At odds about what to do with a pet that uses your hallway as a bathroom? Well nothing beats professional treatment and extraction but there are ways to handle the odor and attempt to treat the smell on your own. Let me start by saying that some of the help articles written on the internet work in the short term, what they don’t do is explain what happens a month later. I have received calls from people using dish soap, vinegar, natures miracle, really the list keeps going. of those 3 examples the only one i’d recommend is natures miracle.
Let’s take a look at what kind of damage you’re facing. The two primary areas of concern are
- Color
- Smell
Let’s address color first. How hydrated the pet is and how stain resistant the carpet is really come into play here. It probably goes without saying the sooner you address the issue the higher your odds of success. color damage really needs to be addressed within the first 48hrs and you can give it a shot by yourself if you don’t feel like calling us in just yet. one product that works wonders on color is sold by jon-don and called {appropriately} Bad-Dog. it’s a peroxide based cleaner that kills the bacterial present and lightens the color. before applying soak up all you can, rinse with water, soak up again, add some bad dog, soak up the excess and let it dry. regular 3% brown bottle peroxide also can work in a pinch but only on synthetic carpets. Do not use stronger peroxides. They may or may not alter carpet color and need to be extracted within minutes if used.
Smell is the next area of concern and bacteria decay is what creates that smell you just can’t stand. On the one hand. unless you have a LOT of urine in the carpet. The smell will dissipate over time as the bacteria burns itself out. However, who wants to wait months? the above example with Bad-dog is very effective with smell. Peroxide is the same story. you need to extract as much as possible and kill the bacteria. Bad dog and natures miracle are good stop-gap measures until you can get a professional cleaning done. All of the above works on bad cats too.
