Dogs are responsible for a large variety of messes. Muddy paw prints, hair and dander, and urine are a few of the dog messes that are most common and easy to clean. Yet there are other types of dog messes that are less common and demand immediate attention for cleaning and treatment. Two of the most unpleasant types of dog messes are feces and vomit. Cleaning dog feces and vomit is important not only to maintain the overall cleanliness of your home, but also to prevent any long-term damage to carpet or rugs.
How to Clean Dog Feces
Dog feces, as you may know, comes in many varieties. Healthy poo, not so healthy poo, and occasionally diarrhea. Liquids and carpets are not good for each other, and depending on the fiber type, your carpet or rug may be all too ready to absorb the liquid and leave a foul spot that needs to be treated immediately.
How to treat dog feces on carpet
Let’s start with the basics: remove excess contaminants, blot dry, and treat accordingly. These are the proper steps for all in-home spot treatment. First, you will want to remove any and all organic material from the surface of your carpet, so it doesn’t have a chance to seep further into the carpet fibers. Second, we want to blot the area with clean, unbleached towels or paper towels to remove any excess liquid. Third, we want to ascertain what kind of stain we have and treat it appropriately.
Remove excess contaminants
If you are cleaning up after a dog’s healthy bowel movement, it will be easier to treat and will likely not cause lasting damage to your carpet. Excess contaminants should be removed with a flat and wide object (a dustpan often works well). There should be a minimal amount of mess left to clean when you get the large “debris” away from the carpet, maybe a small spot.
Blot Dry
Once all surface and excess material has been removed from the area, it is time to treat the spot. Depending on the size and seriousness of the dog mess, use paper towels or some unbleached cotton towels to thoroughly blot the area. It is important to blot and not rub at this point. Rubbing the spot can cause it to mash deeper into the carpet fiber or it can damage the rug fiber leaving you with a “fuzz mark”. I really hate when I can successfully remove a stain to be left with a noticeable fuzzy spot where someone rubbed a little too much. If you have a wet dry shop vac this step can be much less daunting, just be careful not to scrub.
Treat accordingly
First and foremost, look at your carpet manufacturer’s warranty information, often they have some recommendations. Apart from this, you are on your own to dig up some magic from DIY’s on the internet. This is the part where we can run into problems, especially if you rely on the over-the-counter stain removers to tell you the truth about how safe they are for your carpets or rugs. Side Note: You would be amazed by how many products are misleading, how Wool-lite is not safe for wool, or how so many over-the-counter products will cause permanent color damage. However, First Class Green Cleaning can safely recommend any product designed for carpets that advertise the use of enzymes. Most products using the term “oxy” can be suspect, but the vast majority of enzyme-based spotters will not cause irrevocable harm to your carpets. As with any spotter, be sure to pre-test to ensure that the spotter doesn’t damage your fabric. Pro-Tip: pre-test in a low-traffic corner of the room to ensure your cleaning products do not damage your carpet fibers.
Long-term damage risk
When we are dealing with feces, most of the damage is done as soon as it hits the fibers. If the puppy is on some medication, there can be dyes coming through that can be troublesome. If the animal is sick and the bowel movement is mostly liquid, we do need to worry a bit about how much stomach acid may be present in the mess. Stomach acid can cause the dyesites to open and accept color to create a difficult-to-treat stain. Oftentimes, more damage can be done from treating the spot improperly than temporarily leaving it alone. If you are unsure, do not experiment with every cleaning product in your pantry. Call a professional carpet cleaner to come out to your home and assess the damage.
How to Clean Dog Vomit
As fun as a good dog feces spot can be, sometimes undigested food is more difficult to deal with. You won’t always be able to identify what exactly went wrong with your pet’s most recent meal. Like feces, there are a few different varieties of vomit and they have more to do with exactly how far into the digestion process the food got before the poor animal had to bring it back up.
Treating Dog Vomit
As fun as a good dog feces spot can be, sometimes undigested food is more difficult to deal with. You won’t always be able to identify what exactly went wrong with your pet’s most recent meal. Like feces, there are a few different varieties of vomit and they have more to do with exactly how far into the digestion process the food got before the poor animal had to bring it back up.
Treat accordingly
Once the solids and liquids have been removed as much as possible, it’s time to deal with any leftover discoloration. If your carpet is newer, then you may have no discoloration, or you can refer to the warranty for product recommendations. If it’s a little older and the protective coating has expired, we usually recommend, as stated above, using a product that is enzyme based. Enzymes digest all the unpleasant organic material and any remaining discoloration won’t be chemically “burned” into the carpet (like some over the counter spotters can do). Don’t forget, as with any solution, always be willing to test in an inconspicuous area to make sure it doesn’t hurt the carpet.
Long-term damage risk
The biggest risk with dog vomit is the stomach acid etching the dyesites, usually leaving a yellow tint. Unfortunately, this damage happens as soon as it hits the carpet. If you are able to treat it properly while it is wet, you can limit the damage by not allowing the acid to settle into the carpet fiber. Whether you get to it while it is wet or after it is dry, once you’ve lightened it as much as you can, you are better served calling a carpet cleaning professional to try and remove it any further. Otherwise, you run the risk of creating a new spot to try and deal with.
Having pets is more popular now than it has ever been before. And, living with animals requires a lot of time, attention, and mess cleaning. It’s important to understand how to deal with pet messes and avoid unnecessary damage. First Class Green Cleaning is committed to helping Arizona families keep their living environments, healthy, clean, and absent of harmful chemicals. Feel free to CONTACT US here, or call 602-996-6993 with any household cleaning questions or concerns.
Questions About Cleaning Dog Feces on Carpet?
If you have any questions about how to keep your carpets clean living with dogs, please reach out to us at First Class Green Cleaning today.
