Carpet Worries

Updated on August 04, 2008
J.B. asks from O Fallon, MO
37 answers

Hi, I need some major help. I have two dogs and I am trying to sell my house. My one dog has occasionally peed on the floor and we have cleaned it up as quick as possible, so there are no stains but the smell is still there. I have rented a steam cleaner, used several different cleaning supplies, but nothing gets the smell out. Does anyone have any advice to try other than new carpet.

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T.A.

answers from Wichita on

The smell is probably in the carpet pad. You can pull up the carpet and replace the pad. It would be cheaper than buying all new carpet and pad. You can also try cleaning the pad or maybe cutting out just that section and replacing it.

Good Luck!

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B.B.

answers from Kansas City on

Baking soda. Just put baking soda over the spot and let it set, then vaccum it up. It worked great for us.

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J.M.

answers from Springfield on

J., I use vinegar to cut the smell and it keeps the dogs from using that spot again for their bathroom.

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A.D.

answers from Kansas City on

Funny you asked. We're renting a house, and on day 2, our male dog had 3 accidents (stress of moving, etc.) I found a product called Kids and Pets at Walmart (apparently it's ranked really high on Amazon) and I gave it a try. Worked 10 times better than Natures Miracle! You actually pour it on and soak the area and it gets rid of the smell as it dries.
Now...we recently sold our house, and were worried about the same things...our realtor told us that the new buyers would probably get new carpeting anyway, so just do our best to get any stains out. So this Kids and Pets stuff is great...also Petsmart sells something called Pet Saver spray, and it works great too. Both of these work well for pet accidents and vomit, red wine, blood, grapejuice, Kool Aid, etc!
Hope that helps!

1 mom found this helpful
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E.C.

answers from Springfield on

I just helped my Mom with this while visiting her in AZ. I learned it when my female cat was very sick and peed in my bedroom, over and over. The smell went away COMPLETELY. Trust me, cat pee is REALLY gross!

First, go to Walmart and buy a big box of baking soda (or several, depending on how much area you need to cover). You can find really big boxes in the laundry section.

Next, sprinkle the carpet liberally with the baking soda. Use a broom or scrub brush to work it into the fibers and let sit for at least 1 hour.

Vacuum the carpet very well to get the baking soda out.

Make sure you test in a closet or something. I used this on dark brown carpet and it didn't effect the color, but just be sure! Using a solution of 3/4 cup regular bleach (not concentrated) to 1 gallon warm water, scrub your carpet, concentrating on the areas where the dog has urinated. If you have a carpet cleaner, add the bleach to the water in the resevoir tank. For best results, I would suck this water out of the carpet, but if you can't, just use a bunch of old towels or some old blankets to soak up as much water as possible.

Let carpet dry and again sprinkle with baking soda to help absorb bleach smell. Vacuum well. You could also add some carpet cleaner to the bleach water to help, but it smells so much better anyway, that it didn't bother me.

The smell should be gone and once the chlorine smell disappears, your carpet will be fresh and clean.

Hope this works! In the future, if your dog pees on the carpet, immediately soak up excess and dump baking soda on the spot. Let dry and vacuum up.

1 mom found this helpful
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C.S.

answers from Topeka on

Vinegar should get any smell out of anything. Tobacco, animals etc... :) try that and good luck!

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L.F.

answers from Kansas City on

I had a cat that had kidney failure and she started peeing in my bathroom ( throw rugs and carpet in closet). I used UrineGone and it seemed to work. You can get it with a black light which will luminate the pee spots for spot cleaning. Unfortunately I had to throw the (hardest hit) rug away and put my cat of 12 years down. Keep in mind she was sick and it was happening on a nightly basis for appr. two weeks before the vet diagnosed her and we put her down.
I hope this helps!

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R.D.

answers from Wichita on

I use a product a bought at a trade show called Stainarator. you can find it on ebay or other websites. My dog had urinated in the front entryway, and anytime we would open the door to let the light in, the extra heat would make it smell horrible. I had to use the Stainarator twice, but there is no more smell! The process is kinda long, but the results are worth it. I also use it to get poopy stains out of my baby's clothes. Good luck!

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G.B.

answers from Kansas City on

My dog liked to use the area under our dining room table as his yard. It looked and smelled horrible. I used Oxy clean (generic worked just fine) mixed with hot water. I scrubbed the entire dining room floor on my hands and knees, and then went over it with my steam cleaner (no soap). Took awhile, but it looked like new. Baking soda on a fresh stain that is still wet works great too. Wait until the baking soda has dried, sweep up the big chunks and vacuum up the remaining powder.

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K.C.

answers from Springfield on

I had the same problem; if you have wood floors underneath you will have to pull up the carpet and treat the wood by saturating same. If it is concrete you will need to do the same. Often you veternarian can advise on a product that will really work; also a professional carpet cleaning company. Good luck!

