The Ultimate Pet Owner’s Carpet Care Guide

Let’s be honest, as much as we love our furry friends, none of us enjoy cleaning up after them. If your four-legged buddy tends to leave ‘special surprises’ for you on the living room rug, you know it can be a right pain shifting the stains (not to mention the smells) from the fabric.

Cleaning up dog or cat muck might not be the most glamorous job in the world, but it certainly pays to know how to get poop out of carpet if you’re going to keep it in tip-top condition for longer. And of course, pets do more than just poop, so we’ve put together an expert guide to help you remove urine, hair and fleas from your carpets, carpet runners and stair runners, too.

This is the ultimate pet owners carpet care guide from the experts here at Carpet Runners UK, so carry on reading for all the advice you need to keep your rugs, runners and carpets looking spic and span.

Before we begin though, make sure you check the care guide you received with your carpet. Some carpet fibres, especially wool, can react adversely to different cleaning products and techniques, so it’s definitely worth double-checking before you start.

How to remove dog and cat urine from carpet

Carpet fibres can soak up pet urine quickly but, if you move fast, the mess will be a lot easier to mop up. Follow our steps and you’ll be getting dog and cat urine out of your carpet in no time.

What you need:

• Cold water


• Paper towels


• White vinegar


• Baking soda


• Spray bottle or cloth

Method:

Step One:

Blot the urine with paper towels as soon as you notice Fido or Felix has had an accident. Next, use a few slightly damp paper towels to cover the affected area, as the moisture will help remove the stains from the carpet. Check back after the wet towels have been left to sit for five minutes.

Step Two:

While your wet paper towels are doing their job, prepare the mixture that will lift the stain out. Add one cup of cold water to one cup of white vinegar and add two heaped tablespoons of baking soda. Stir the solution and apply to the patch of urine. If you have a spray bottle to hand, use it for applying the mixture to avoid soaking your carpet. Otherwise, gently dab at the area with a cloth damp with the solution.

Step Three:

Let the vinegar and baking soda solution sit for five minutes, and then blot the area again with dry paper towels. Don’t rub or scrub, as the paper towels will disintegrate.

Step Four:

Wash your hands thoroughly. This won’t help remove dog and cat urine from carpet, but there’s no denying your hands could probably do with a good clean at this point.

Now that you know how to remove dog and cat urine from carpet, there’s no need to worry if your pet has a little mishap.

How to get poop out of carpet

In some ways, poop can be slightly easier to deal with than dog and cat urine. Sure, the smell might be worse and no one wants to get the stuff on their hands, but at least carpet doesn’t absorb poop as much as it does urine. It’s the little things you have to be thankful for. 

But poop can still leave stains, so follow our instructions on how to get poop out of carpet.

What you need:

• Paper towels/baby wipes


• Cold water


• Washing up liquid (non-bleach)


• White vinegar


• Baking soda


• Spray bottle or cloth


• Vacuum cleaner


• A strong stomach

Method:

Step One:

Try to gently scrape up as much of the waste as you can, trying your best not to rub it into the carpet. Using damp paper towels or baby wipes, pinch at the carpet fibres to pick away as much of the poop as possible.

Step Two:

Make a cleaning solution consisting of two cups of cold water, a tablespoon of liquid dish soap (non-bleach) and one tablespoon of white vinegar. Using a spray bottle or cloth, apply the mixture to the poop stain. Blot away at the stain until you can’t see it anymore.

Step Three:

Once you can no longer see the stain, pour a small amount of cold water onto the affected patch of carpet, and blot until dry. Sprinkle some baking soda where the stain was and leave it to sit for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes have passed, vacuum the baking soda up, and your carpet should look as good as new.

And now you know how to get poop from carpet. We never said these tasks would be fun, but we do hope we’re at least making them easier to deal with.

How to get dog and cat hair out of carpet

Chances are, removing dog and cat hair from carpets will be your main gripe as a pet owner. Sometimes, it feels like your furry friends wait for you to finish vacuuming before immediately molting again. Luckily, this type of pet mess is easy to clear up, even if it is the one you’ll be dealing with most frequently.

What you need:

• Baking soda


• Vacuum cleaner


• Rubber squeegee (optional — and no, we’re not pulling your leg with this)

Method:

Step One:

Sprinkle baking soda over the worst affected areas of your carpet (they always have that favourite sleeping spot that gets completely covered, don’t they?) and leave it to sit for five minutes.

Step Two:

Thoroughly vacuum where you sprinkled the baking soda to get the dog and cat hair out of your carpet. As well as helping to lift the fur from the carpet, the baking soda also helps absorb those doggy and moggy smells from your carpet.

Step Three (Optional):

We’re not sure who first had the idea to run a rubber squeegee over carpets, but we’re glad they did. If pet hair is firmly embedded into your carpet fibres, rubber can effectively lift out the hair without damaging your carpet. Simply run the squeegee over the carpet gently and lift or vacuum the collected fur.

So now you know the best methods on how to remove dog and cat hair from carpet. But with pet hair comes one more possible issue for your carpet; fleas.

How to get rid of fleas in carpet

This problem is a big deal because fleas can be very difficult to get rid of and can be hazardous to your health, as well as the health of your pet. The only fleas most people see are the adults, and killing them only removes approximately 5% of the population.

The rest is made up of eggs, larvae and pupae, which resist certain clean-up methods. With this in mind, we’re going to show you the best way to get rid of fleas in carpet; even the ones you can’t see. Brace yourself for a long slog when tackling these little beasts.

Before you wage war on the fleas jumping around your carpet, you should wash any fabrics — like pet bedding and cushions — that could harbour an entire secret platoons of fleas. The higher the temperature the better, but make sure to check the washing instructions so nothing comes out of the washing machine looking worse than it went in.

What you need:

• Natural flea spray


• Vacuum cleaner

Method:

Step One:

Spray every fabric in your house with a natural flea spray. Double-check the spray you use has natural, organic ingredients, or otherwise you may be spraying your home with a chemical which could be harmful to your pet. The best place to get these sprays is from your local pet store as the shop assistants will be able to provide advice on finding the right spray to avoid harming your dog or cat.

Step Two:

Give the spray 10 minutes to sit, then vigorously vacuum your entire house, including the sofa and curtains.

Step Three:

Fleas can be tricky to deal with, so it’s unlikely spraying and vacuuming your house once will get rid of them all. If possible, try to repeat the process every day for at least a week while remembering to use the flea treatment recommended for your dog or cat by a qualified veterinarian.

It’s not a quick solution, but spraying and vacuuming is one of the most effective ways of getting rid of fleas from carpet that’s budget-friendly and safe for your dogs and cats.

We know having a pet comes with its up and downs, but now that you have the ultimate pet owners carpet care guide to hand, at least you never have to worry about keeping your carpets clean.

If you’re looking for an additional quick fix to treating pet-related carpet stains, we at Carpet Runners UK provide a range of carpet and rug cleaning accessories to help you out in a pinch.

Do you know any other great methods of removing urine, poop, hair and fleas from carpet? Feel free to share your tips with us on Facebook and Twitter.