My Pet Just Had an Accident
Pet stains and odours can be an unfortunate fact of life for pet owners. While there are many DIY tips and tricks to minimize the impact of your dog or cat’s accidents, professional cleaning can help to thoroughly remove pet spots and odours and extend the life (and your enjoyment!) of your carpets, upholstery and area rugs.
At home clean-up of pet stains while they are fresh is a key step in making sure that spots do not become permanent stains.
DIY Pet Urine Cleanup
- Clean up as quickly as possible, soaking it up with a clean rag or diaper, using blotting. This means placing it on the spot and applying pressure, not rubbing, which can damage the carpet fibres.
- Repeat with a new rag until no more moisture comes up. You may want to put dry rags on the spot and leave something heavy on top for a while to ensure as much of the moisture comes up as possible.
- Once you have absorbed as much as possible, generously cover the damp area with baking soda – this will absorb more moisture and neutralize the odour.
- Wait 1-2 days for it to fully dry and then vacuum it up.
How bad is it?
- If your pet has the occasional accident and you are able to clean it up quickly, our standard carpet cleaning may be appropriate for you. Generally, this is the case if you don’t have visible spots or odour concerns and are fairly certain that your pet is not urinating in hidden areas on your carpets or furniture without your knowledge.
Medium to Heavy Pet Odours & Stains
A thorough professional carpet cleaning does a great job when it comes to removing most routine soiling and unsightly spots. However, biological liquids like urine, can penetrate deep into the carpet, through the backing and into the underlay. Additional treatments for pet spot removal and carpet deodorizing measures may be required to deal with the appearance and odour caused by urine.
If you have concerns about odours or visible pet stains on your carpet or upholstery, especially from pet urine or feces, we recommend BioTreat™ enzyme-based pet stain remover. BioTreat™ uses helpful bacteria to digest organic waste left by bodily fluids, pet deposits and food. BioTreat™ is left on your carpets while they are clean and damp, working their way through the damp fibres over the first 24 to 48 hours to digest whatever organic material is present. Once the carpet dries, you simply vacuum, and the process is complete
Unseen Stains – Wicking
Have you ever cleaned your carpets or had a professional carpet cleaning, only to find that when the carpets dry, urine spots and odours return, or even worsen? This has a lot to do with the wicking effect.
Professional carpet cleaning is designed to thoroughly clean the “pile” of the carpet. The pile is the fibres that make up the part of the carpet that you see. It may be tight, like a Berber, or it may be thick and long like a shag. Past the pile, is the backing, and under the carpet itself is underlay, which is usually affixed to a wooden subfloor. The problem is, pet urine does not confine itself to the surface, or the pile of the carpet. If you don’t find the urine immediately it may soak through the backing and into the underlay or even the subfloor. The spreading of the stain below the surface will often be larger than what you see on the surface.
When your carpets are professionally cleaned, the urine deep in the carpet, and possibly into the underlay can “wick” or be drawn up the damp carpet fibres to the surface, where they appear larger than before, and bring an unpleasant odour.