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J.L.

answers from Kansas City on

I use a product called Nature's Miracle when my cats make messes. Maybe they have one that works for dogs. It's sold in pet stores like Petco or Petsmart

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K.W.

answers from Kansas City on

Hi J.,
We moved into a house where the previous owners cat was extrememly jealous of a new baby and it peed ALL over the nursery. It was so bad we had to put in new carpet. BUT.....since we put in new carpet this website has been a savior. They sell so many products to help with exactly what you are dealing with. http://www.planeturine.com/ If you go to this website it will tell you exactly what you need to do. I recommend buying a kit with blacklight and cleaning materials. It is worth the money if you are trying to sell without buying new carpet. Good luck!

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R.I.

answers from Kansas City on

Odoban. Otherwise, you may need to pull up the carpet and sand or replace the subfloor underneath if it has soaked up the liquid.

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L.G.

answers from Kansas City on

Oh my..... do I ever feel your pain. Our house is on the market & I woke up this morning to the sound of my dog puking on the bedroom (very light beige) carpet. Ugh! I used Resolve high traffic foam and that got most of it out.... then I took some Oxy-clean laundry pre-treat spray & let that sit for a few minutes & the stain is now gone! For the smell, go to Petsmart & get a product called Petzyme. It's enzymes actually eat up the bacteria causing the odor. I keep it around at all times. My dog is ok by the way..... poor girl. My next house will be all hardwoods.

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H.N.

answers from St. Louis on

Have you tried Nature's Miracle? You can get it at PetSmart or Petco. My dog had the same issue and it worked well on the smell...not so well on the stains. Since you have the stains out, maybe it will take up the smell.

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D.R.

answers from St. Louis on

My mother-in-law runs her own cleaning business... she SWEARS by vinegar for pet odors in carpets, on upholstery, everything! Hope it helps!

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P.B.

answers from Kansas City on

Ok, this is what I found to have helped:
1. Use your steam cleaner on the water only setting
2. Clean the area using the cleaning setting
3. Allow the carpet to dry about 24 hours
4. Heavily sprinkle the area with baking soda (use at least one box) and leave 12 hours
5. Vacuum up the baking soda
This should take care of it. If it doesn't work you can make a paste of baking soda, but it tends to leave the carpet crunchy. CVS also sells "Urine be Gone" with a black light and special enzyme cleaner, but I've not used it.
Hope this helps!

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E.W.

answers from St. Louis on

Same boat as you.

Try putting straight up vinegar in the cleaning solution resivoir of the steam cleaner. You house will smell like a salad for a couple of days (that goes away), but it gets the pee smell out.

Otherwise, time.

Good luck.

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R.W.

answers from Springfield on

There is a produce that neutralizes pet odor stains in carpet.

When we put a house up for rent once and had the entire house carpet cleaned and deodorized, I think the charge for the neutralizer was about $15 per room.

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E.M.

answers from Kansas City on

Try cleaning it with Fles-naptha soap. You can buy it at HyVee or order it online. It is $.97 at Hyvee. Grate it down, boil it and clean you carpet with it. Or you could try just getting the bar wet and rubbing it over the area. But you would have to toss the whole bar if you did not use all of it. It also works wonders on getting stains out of kids clothing. Hope this works for you. E.

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P.T.

answers from Kansas City on

It might be best to go with a professional cleaning agency. The only one that I know off the top of my head is Stanley Steamers. If there is only one spot, it probably wouldn't cost much to clean. Good Luck!

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B.G.

answers from St. Louis on

I've seen responses for vinegar or baking soda, but personally, I've used a combination of both of them together, worked wonders for me. I used the vinegar first, mixed with a little bit of warm water. Once dried, I sprinkled baking soda and let sit for several hours, then vacuum. Good luck to you!

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C.R.

answers from Knoxville on

We have used urine gone. They advertise it on TV. I actually got it at Walgreens. I believe it was in the same area with cleaning supplies. We used it all over the carpets because our dog messed everywhere. Just follow the directions on the bottle.Good Luck

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A.L.

answers from St. Louis on

I just wanted to give another vote for Natures Miracle. We used it a lot when our 2 dogs were puppies... it gets the smell out so that even they don't smell it and should discourage them from going in the same spot again...

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J.C.

answers from Kansas City on

I have used this stuff called Zero Odor in the past and it works GREAT! It takes care of the smell problem without leaving an odor of its own like Nature's Miracle does. You order it online at www.zeroodor.com. If you don't want to order it, you might want to check and see if it went through the carpet and into the pad. If this is the case, you can replace that little piece of padding. Hope this helps!

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S.

answers from St. Louis on

Hi J., I sympathize w/ you, my dog has been sick and has been having accidents on the carpet lately. The only thing that truly works is to have your carpets profesionally cleaned and make sure they use the industrial pet deoderizer. My husband owns his own carpet cleaning business, A-Team Floor Care. I have an advertisement on MamaSource and if you mention the site you get a 10% discount. He is very reasonable w/ pricing. If you would like to have him clean carpets, he can be reached at ###-###-####. Good Luck!

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K.B.

answers from Wichita on

Hi J. call a carpet cleaning service and ask them what type of cleaner they would recommend. Most should be willing to help you out on that. Other then adding vinegar to the water to the spots. I have used simple green and I have uses baking soda sprinkled and left for an hour or so. Seems to work but some pads just hold on to odors.

