How to Deal With Your Pet and Your Carpet

My first year after graduating University, I bought a beautifully woven Persian rug for my living room. The patterns were vibrant, the fibre was delicate and the texture felt alive. What really sweetened the deal was it did not break the bank. One day I forgot to clean the litter box and my snobbish feline companion chose to punish me by leaving a very pungent message on the centre of my cherished acquisition. In the weeks that followed I tried everything. The smell was gone but the stain had become a part of the rug. The pattern on the rug was perfect, so perfect that one little smudge tipped that precarious perfection in the other direction. I loved that rug but eventually with a heavy heart, I got rid of it and never got a replacement.

In the North York carpet cleaning industry, all experts agree that carpets and pets do not make the best of combinations, so knowing a thing or two about carpet cleaning can really help you stay ahead of the game.

Clean Pets: Dogs and cats love rolling around on the carpet. Good carpets feel nice, sometimes even I like rolling around on something that appeases the soles of my feet. Bathing your dog regularly will keep his odour off of your rug. I know cats look after themselves but being animals, they do develop a smell if you do not give them the occasional rub down. Clean pets mean clean carpets. In addition, vacuum the carpet regularly to remove lingering fur.

Wipe their paws: This little tip allies to the entire house. If you have an outdoor cat make sure you wipe their feet with a wet towel when they come in. Do this every time you bring your dog in from a walk. Not only will your carpet be cleaner, the amount of dirt travelling through the house will take a nose dive.

Remedies: Pet related stains are organic in nature. There are certain stain removers that work well with organic spills. Soak a stain with soda water and absorb it using a wet towel. Do not rub it but blot it, rubbing will make the stain spread. A second tip from many North York carpet cleaning professionals that works better is using borax. After cleaning a stain with a towel, create a mixture that is one part borax and two parts baking soda. Coat what’s left of the stain with the mixture and let it stand for an hour before vacuuming the area. Also when picking your cleaning agent, pick cleaners that use a natural enzyme as its base.

Natural Foods: Give your pets natural food. Animals cannot digest artificial food colour. So god forbid, there is a situation where your friend has an accident, the excretion will not contain food colouring. Colouring will seep into the rug and slip in between the individual fibres, leaving your with a much bigger problem.

Hire a Carpet Cleaner: If it gets that bad, hire a carpet cleaner before you chug the rug. Be very careful though; specify to the cleaner that you have pets. A lot of the industrial grade cleaners have substances that are highly toxic to our furry companions. Unless you are careful you might be dealing with a much bigger accident. 

One final tip, if you really want to buy something expensive, keep it in a room where your pets are not allowed to enter. If you do not want the hassle, just keep your pets away from your carpets. 

Bonus Tip: Carpet Stains 

Carpet stains are a drag – and often extremely hard to remove. One of the most bothersome carpet stains are left by blood. Do you know how to remove blood stains from your carpet? Our Mississauga carpet cleaning professionals have the answer.