Approximately 63% of Americans own pets. We live with around 73 million dogs, 90 million cats, 11 million reptiles, and tens of millions of fish, birds, and small animals in our homes. Pets give us pleasure, lift our mood, decrease our blood pressure and cholesterol, and even slash cancer. Among many other benefits, pets can also be credited with creating means of livelihood for San Diego carpet cleaners, which do a roaring business cleaning pet stains and odors from carpets.
Getting Rid of Pet Stains and Odors
Pet stains and odors are common problems that afflict all American homes from time to time. While you can remove most of the stains quite easily, getting rid of the smell is another ballgame. The atrocious odor is as resilient to treatments as it is offensive to the nostrils. The stink may hang around the crime-scene for days, if not weeks. Professional San Diego carpet cleaners can solve your problem, but hiring them may become unaffordable if your cat or dog has a bad stomach and/or bad habit.
The following procedure will rid you of the long-lasting aftereffects of dog and cat excrements – the telltale stains and the morbid stink that can make your living-room smell worse than a toilet.
How to Clean New Cat or Dog Urine Stains and Odor
If you are around when the unthinkable happens, you should quickly cover the puddle by throwing plenty of newspapers and paper towels on top of it. Put a polythene sheet on top of this paper padding and stand on it for a few seconds to make it absorb as much of the urine as possible. Throw away the soiled papers and repeat the process with fresh absorbent papers to make the carpet as dry as possible.
If the urine has already dried up or has been there for more than 10 minutes by the time you discover it, it has already penetrated all the way down to the padding. You’d probably have to use more padding and more water, or hire licensed San Diego carpet cleaners for steam cleaning the carpet.
When the spot is somewhat dry, soak the stained area in cool, clean water. When you are wetting the area, make sure to work from the outside in. Start to pour a small quantity of water around the stain, so that the water pushes the urine remnants to the center of the stain instead of spreading those outwards.
Soak the area completely, right down to the padding, and let the water work through the stain for a few minutes. Spray the wet patch with an enzymatic carpet cleaner. There are several of them available in the range of $15 to $50, and they also come in separate brands for cats and dogs. You should be careful to use only a wool-safe enzymatic cleaner if it’s a woolen carpet that your cat or dog misconceived as its toilet. You can also purchase Stanley Steemer Odor Out on-line.
After you’ve emptied a good portion of your enzymatic spray bottle, it’s time to cover the area with a towel padding that exceeds the size of the wet area by at least 50%. Place the polythene sheet over the towel padding and put something flat and heavy (such as books) on top of it.
You can leave this arrangement to rest overnight, so that all the moisture is absorbed, and the enzymes have enough time for reacting with the smelly organic molecules that the urine contains.
If you can still see or smell the stain, you should get your carpet professionally steam-cleaned, or you may have to replace the padding at some point to completely remove the source of the odor.
How to Clean Old Pet Stains and Odors
All too often, you can smell the stink but you can’t seem to pinpoint the spot it’s coming from. You can empty whole cans of air fresheners, but the smell will still be lingering there unless you clean the source, probably a dried urine stain.
In order to trace old and inconspicuous urine stains on your carpet, get a black light from any hardware store and inspect your carpet under it after making the room dark. When you examine closely, you might be surprised to see not one, but multiple stains and sprinkles around the carpet. If you don’t find any stains on the carpet, inspect the upholstery and other parts of the room.
After isolating the stains, mark them by sticking a boundary of masking tape around them. Put the lights on and proceed with the same cleaning method as described above. Start by pouring water around the spots, moving inward to soak the whole area. Spray with enzymatic cleaner, cover with a towel padding, place some books on top of the towels, and let them rest for several hours. Make sure you use a polythene sheet between the books and the towel to prevent the books from getting wet.
It would be a good idea to use a wet/dry vacuum on old stains after you’ve carried out the above treatment. You can easily rent a wet/dry cleaner from the local hardware store and clean the affected spots. Get your carpet steam cleaned by professional San Diego carpet cleaners if you think DIY is too much hassle.
How to Clean other Pet Stains
Pet poo or footmark stains can be removed using a good quality carpet cleaner or using other methods recommended for water-soluble stains. Vinegar and baking soda are popular home remedies for getting rid of the mild pet marks, but they don’t work well against tougher stains. The best way is to either use a wet/dry vacuum yourself or contact good San Diego carpet cleaners for carrying out steam cleaning or “hot water extraction” cleaning.