How to Remove Pet Stains from Carpet

This post is sponsored by Spot Shot Instant Carpet Stain Remover.  As always, all opinions are 100% my own.

We have three fur babies in our home – the queen master {our almost 19 year old cat, Shiloh}, Blue {our three year old goofy golden doodle who obviously needs a hair cut and a bath} and Abby {our little baby Persian cross}. We love them to death, but they definitely make their fare share of messes.  While they are pretty good as far as potty training goes, they still have their accidents and they all seem to make a bee line to our nicest carpets whenever they need to throw up.  Why is that???

Needless to say, I’ve had to clean up quite a few messes from our carpets over the years and I thought that I would share some of my carpet cleaning wisdom with you today. Most of the tips can actually be used to treat carpet stains in general, but you need to be extra careful about removing odors when you are dealing with animals as they will likely be drawn back to the same spot again if they can still smell it.

“Who me?”

So let’s start with some basic tips for how to remove pet stains from carpet….

• Get up as much of the mess as possible before doing any cleaning.
  For fresh urine, use an absorbent rag or paper towel to blot up as much as possible.  Apply lots of pressure {you can even stand on it!} to make sure that you are soaking up as much as possible {and getting right down to the bottom of the carpet and padding} until it is almost dry.  For more solid messes, grab your gloves and an old paint scraper, scrape up the bulk of it, and dump it in the toilet.  Then wipe off any excess with a damp paper towel or cloth being careful to work from the outside of the stain inwards to help prevent the stain from spreading. {NOTE: If you are working on potty training with your pet, you can put the soaked paper towel where you actually want them to go – like in the litter box!}
• BLOT – Don’t Rub.
  I know there is a gut instinct to just get in there and scrub as hard as you can, but this can actually spread the stain and untwist the carpet’s pile making it look matted. Instead, blot, blot, blot using an absorbent cloth working from the outside of the stain inwards.  I like to use a white cloth for this as I can see how much of the stain is actually coming up and the white towels can always be bleached if needed to remove stains.  If you do need to do a little rubbing to loosen things, just gently agitate the surface of the carpet using your fingers {I like to use gloves!}.  Think of it more as flicking the carpet fibers back and forth rather than scrubbing and compressing.
• Use as Little Cleaning Products as Possible.
  The yuckier something is, the more we want to pour on the cleaning products, but you actually want to use the least amount of cleaning products as possible to get rid of your stain {including any natural cleaners}  It is actually better to use too little cleaner and have to repeat the process rather than overload on cleaning product the first time and be left with too much residue.  Too much chemical residue {whether from natural cleaners or commercial products} can actually attract more dirt in the future, so you just want to use what is actually needed to remove the stain.
• Avoid Heat. 
  I always used to think that the hotter the water the better than stain removal would be; however, you want to actually avoid using hot water or steam cleaners on urine stains as the heat can permanently set the stain and odor by bonding the protein into any man-made fibers.  Instead stick with lukewarm or cool water.
• Give it a Good Rinse.
  I think that this is actually one of the most important steps but the one that most people leave out.  Once the stain is gone, your work is not done!  No matter what cleaning method I use, I always make sure I end with a good rinse with water to remove as much of the remaining cleaning product as possible.  Spray the area down with water, then blot up using a white towel until as dry as possible.  Blend the edges of where you are cleaning so that there are no hard edges that can leave a slight discoloration {like a water mark} around the area of the stain.

Okay.  So now you are probably wondering, what you should actually clean your stains with!  I have a few methods below that I use, mostly depending on what I have on hand.  As with any cleaning products, BE SURE TO SPOT CHECK FIRST to ensure that there is no discoloration on your carpet. All work well but I usually use the vinegar and baking soda option as my last resort as it takes a little longer to completely clean and I don’t have a lot of patience.  Obviously it is better to get to a stain while it is still fresh, but these methods {especially #1 and #3} can be used on old stains as well.

Blue was kind enough to leave me multiple spots in our basement last week to get some pictures for you.  The lighting isn’t the best down there but you get the idea.

Cleaning Method #1  – Hydrogen peroxide {3%} and dish soap
Mix together 4 tbsp hydrogen peroxide, 2 tbsp lukewarm water and a couple of drops of dish soap in a spray bottle.  You can always double {or triple} the recipe for larger stains but this is a one time use mixture so you don’t want to make up too much.  This also works great as a stain remover for laundry, so if you have any left you can always run a load of dirty clothes! Hydrogen peroxide can have a mild bleaching effect and, although I have never had any issues in the many times that I have used it, just be sure to spot check it first for colorfastness.

Once you have scraped and blotted the mess up as much as possible, spray the above mixture evenly over the stain.  You can agitate it a little with your fingers but it pretty much will do most of the work on it’s own.  Leave it to work for about 10 minutes and then blot with a white towel.  If there is still some stain remaining, spray the carpet again, lay down a white towel or two {or you can use a few paper towels stacked up} and place a heavy object over the towel where the stain is {NOTE: I would actually recommend using a pile of books – which I usually use – as they give a more equal distribution of weight compared to the demijohn that I used below}.  Allow it to sit for a couple hours {or leave overnight} and then remove the towels.  This should remove what is left of the stain but you can always try repeating it if there is still anything left.  Rinse with cool water being sure to blend the edges, blot dry and then vacuum over the spot to fluff the carpet fibers.

This method of using the towel with a heavy object over it can actually be used with any cleaning method if you are having difficulty removing the stain.

Cleaning Method #2 – Vinegar and baking soda

While this method works quite well, it is the messiest of the three options and can take a day or so to completely dry up. After as much of the mess has been cleaned and blotted up, spray the stain with vinegar.  I like to use the spray bottle so I can control how saturated the carpet gets – you want it wet but not soaking.  Allow this to sit for a few minutes and then sprinkle generously with baking soda.  It should bubble up a bit and you can just agitate it a little bit with your fingers to get into the stain.  You then need to allow this to dry completely and then vacuum up the baking soda.  {NOTE: If your pet likes to eat strange things, be sure to cover this up with a bowl or other object while it is drying as the baking soda can be dangerous for pets if eaten in large amounts}.  Once the baking soda is vacuumed up, I often find that although the stain is gone, there is still a slight discoloration of the carpet from the residue.  Just give it a good rinse with cool water, blending out the edges of the discoloration and then blot firmly with a cloth.

Cleaning Method #3 – Spot Shot

If you need a quick and easy method for removing stains, this is probably it.  After removing any solid messes and blotting up what you can, simply apply the Spot Shot and blot the stain away with a white cloth.  Make sure you don’t completely saturate the carpet – you will be surprised at how little you actually need.  Like I mentioned above, it’s better to use less and have to repeat the process a second time if there is still some stain remaining. Spot Shot also has a new non-toxic pet formula that was created specifically for pet problems that is tough enough to handle those nasty stains while still being safe for your pet.  It’s kind of hard to see the stain in the photo above due to the light {unfortunately the dog picked the basement to do his mess in} but it came completely up after about 30 seconds on the first round of cleaning.  Once the stain is removed, don’t forget to rinse again with water to take away any remaining residue.  Blot up the water and then vacuum when dry to fluff up the carpet fibers again.

Good-bye stain!

If you want an extra odor remover, you can always use this simple DIY carpet and upholstery refresher when you are done with whatever cleaning method you choose.

And for more tips on how to keep your house clean with dogs {and other pets!}, check out this post…

Happy Cleaning! 🙂