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As any dog or cat owner would tell you, pet stains are inevitable on the carpet at any point. It’s not a matter of if but when.
So it’s best to know beforehand what steps to take to handle these messes.
Whether your pet intentionally defecates or scoots on the carpeting to alleviate itching from worms or irritation from impacted anal glands, you will end up with poop stains on the carpet or rug.
It is a nasty business, and you should clean it up immediately to avoid health-related concerns to the people or pets living at home.
Here are some helpful tips if you need to know how to get pet poop stains out of the carpet.
Have These Tools on Hand
When you first get a dog or cat, assembling a pet accident cleaning kit is smart.
If you have not gathered these tools and kept them in one place for convenient access, now is the time to do that.
Here is what you need, plus a few extra tools that may prove helpful:
- Disposable gloves: These are very handy for scooping up feces. Since it is disposable, your hands will never have to touch the mess.
- Scrubby brush: Acquire a good one with stiff bristles and a handle that won’t break under pressure. You will need this once most of the poo has been lifted from the carpet.
- A pet stain-specific cleaner helps oxidize the stain and break down organic particles in the poop.
- Rags you don’t mind throwing away or a heavy-duty paper towel.
- A dual-sided sponge: Get something with a scrubby on one side and a soft and absorbent on another.
- Natural cleaners that neutralize odors so that your pet doesn’t return to the same area to defecate.
- Spot carpet cleaning machine: These remove stains in small areas. Look for a model with attached scrub heads that allow you to spray and scrub with one cleaner and tool.
You may have to do some trial and error with different products to see what is most effective on the poop stains on your carpet.
A pet’s diet and digestive problems may contribute to some stains being more challenging to remove than others, and therefore, you will have to find what works best.
However, the above list is a recommended “starter kit” for most pet owners with carpets and pets with potty issues.
Steps to Remove Poop From Your Carpet
Again, this will vary depending on your carpeting type (e.g., deep shag versus Berber) and your pet’s diet and digestive issues (if any).
However, the process, in general, goes something like this:
Step 1. Any solid feces should be picked up with a paper towel after you don gloves.
Pick up any fresh feces on the carpet. There are a lot of bacteria and parasites in animal poop that can make you sick, so wearing gloves is essential!
If you only see stains or a diarrhea-like mess, skip this and move to the next step.
Step 2. Blot any wet or runny feces with paper towels.
Doing so lifts any liquid feces or stains from the carpet.
DO NOT RUB! Rubbing liquid or partially liquid wastes causes the stain to spread out and get worse.
It also causes any bacteria or parasites in the feces to spread further! Make sure to dispose of used towels or rags in a sealed bag to avoid cross-contamination.
Repeat this step until you’ve taken out all the fecal matter on the surface.
Step 3. Remove the stain.
If you have a spot carpet cleaning machine, use that on the area to prevent the further spread of the stain while effectively disinfecting and removing it.
The best part about owning one of these little household gadgets is that it does most of the hard work on the stain and uses cleaners as it scrubs and lifts.
If you don’t have one of these appliances, you will have to use the pet stain cleaning product spritzed onto the stain and, conversely, use your scrubby brush and a rag or sponge to lift the stain. Continue this process until you can’t see the stain anymore.
One more thing–don’t over-saturate the stain with a cleaner!
This is a common mistake that sends fecal matter deeper into carpet strands and destroys the pad underneath due to excess moisture.
Lightly spray the visible feces when cleaning to avoid over-saturating.
Repeat the steps above until you don’t see any more stains.
Step 4: Dry the carpet
The last step is to dry the carpet or rug. You’ll have several options. One method is to cover the area with a clean white microfiber towel or paper towel, then stack a heavy object over it to absorb excess moisture.
Another option is to open the window to air dry the carpet or point a fan to speed up the drying process. Make sure to block off the area so that no one walks over it.
How to clean dog poop off the carpet with vinegar?
This is a bonus section for people who want to know how to clean dog poop off the carpet with vinegar.
Your best bet is to use vinegar and baking soda. Rub dry baking soda into the stain with an old toothbrush or smaller scrubbing bristle apparatus. Then, spray with diluted white vinegar.
The chemical reaction between the vinegar and the baking soda will cause it to bubble up and lift fecal matter from the carpet.
Then, you can blot it with a rag and repeat as needed.
Use a brush to scrub anything the vinegar and baking soda mixture did not lift.
Run a vacuum cleaner over the area to remove any baking soda traces.
Additionally, cleaning the spot this way removes odors and prevents the smell of feces from permeating the carpet down to the padding. It helps break up hardened and dried bits, too.
It is also one hundred percent natural since it doesn’t contain toxic chemicals and will not harm your pets or kids.
Additional Tips
Dogs will sniff out areas in the home where they have either scooted or pooped before.
If you have difficulty breaking your pet off this habit, consider either crate training to stop these behaviors when you cannot be home to take the dog outside or leave a pet pad training patch over this area.
It allows your dog to continue using the area as a bathroom but covers the carpet and protects it against stains.
If the problem is your cat, consider placing a cat box over that spot to provide a more acceptable means of toileting for your pet feline.