting and, after an hour, move to 350 degrees F. Once you notice that the smell is mostly gone, add something fragrant to the water pot in the oven. I used rosemary sprigs and lavender oil. Leave it on for another hour and you should be good to go.
I think the most important part of this is making sure that you cleaned up all the deposits left behind from the animal otherwise you will just be cooking it. (barf) Also make sure you have your windows open and fans going, as it can be overwhelming. Good luck.
Can I use cleaning vinegar vs. white distilled vinegar?
Before you do anything, have you made sure that the mice did not chew the wires and do serious damage to the oven? We had to replace a stove about 10 years ago for this very issue. They chewed the wires so badly that it would have cost more to repair than a new one.
So the short answer is you can use white distilled vinegar to wipe out the oven (if the oven is safe to use), but it may not get the odor out completely.
Does it have a self cleaning feature? I would use that--run it through a full self clean cycle, according to the manual. That should work to get the smell out and clean it for use.
If it does not have a self clean feature, you can purchase oven cleaners...but they smell awful so be sure to keep the room well ventilated.
Post back with an update.
I have found that when cleaning hard surfaces especially an oven is to actually use Apple Cider Vinegar. It cleans especially well and when the initial odor wears off (usually 10 min), it smells much fresher and cleaner.
One last thing you can try is in a deep, oven proof casserole dish--like if you have corning dishes--put one cup of water and one cup of vinegar in as many dishes as you have shelves (so I have 2 shelves, I would do 2 dishes) and bake the water/vinegar mix for an hour or so at 350 degrees.
DO NOT LEAVE THIS UNATTENDED AS THE WATER CAN BOIL OUT. IF YOU SEE THE WATER GETTING LOW, ADD A LITTLE WATER/VINEGAR TO THE DISH. CAREFULLY remove the bowls when the process is over and dump the water down the drain.
This process will smell bad, but it may finally get rid of the odor.
I have a mouse infestation and they somehow got into my oven/range and now when I turn on the oven it smells like mouse urine. I am desperate to figure out how to get rid of them and the scent. We've been trapping and my cat is working overtime! Also, how the heck do I get rid of the scent?
By Linda C
I would try cleaning with straight vinegar.
I had the same problem! This weekend I cleaned under the range with baking soda only. I also washed all the drip pans with baking soda. The smell is completely gone! Hope this helps!
Also, we have tried a lot of things to get rid of the mice without success, but I read on another website to try "cab fresh." We found it at Tractor Supply for $15. That was more than we wanted to spend, so I don't actually know how effective it is myself.
