So your pet has peed on the carpet… What now?

We all love our furry friends, but unfortunately they sometimes leave behind unwanted surprises. You try to clean as best you can, but an unpleasant odour remains…

What can you do?
Generally speaking, pet urine is a simple fix as long as you get to it straight away before any of it dries. When fresh it’s a simple matter of blotting up as much as possible with paper towel. Then apply your cleaning agent (making sure the product is appropriate for your fibre type), work it in gently, blot and then rinse with clean water and blot again.
If it dries and you have a yellow stain or an odour it’s beyond the area of DIY. You will need professional help and not just from any carpet cleaner.
Some cleaners may claim and may appear to have resolved the issue with a general clean and treatment with a ‘Urine Free’ product, however, if they don’t remove the source, or chemically modify it, the odour WILL return. Think of a smell in the fridge – you may be able to spray some vanilla fridge wipe and it will mask the odour, but unless you remove the source (rotting food) the odour returns.
You have a few choices in regards to the pet odour in your lounge, rug or carpet – put up with it, replace it, or go through what can sometimes be a lengthy elimination process.

Can it be fixed?
A lot will depend on the volume of urine and how far it soaked down past the fabric or carpet and into the foam or underlay and beyond. Or if it is has been trapped between tightly woven fibres of a rug for instance.
The problem with urine is that it is the Jekyll and Hyde of all stains. It goes on as a mild acid which is relatively harmless and if attended to quickly poses no real damage. However once it’s allowed to dry the rules change dramatically because it turns from a mild acid to a highly alkaline stain and that’s when the problems begin.
Dealing with it effectively without causing secondary problems depends on how quickly it’s attended to and what cleaning agents are used.
Due to the alkalinity and dwell time required to achieve a satisfactory result, there are risks to cleaning urine affected carpet, upholstery and rugs which may include but are not limited to fibre breakage, rippling and discoloration.

Will the odour go?
Can we eliminate the odour entirely or to an acceptable level? Well, the results of our treatment would be uncertain until we proceed through the process – pet odours can permeate not just the face and subsurface fibres which we treat, but the substrate and other absorbent surfaces used in the construction of your lounge or carpet, or the tightly woven fibre or backing of your rug. If the area has been significantly affected, then it may not be possible to completely eliminate the odour. Or subsequent treatment/s may be required. It may appear that the problem has been dealt with, but it can take multiple approaches to actually remove it.

Supermarket Carpet Cleaning and Stain Removal Products…
Using household products can cause further damage and reduce the effectiveness of some treatment processes. According to the manufacturers of urine treatment products, the enzymes will not work effectively if there are residual detergents etc mixed in with the urine deposit. It is important for us to know if you have attempted cleaning yourself because another step would need to be added to our process to remove as many residuals as possible before continuing with our usual treatment process.

Now that you’re armed with all the information, only you can answer the most important question – Put up with it, replace it, or clean it?

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