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Does your pet keep peeing on the carpet in the same place?

 

 

Why, why, why do they keep peeing on my carpet?

Ahhhh cats and dogs….my favorite topic. We love our pets to death but lets face it, they can cause problems around the house from time to time. One of the most common things we hear while out in the field cleaning carpets is “my cat(or dog) always marks in the same place, I’ve tried everything but the smell always comes back”  Pets urinate on the carpet for many reasons, if there is a large spot or puddle, that usually means the animal had to go but couldn’t or didn’t want to go outside. Maybe mom and dad got stuck in traffic or maybe a bad storm kept Fido from wanting to go out.  Puppies need to be house broken, this is the second biggest reason we get to suck pee pee from the carpet. Another very common reason is “marking” pets like to mark their territory and the things they think belong to them too, and unlike us they think it smells great!  Our pets also grow old and become incontinent and don’t even know they are leaking.

Dogs and cats can also mark due to behavioral issues, they could be mad at you because you left them, something changed with your schedule or perhaps you introduced a new animal to the home.  Cat pee can be some of the worst, most difficult odor to remove, and I can almost guarantee  it’s on more than just the carpet. My black light has shown on many instances where cats have backed up to a wall and sprayed the wall and base boards as well. Another thing I would like to point out is that dogs and cats that never ever pee on the carpet might do so if brought to a friends or relatives for a visit. We hear this all the time, people go on vacation and bring the dog to a friend and next thing you know the friend has a house full of pee pee spots, and gets upset that their good friend would bring an untrained dog to them. The case can also be reversed, you go on vacation and have your friend stay at your home to watch the pets but when you get back from your cruise you find out that your friend did not do their job very well, or did they and your dog is letting you know leaving this person here with them for a whole week is unacceptable.

What can be done once the damage has been done?

Well the first obvious thing is to try and find out why the pets are making your life miserable. I am no pet psychologist, but I do know some believe it or not, so if  it’s a behavior problem maybe look into that. If you have a  cat box, it is super super important to clean it out daily. If a cats box is not clean they will use the carpet, I know this for a fact from my own experience. If vacationing consider boarding your pet, my vet offers these services, and then I know they are well taken care of.  If you pet is peeing due to bladder or health reason be sure to visit the vet as they do have medications that can help. You must work hard to train your dog to go outside, this is a given. Cleaning the carpet well is a very important step to help stop the markings in the same spot, but how?

Cleaning the carpet of all urine and odor contamination, using the water claw flash extractor. 

waterclaw

Water claw tool, flushing out the carpet

First the pet urine location needs to be  identified, this can be done with a black light,  many of my customers can usually bring me right to the trouble areas.  When pet urine gets down into the pad and sub floor it needs to be fully removed with specialized tools and enzymes, saturation of the effected area and dwell time is most effective.  Then full extraction of the area using a subsurface tool such as the water claw will remove the urine salts and the odors they produce. Most good carpet cleaners will offer these services as an added treatment and cost, but it is unlikely that the “fly by night $79 whole house hack” will give you the results you want.

Most moderate pet issues can be reversed, however we have seen our share of carpet that we have recommended replacement as the only surefire fix. These very severe cases also have to have the sub floors sealed before new carpet goes down.

 

 

Carpet spot remover

Treating pet stains between professional cleanings

I felt inclined to write this post after a series of jobs we had this week in which it seems the pet had won the battle over its owner. As a guess I would say close to 90% of my customers have a dog or cat including myself. This year we lost 2 dogs that we loved dearly but were just very old, and as dogs and cats get old or become sick they will have accidents on the carpet. I know this, so there is no reason to be embarrassed if  you find yourself in this situation, even the most well trained dogs run into problems sooner or later.

When we get into a situation where we are dealing with an older dog or maybe even trying to train a brand new puppy it may not be feasible to call the professional out every time an accident happens. Although I love my customers and their business I understand that could get expensive for them. So I will share a few tips to try and help everyone get by in between cleanings, these tips help us and you.

One thing I hear quite often upon arriving at a job is that my customer had a spill or their pet had an accident… not surprising, it happens to us all. What does surprise me sometimes is what they spray on it. Twice this week I had customers tell me they cleaned stains in their carpets with Windex, I’m not really sure why, maybe Windex wrote a blog that told them it was a good idea or maybe that’s all they had. But in both cases it did not work, or they thought it worked until the stain re-appeared a couple of days later. There are many products around the home that can be helpful for removing stains such as vinegar and water solutions, baking soda, borax, dish soap, peroxide and so on. For pet urine there are some decent over the counter products in the big box pet stores such as Natures Miracle or Folex. The one product carpet cleaners cringe when they hear it is resolve, carpet cleaners around the globe agree that this product can really set in a stain.

 

Now here’s my biggest tip,  no matter what home remedy you find on the internet or what spotter you buy in the store, without extraction you are leaving behind whatever you are trying to clean out as well as the sticky residue from the cleaning agent you are using. This is why spots “wick” back or re-soil from soap residue. Having said all that, I am a big fan of the Bissell home spotters for quick little clean-ups, but I am not a fan of the larger home carpet cleaners because they are just not powerful enough to do large areas without leaving behind dirt and chemicals, causing rapid re-soiling. The little machines are great for concentrating on small clean-up’s but there are a few things to know…when it comes to using any cleaning agents, more is not better. Rinsing well in a necessity but even more important is getting your spot to dry as fast as possible by doing many, many extra dry strokes and putting a fan on it. The spot bot by Bissell has a rotaing brush that you just put over the spot and let it run for a minute, I much prefer the hand held wand on that machine over the rotating brushes, I have seen many circles left in peoples carpet from those.  The Bissells do run about $100 to $150 for the spot machine but is well worth having one in the house, or if you already have a wet/dry shop vac that would work too,  just remember to take out the paper filter first, and you will need a spray bottle of clean rinse water if using the shop vac.

I confess, even having  a 26 horsepower truck mounted cleaning machine in my driveway I still use the spot bot to clean up little spots between cleanings. Oh…I almost forgot, after using your spotter machine it is most important to clean them very well or they will smell real bad next time you go to use it.

I gave this advice to one of my customers last year and when I went out to clean her carpets yesterday she thanked me soooo much for telling her about the spot bot. She has four dogs and this kept her carpets in a much better shape throughout the year.

I hope these tips get you through until your annual cleaning!  Rinse those spots, don’t just spray with Windex and leave.

-Pete & Re-Pete

spotter and stain remover

Pet odor and stain remover

small spotter ideal for quick cleanups between professional cleanings