For many homeowners the combination of pets and carpets is a non-issue. A well behaved and healthy pet with ample access to the outdoors means an odor free home. For other homeowners the same combination can result in a host of problems, from stains, to odors, to flea problems.
The most simple of the problems to solve is fleas. The carpets in your home provide an ideal breeding ground for fleas once they have made it into your home. Fortunately there are many non-toxic remedies that a professional carpet cleaner can offer you. The most important factor however is proper grooming of your pet to prevent the fleas from entering your home in the first place.
When it comes to the problem of stains however, the cleaning process in many cases will be of little or no help. Whether it is a discoloration in your carpet from a pet being sick or from an accident, discolorations in your carpet are often permanent. It would be the same as expecting to remove a bleach spot from your favorite jeans by washing them. There are really only two types of permanent stains a carpet can have. Either a color added stain, or a color loss stain.
A color added stain happens when a new pigment is introduced to the fibers and in the process of penetrating them redyes the carpet to a new color. When animals are sick the two main reasons for this are either dyes that were present in the food they recently ate, or from the stomach acids that all animals produce. A color loss stain is a form of bleaching caused by high PH factors. Often carpets will bleach to pure white, or yellow. Yellow discolorations are most often found in colored carpets like green, brown, blue or red. The reason they turn yellow is because only certain parts of the dyes that made the original color are affected.
Depending on the type of fiber your carpet is made of and the age of the carpet you do have two options for removing these discolorations. The first is called spot dyeing. If, for instance you have a green carpet that has faded to yellow, your carpet cleaner can reintroduce blue dye to the area. As we all remember from school yellow and blue make green. You may not get a perfect match, but a section of your green carpet that is a shade lighter or darker is much better on the eyes than a bright yellow section. The second option is called a carpet patch. If your carpet is made of a fiber that will not accept redying this is your only option. With a patch you literally cut out the discolored area and replace it with a section of carpet from a spare piece. If spare carpet is not handy, then you can use carpet from a closet transferring the discoloration from the middle of the living room to the back corner of your closet. However it is important to bear in mind that on older carpets the patch may stand out as much as the original stain due to wear and sun fade.
Removal of pet odors from your carpet CAN be a labor intensive process. I have addressed this issue in another fluffyfeet article called pet odor control. For a brief recap I will simply say that I strongly recommend you consult a restoration professional on the matter of odor removal. The vast majority of urine damage restoration jobs I have worked on have only been made worse and more expensive to resolve due to the well intentioned actions taken by a thrifty homeowner.
Article by Guest Blogger Brian L. Vaubel
Brian has 20+ years experience in carpet and furniture care and founded Eco-Clean in California. He works with environmentally friendly products and consults on Indoor Air Quality issues, and specializes in maintaining homes for those who are chemically sensitive
