This is the most common “emergency” call that we get, and it’s not a very “appealing” topic for a brochure, but I know that we need to cover this because this is the one thing that can permanently stain your rug. Supplies that you need in your household arsenal: Soda Water, Vinegar, Cotton Towels, and Nature’s Miracle enzyme treatment (you can find this in pet stores).

For pet urine and pet vomit, because they are stains that hit the rug hot and acidic they will actually stain and “set” the wool fibres rather quickly. You need to follow the steps in Newsletter #1 as far as the “spill procedures” (blot the substance, saturate with Soda Water, blot again, and air dry thoroughly). If the rug has dyes that might bleed if wet, then substitute a 50/50 Vinegar and water mixture for the Soda Water. For pet faeces, you must pick up as much as you can before you begin the Soda Water process.

As far as the odours associated with all of these pet “emergencies,” misting Nature’s Miracle on the areas helps to remove some of the odour-causing bacteria. Resist the urge to saturate the rug with Nature’s Miracle, because pouring any product on a rug is never a good idea. With pet urine, if it is a substantial amount then it has (again because it’s hot and acidic) penetrated the wool fibres and has been absorbed into the cotton foundation. In this case, the only way you will be able to remove the odour will be to give the rug a bath where it is soaked in an
enzyme solution.

A different set of problems arise with “old” pet urine stains … When a pet stain is “fresh” it is a strong acid stain. After it has dried completely, and has sat in the fibres for several days, it becomes a strong alkaline stain. The problem with high alkalinity and wool is that it yellows the wool, and it also counteracts the mordant process that holds the dyes on to the wool fibres. It essentially makes the dyes dissolve. Even a rug with colourfast dyes will bleed and fade in areas that have old pet urine stains in it. So the key in handling all pet stains is getting to the area as soon as you can (and use the steps that have been suggested so that you don’t cause
more damage).

If you get to the stains quickly, but you just cannot get the odour out, then you can contact us. We have a commercial enzyme product that we can immerse a rug in for the purpose of removing the odour-causing bacteria in the rug.

Some final pet advice – pet hair. If you are going crazy trying to vacuum up pet hair from your rugs or your upholstery, here are two tools you can use. On rugs, the pet hair entwines itself with the individual rug fibre, so it is sometimes impossible to pick this up with your standard upright vacuum cleaner. So, purchase a lava rock and rub it along the face of your rug, going “with” the nap of the wool pile. The lava rock will grab onto the hair and pull it off of the rug. On upholstery, you can use a pet sponge, which is a product sold in pet stores. It is the size of a brick, but is a soft material that when you rub along your upholstery pools all of the hair into one pile that can be easily removed and discarded.