Animals have been long friends of humans, especially animals like dogs and cats.
Pets are great for emotional and moral support but also require great responsibility. It’s kinda like taking care of children (e.g. feeding, bathing, keeping them warm, and cleaning their smelly business too!)
Although when talking about cats specifically, they show primitive instincts of hygiene by finding areas with more sand, digging a small part of it, and after doing their business they cover it too!
For cats that are always housebound – the only difference is that instead of sand they now have litter boxes – but that doesn’t stop accidents from happening from time to time here and there.
When these accidents happen, they usually indicate that your pet isn’t happy with the litter box’s location or its cleanliness – or they are just doing it out of spite! In some cases, it also indicates some sort of infection, in which case it’s best to take your pet to a vet as soon as you can.
Maybe you were hoping for more of a self-care weekend – but if your carpet is on the unfortunate receiving end of a cat accident, it’s, unfortunately, time to get to work as quickly as possible. Don’t worry though, we have all the tips and tricks you need to clean up and get your carpets back in shape ASAP.
Step 1: Change The Cat Litter
Many people don’t take this into account, but cat litter really does matter.
There are two types of litter clumping and non-clumping, allow your feline to make a choice. Your cat could be defecating on your carpet flooring because it does not approve of the litter itself.
So, take notes if you have recently changed its litter, try going back to the previous one and experiment, it might result in fewer accidents.
Step 2: Gear Up!
All pet owners would agree that dealing with felines’ vomit, urine, poop, or stain can be challenging due to its pungent smell and the risk of all the harmful bacteria that might arise during cleaning.
So, it’s important to wear latex gloves and a mask to avoid the risk of getting infections before diving into ‘mission cleanup’.
Step 3: Clean the Bulk Of The Mess
To remove the bulk of the poop, you will need paper towels to pick the bulk of the poop up and ensure that you have your trashcan close to you, so you won’t have to go across the carpet to discard it because that might end up in an even smellier disaster.
It is essential to act quickly here before it sets in!
Step 4: Remove Everything
It is important to clean or remove all the small bits and dried pieces from the carpet fibers before moving on to poop stain removal, disinfecting, and odor treatment.
The leftover dried bits and pieces can create a mess and lengthen your work by spreading onto the rest of the carpet. So, to avoid that try getting everything out by using new sets of paper towels.
Step 5: Carpet Cleaning And Disinfecting
There are many commercially available products to treat pet poop stains and odors from carpets as well as disinfectants but if those are not available to you, you can always trust the good old DIY solutions of vinegar and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) or simple dishwashing soap at home to do the job for you.
Before you try removing the stain it is very necessary to do a patch test or ‘spot test‘. Spray or apply your solution on a hidden spot of your carpet like under the sofa to check and see for any staining, bleaching or damage of the carpet.
Step 6: Get Cat Poop Stains Out
Once your patch test comes out positive, spray or apply your DIY solution on the stain or the affected area (try not to spread the solution elsewhere) and wait for a few minutes to allow the carpet to soak and loosen up the poop stain for easy removal.
Step 7: Blot The Solution Thoroughly From The Stained Area
After a few minutes, blot the area with the help of paper towels very gently till it soaks up all the liquid of the DIY solution and you’ll be able to see the poop coming out of the carpet. Repeat this process till you see the paper towels completely clean after each blot.
Step 8: Rinse With Water
After ensuring that all the poop is out of the carpet and your paper towels have no residues, it’s time to do a water rinse to remove the DIY solution from the carpet.
Just simply spray tap water on the area, blot away, and allow it to dry.
Step 9: Odor Treatment
This is the easy part. Mix in equal parts of apple cider vinegar or white vinegar with water.
Spray onto the carpet flooring and blot away the solution with the help of a cloth and repeat the process till the odor is gone.
After blotting, if there is still any remaining odor of poop or vinegar solution, sprinkle baking soda on the affected area, wait for a few minutes, and vacuum away. Baking soda is a well-known neutralizer and works great with carpets too.
Step 10: Prevent Future Accidents
Felines have a great sense of picking up scents. This is how you literally train your pets by associating the litter box with the smell of the poop to allow them to mark their territory of doing smelly business.
If by any chance your pet doesn’t follow the training, it indicates a few things as mentioned in the article. But to altogether avoid this stinky problem, it’s important to train your cat. You can also encourage your furry friend by rewarding them with treats and belly rubs with each successful attempt at following the training.
Conclusion
In conclusion, as much as you love your furry friends, they can make an awful mess if their excrement hits your carpet.
But worry not, most of the time you can clean it up with some dishwashing soap, vinegar and baking soda by following the steps we discussed in the article, and prevent any future mishaps with regular litter changing and good training.