If there is a pet stain on your rug, it could be tempting to throw the floor covering away rather than deal with the mess. After all, a rug is not tacked down to the floor. A stained carpet should use a carpet cleaning service, but is it better to just toss out a pet-stained rug?

Let’s not jump to getting rid of anything just yet. There are some things to consider if you would like to be able to successfully clean your rug. And this can save money and potentially save a family heirloom.

How To Salvage A Pet Stained Rug

Many people will take steps right after a pet has an accident or a rug. You want to remove as much of the substance as possible. Whether you are dealing with liquids or solids, you want to get it all off. This means not smearing or rubbing to widen the range of effect the stain has.

For the best results, call for rug cleaning rather than try to do this work yourself. Because even if you can address the more alarming parts of this problem, there are additional concerns. With that said, what you have to do to salvage the rug is remove the visible stain, eliminate any detectable odor, and prevent restaining.

Remove Stains

There are two main stains that you are dealing with when you are talking about pet stains. Solids and liquids are very different, but they are often both present. One of the main concerns as to whether you should throw a pet-stained rug will be color, as lighter colors are easier to permanently discolor.

There is only so much cleaning you can do to remove all signs of discoloration. And as opposed to cleaning upholstery, where the cushion can be flipped, the stain will often have penetrated fully to the other side of the rug.

Neutralize Odors

There is a difference between masking a smell and neutralizing an odor. You can mask a smell by spraying a competing fragrance, but this is not getting rid of the underlying odor. In order to neutralize an odor, you have to address the source of the scent. And that requires a particular type of cleaning.

In almost every case, a professional cleaning service will inform you that pet stains require deep rug cleaning. This means the use of spot remover, shampoo, and deodorizer. And all of these cleaning methods assist with the stain but also with the smell.

The Dangers Of Restaining

When it comes to pet stains, there is a significant risk of restaining. Why will your pet go to the bathroom where it already has? This is just one of those biological imperatives in most animals. Once a space has been marked by an animal, that animal and others will continue to mark it.

This is where the classic dogs peeing on fire hydrants comes from. Once it is marked. It is a target. And the smells that are sending these signals to the animals are not perceptible to the human nose, so not smelling anything doesn’t mean you are out of the woods. Only a professional Anaheim carpet cleaning company can assure that the dangers of restaining have been addressed.