What should you do if your pet “Goes On The Carpet?”
If puppy puddles are giving you grief, this may help.
Understanding a little about the make up of urine spots is a good idea. If caught quickly urine spots can be dealt with effectively.
First of all, if you have a pet that is prone to urinate on the carpet, take a quick walk through your home each day when you get home.
The quicker you get to pet urine spots the better!
Surprising facts on urine: When it come out of the creature it is on the mild acid side on the pH scale and is very easily removed. However, within hours of being exposed to air it turns to an alkaline pH and removal is a whole different story! Act FAST! If you do, simply removing the urine with absorbent toweling and some clear water rinsing may do the job. Get it as dry as possible even weighting down some white toweling to absorb all the moisture you can. Additionally, if you have a little rinse and vac type machine you can use it to rinse. Follow up with the towel trick. An optional step might be some Long’s spotter, which is slightly alkaline ph.
After unattended exposure to air, alkaline salts begin to form and in time it may even develop that “ammonia” smell. At this point the dye structure of your carpet may change and color damage may occur.
To clean the spot at this stage, Mix 1 part white vinegar to 2 parts water. (If you are unsure how long the urine has been there feel free to use this mixture anyway). Clean the spot with absorbent toweling and your vinegar solution. Again, if you have a small extraction machine, it would be ideal to use in your final rinse step. Get it as dry as possible even weighting down some white toweling to absorb all the moisture you can. DO NOT USE OVER THE COUNTER SPOT REMOVERS OR ALL PURPOSE CLEANERS ON URINE! YOU MAY SET THE SPOT PERMANENTYLY! If you have trouble with it give us a call!
Check out our full list for 23 Common Spots, including pet urine spots and how to remove them!