My Pet Had An Accident….What Should I Do?

With the ever increasing number of household pets in American
homes, pet owners are having a hard time keeping up with their
cats and dogs.

As a 13 year carpet cleaning veteran, the most common stains I
see in homes are pet urine and feces. These stains can be
extremely damaging to carpet fibers.

There are a few tips you must know when cleaning up these stains
to keep from causing permanent damage to your carpet.

Pet Urine 1. Blot urine with a very absorbent towel, pressing
the towel with your heal, while standing on one foot. This
allows you to soak up the urine from the pad and the carpet. Do
this 3 or 4 times with new places on the towel.

2. After the urine has been removed, spray a solution of white
vinegar and water (50/50 mixture.) Leave in the carpet. This
neutralizes the acid in the urine that could discolor and
distort the carpet fibers.

3. Never rub or scrub the carpet, while cleaning up pet urine or
any other stain. This only pushes the stain into the carpet
fibers and padding.

Pet Feces

1. Wait for feces to dry!!! Do not even think about any type of
clean up until the poop has dried completely. If you do, the
feces will absorb into the fibers and cause permanent
discoloration.

2. Once feces has dried (about 24 hours) pick up and discard.
What you see left on the carpet needs to be cleaned up by a
professional.

3. Once the professional arrives at your house, make sure he
doesn’t apply any soap or other chemicals to the remaining
feces. They first need to extract the stain with clean hot
water. If some of the stain remains after going over it 4 to 5
times, some detergent can be applied and extracted.

4. After feces has been completely cleaned up, a sanitizer needs
to be applied to kill any remaining bacteria.

Applying these steps when cleaning up pet stains will save you
costly replacement and extend the life of your carpet.