Easy Solution for Cleaning Pet Stains from Carpet
Pet Stains? Carpet Cleaner for Spot Treatments you HAVE to Try
Here’s a question? How do you glam up puke? No that’s not a typo, I’ve got a tip for all of you pet-owners out there, but it’s a little less glam than the topics I typically write about because, well, it involves vomit. Pet vomit. Cat hairballs to be exact, although, I suspect it might help dog owners as well and anyone else looking for home remedies for cleaning carpet.
And whether your carpet needs to be cleaned because of pet stains or vomit, or because you tripped over your feet and dripped coffee on it (I’ve never done that BTW), or really whatever the reason you are wondering how to spot clean your carpet keep reading to find out exactly what I do to magically lift stains. Dirty or spotted carpet is actually one of the reasons I DREAM of hardwood floors, but until that time, I’ll work to keep my carpets clean - even with my sweet fur baby.
Here’s a question? How do you glam up puke? No that’s not a typo, I’ve got a tip for all of you pet-owners out there, but it’s a little less glam than the topics I typically write about because, well, it involves vomit. Pet vomit. Cat hairballs to be exact, although, I suspect it might help dog owners as well and anyone else looking for home remedies for cleaning carpet.
And whether your carpet needs to be cleaned because of pet stains or vomit, or because you tripped over your feet and dripped coffee on it (I’ve never done that BTW), or really whatever the reason you are wondering how to spot clean your carpet keep reading to find out exactly what I do to magically lift stains. Dirty or spotted carpet is actually one of the reasons I DREAM of hardwood floors, but until that time, I’ll work to keep my carpets clean - even with my sweet fur baby.
I don’t remember a time in my life that I didn’t have a cat, so you would think I would have this down pat, but, just like trying to get stains out of your clothing, pulling stains out of the carpet can be just as, if not more, tricky. In the past I’ve cleaned it as good as I thought possible, until the paper towel was pulling nothing else out of the carpet fibers, but even then, my off-white colored carpet still had spots with a yellow tint. I’ve always been able to get them out with a steam cleaner, but couldn’t always run to rent one everytime my cat hurled.
This summer when I was rearranging, well, it seemed like everything, my cat coughed up a hairball in a corner of a room I was using as kind of a catch-all storage until I could get everything oranized. Needless to say, I didn’t find it until who knows how long after he did it. I hate to say it, but this turned out to work in my favor (so gross, I already know). With that said, here are the exact steps I’ve since taken to get cat vomit out of the carpet and this has worked SO good, I now realize I need to go rent that steam cleaner, but only because I now have “clean spots,” that are showing that the rest of my carpet needs a really really deep clean.
How to Remove Carpet Stains with Vinegar
If you’re lucky enough to not find the little present your pet has left for you until well after it’s been “out,” I think you’re better off. I know this sounds so gross, but the dried vomit will pull up and off your rug pretty easily, so you aren’t pressing it further into the fibers of the carpet. Trust me, I totally understand you typically can’t wait until it dries, BUT, I do recommend waiting as long as possible, if possible. Regardless, with a damp paper towel, gently pick up the mess and vaccum anything left over.
I keep a spray bottle of white vinegar water under my cupboard (and sometimes also include fresh lemon juice when I have lemons on hand) but for some reason haven’t used it on my floor prior to this past summer. I use approximately 1 cup of vinegar per bottle and fill the remainder with water. Saturate the stain with this mixture and pat water with towel to absorb…don’t rub! And if you’re curious as to what else I use vinegar water on - literally everything. Countertops, windows, sink, stove, microwave, cupboards….literally everything. And it’s all natural which I love.
Repeat step 2 until you can no longer get anymore color onto the your paper towel.
If there are still areas that look stained, I use a small amount of laundry detergent to spot treat. Pour directly onto the spot, saturate with water and again, pat to absorb. I would recommend pouring a little into the cap and then dripping over the spot to avoid too many sudz.
Viola! This has worked every single time, even though I haven’t been able to really do step 1 since it accidentally happened earlier in the year. The more “fresh” it is, the longer it seems to take to get out. I sometimes need to repeat the vinegar step two or even three times, but it does eventually come out, especially when combined with a little laundry detergent.
And there you go - if you have any other easy carpet cleaning tips, please share them with the rest of us in the comments below!
Want more from lil’ Pete? You can get to know more about this crazy guy in a post I collaborated with 9Lives for here.