God Bless and Best of everything on the sale of your home.
K.

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C.M.

answers from Kansas City on

Have you tried using Fabreeze? It works great on clothes and we have used it on carseats and lots of things. I'm sure it would be safe on the carpet too.

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R.W.

answers from Kansas City on

I have used vinegar and water and it seems to work very well. Good luck!!!

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S.D.

answers from Topeka on

The smell of animal urine in carpet will remain there,no matter how well you've cleaned or how well the home is cleaned the smell is in beded into the fibers.If you don't want potential buyers to be offened by the smell belive me there are alot of sensitive noses out there and I'm one of them who can't stand the smell of animals in a home.Then I would buy and replace the carpet and padding.As you mentioned you have steamed cleaned and used several cleaning supplies the smell isn't out.

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K.S.

answers from Kansas City on

Hey J.,

Ok, my mom has four cats and one of them insists on peeing all over her carpet. Her cats are spoiled but she insists one has a bladder infection, or something. Yeah right, it's called spoiled!! Anyway her home smells sooooooo bad cause her cat pee's allover. She has tried all kinds of sprays and has her carpets cleaned several times a year and nothing has helped, except one thing. It's got a really funny name but works AWESOME! This is what it's called: Anti-icki-poo. Told ya it's a weird name. Someone mentioned using odo ban, and I know my mom said that didn't work for her. Pet urine does get into the carpet padding and you usually do need to replace the padding, but this anti-icki-poo worked wonders on my moms extremely urine saturated carpet & padding. I found it on ebay for her. I was at her house the other day, and was amazed that I didn't smell ANY urine odor at all, and it used to be so bad that I could only be in her house for just a minute. Good luck!!

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M.F.

answers from Kansas City on

the offending odor usually lies in the sub-flooring. if you want to REALLY fix it (short of replacing stuff) here's what ya do. pull the carpet back where you know the most urine is (as they usually have a favorite spot) you'll have to decide if that piece of pad is ruined.if it is let me know i probably can get you a small piece. use some odo ban,available at home depot, spray it down a lot.drench it. you can put a fan on it, to help it dry, if you'd like. after all that, you have to seal the spot w some kilz.(grab that at the depot, also)
it all depends on how dedicated you are to fixing it. it's a lot of work but, as you said when seeling your home it is very important! good luck!

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K.B.

answers from Kansas City on

If you know where the spot is Go get the Nature's Miracle at Petsmart

Saturate the spot with the cleaner it should puddle on top of the carpet. Cover with plastic, a trash bag will do, then set something heavy on that. Leave it for at least 24 hour if not longer.

This will allow the enzyme in the cleaner to do its job before it dries.

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P.H.

answers from St. Louis on

Hi, We've had the same problem in the past with our dog and we've used OxyClean. It comes in powder form and you mix it with hot water in a plastic bottle that you can squirt out to apply. To do it correctly, you'd blot the area first with a towel and then apply the OxyClean liquid by saturating the area. After that, apply a dry cloth or towel to the area and blot the area ( I usually stand on the towel to absorb it all), and this will pull up that terrible smell. I sometimes add Oxyclean to our steam cleaner as well to pull up the odors...it really works!!!
P.

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C.B.

answers from St. Louis on

I have three small dogs and the home cleaner that does absolute wonders is Zero Odor. You can get it at Bed, Bath and Beyond. The number on the container is 1-800-526-2067 or www.ZeroOdorStore.com From my experience this should do the trick for you. I use it for all sorts of carpet stains. Good luck.

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D.N.

answers from Kansas City on

For the last 20 some years I have used this same treatment and had awesome results everytime! First, purchase your own carpet cleaner. I have a Bissell Carpet Cleaner and it works just fine. The rented ones I tried just didn't work well for me and they left and smell that I didn't like. I purchased my Bissell at Walmart for about $100-$150? Sounds like a lot of money, but it is an investment. I use mine a lot. My carpets are clean all the time! I never spend money on the carpet man!First use about one cup water, one cup Natures Miracle (purchase from any pet store)and use it in the Bissell Carpet cleaner. Let carpet dry. Then go over that area again with the Bissell Carpet Cleaning solution only. This can be purchased at Walmart too. I recommend the regular Bissell carpet shampoo in the blue bottle, it smells fresh and works so well. I did try the money saver brand ( I think it was a walmart brand)and it just bubbles up and makes a big mess. I did not try the Bissell lavender scent or pet carpet shampoos because they tend to have a over powering not so friendly smell that I don't really care for. I have a lot of friends that come to me looking for help with this same problem because I have always have 2 dogs in my life (large inside dogs) and have 2 children. Hope things work out for you!! Good luck with the sale of your home and your move.

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J.F.

answers from Kansas City on

buy a cleaner that you can get at walmart called Kids and Pets. It's around 5 dollars a bottle but cleans stains and smells better than anything and doesn't harm wood, carpet, furniture, clothes. You will love it

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