Pet stains and odor can ruin your home’s look and feel. Although you obviously love your pet, having to deal with a stain or odor that you can’t get rid of is frustrating. Every pet has an accident every now and again, but it doesn’t have to ruin your carpet or upholstery. Here is how to effectively remove pet stains and odor from fabric, upholstery or carpet.
10 Easy Steps
1. For best results, take care of the pet accident as soon as possible. The longer it’s allowed to sit, the more likely it is to be absorbed and cause staining. If you let it dry completely before treating, the area will be much more difficult—or impossible—to get clean again. So, as soon as you become aware of the accident, start treating it immediately. Always wear gloves to protect your skin while cleaning up a pet accident.
2. Using paper towels, a clean sponge or clean white rags, blot up the wetness of the pet accident. Proper blotting means to apply pressure downward from a vertical position. You never want to use a rubbing motion or grinding motion, as these will just push the wetness further into the fibers. Press down firmly, using two hands if necessary. Hold the paper towel (or rag or sponge) in position, to allow time for the wetness to be pulled up into the paper towel. When the paper towel is saturated use a second, dry paper towel. Repeat as necessary until no more wetness is being pulled into the paper towels.
3. In a clean container such as a plastic bucket, mix a cleaning solution made up of white vinegar and water. The ratio should be 50-50. So if you use two cups of vinegar, you will add two cups of water. Mix gently with a metal utensil. Don’t use a wooden spoon, as the wood will absorb the vinegar and possibly taint any food you stir with it later on.
4. Slowly pour a small amount of the vinegar and water solution over the pet accident area until thoroughly saturated. Allow standing for 10 minutes.
5. Next, repeat the step number one, above. Use clean, dry paper towels to blot up the moisture from the vinegar and water solution. Keep blotting as described above, until no more wetness is being absorbed.
6. Next, sprinkle a thick layer of baking soda over the entire pet accident area. The baking soda will disappear as it absorbs some of the wetness that you missed during the blotting step. That’s okay. As long as you have a thick layer of baking soda, you don’t need to pour more.
7. Now, in a clean bowl or bucket, put half a cup of 3% hydrogen peroxide, mixed with two teaspoons of regular household dishwashing detergent. Be sure to use the liquid kind, for hand washing dishes – not the automatic dishwasher kind. Mix the solution gently together with a metal utensil.
8. Slowly pour the hydrogen peroxide solution over the pet accident area. Use your fingers or a toothbrush to massage the hydrogen peroxide solution into the pet accident area. Wait for 15 minutes while the solution does its work.
9. Blot the area as described in step one, above.
10. Finally, vacuum up the area to get up any remaining baking soda.
Be sure to allow the area to dry thoroughly before putting anything on top of it, like furniture. After you complete all these ten steps, your pet stain and odor will be all gone.
