Pets and Your Carpet

Pets are cute, loving and our best friends, but not our carpets best friend. The truth is that pets cause a lot of damage to carpets just by being pets, but there are a few things we can do to minimize their destructive powers. One the the leading causes of carpet wear is dirt, debris, and foreign particles being trapped on and in the carpet rubbing against the fibers. Pet hair, dirt, and even pet toys that have been so well payed with they are in tiny pieces are some of the ways that Cats and Dogs contribute to this problem. To save your carpet from needing an early replacement, Pet owners should vacuum more frequently then non pet owners. Even the best trained pets will have an "accident" on the carpet. Although I would love it, Having carpet professionally cleaned after each accident is not practical. Several of my clients love to use enzymatic cleaners, great, but be sure to follow directions on the bottle. most enzyme cleaners will be ineffective if you try to use other cleaners first because it will kill the enzymes. Enzymes also have to be kept at warmer temps and damp for a longer period of time to work properly. Regardless if you are using an enzymatic cleaner or not, the best tool for pet mess clean up is a good wet /dry vac. After cleaning the area with your choice of chemicals, apply plenty of warm water while you have the wet / dry vac handy to suck everything back out. This will get the pet stain out, and also the chemicals and spot treatments you may have applied. Leaving behind chemicals can cause rapid resoling, so the warm water rinse is a must to prevent those spots from re-appearing.