Pet Odors and Stains

Your family's lovable dog or cat can be your carpets worst enemy. Often, the urine is not discovered until long after the accident. The types of damage from pet stains can be diverse and are dependent upon the makeup of the urine.

When mistakes happen it's time to call your certified professional carpet cleaner, Jolly Carpet & Upholstery Cleaners. Jolly Carpet will neutralize the damage that will occur if left untreated. Urine content will change over the pet's life because of the pet's diet, medications, age, health, sex, and reproductive cycles. Because of these variations, some urine stains may not be removable.

Urine, as it ages, can affect the dyes used in carpet, although not all occurrences will result in a permanent stain. Success is dependent upon the content of the urine, the dyes and finish used, and the time elapsed after the deposit. Some urine spots may be immediately noticeable, while others may take weeks or months for a reaction. The dyes may change color immediately after contact with urine.

When urine spots develop slowly and are noticed after much time has elapsed, the dyes and carpet fibers may be permanently damaged. In beige carpet, blue dyes are attacked by pet urine, leaving behind the red and yellow dyes with a resulting stain appearing red, yellow, or orange.

At the time of the pet accident, dry up the excess liquid with a paper towel. Next pour a little cold water on the offending area. Dry this up with some more paper towels. Get the area as dry as possible and then spray some aerosol household disinfectant over the area. Many times this will stop the problem in its tracks by neutralizing the urine salts. In most cases this proceedure will keep the problem under control and will probably correct urine contamination.

NEVER APPLY SOAP TO THE AREA, since this leaves a sticky residue which gives the odor causing salts, something to cling to and grow. Urine may be unpleasant, but you are not removing soil.

Pet urine, left unattended, can damage carpet in several ways. Moisture can weaken the layers of the carpet, allowing separation or delaminating of the backing material. Seam areas can be particularly damaged and can separate. These advanced damages are permanent, requiring replacement. The amount of odor from the urine will increase the older it gets.

Your feathered friend is a whole different story. As your friend flies around your house, he will deposit his droppings all over your carpet, drapes, furniture and other home furnishings. Having him over would not be a good idea since he is not housebroken like you.

Another problem, especially with cats, is odor. Unless the cat urine can be completely removed or neutralized, complete odor removal is unlikely. Cat urine has a stronger smell because, in the animal world, urine is an attractant. Dogs have a keener sense of smell, hence the dog urine has a weaker odor. A number of products are available to combat odor, but may simply mask the odor, and, in times of high humidity, the odor may reappear. Recently, enzymes, available at pet stores and veterinary offices, have been developed claiming to be more effective. Using these products can lead to further more damaging problems. According to the directions, you are instructed to flood the area with these products. Doing so saturates the sub floor and can lead to mold and mildew. I have yet to see satisfactory results with this method and do not recommend using these products.

If odor cannot be removed, the damaged carpet and pad will need to be replaced. This alone will not completely solve the odor problem. The urine odor is in the sub floor and needs to be dealt with or the new carpet will smell like the old. Once the carpet has been removed, the sub floor should be sealed with the proper sealant. This should be done by a trained professional odor control specialist. The manufacturer guarantees the product for 1 year. I have never seen the same problem re-occur after the floor has been properly sealed. Floors we sealed years ago are still free of odor unless the animal has been bad and urinated on the carpet again. These measures probably should not be taken while the animal is still present. Less expensive "Get By Methods" should be used at that time and are explained below..

These "Get By Methods" could be having Jolly Carpet Cleaners apply a topical odor neutralizor. This will help control some of the odor. Jolly Carpet can inject the same odor neutralizing materials under the carpet and into the pad. Before any methods are used the offending area must be located so you are not treating areas where there is no urine. This is useless and costly.

The trained professionals at Jolly Carpet & Upholstery Cleaners can locate the urine, using special urine detection instruments, and treat what needs to be treated and not the whole room. Sometimes a large amount of odor can be coming from a small isolated area. That is why we locate the area first. Jolly believes if we locate the area, we can effectively remove the odor.