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Dog-Friendly Stain Remover

Dog-Friendly Stain Remover

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3:36 AM, Saturday Night

The sound of a puggle retching jolts me awake. My poor boy wasn’t feeling well. As if that wasn’t bad enough, in true puggle fashion, he chose to wretch, move, wretch, move again and then wretch leaving me groggy, bleary eyed and facing three piles of dark vomit on my pale beige carpet. Thanks a heap, Kolchak.

I’m sorry I puked on the carpet…three times. Can I have a snack?

Vomit waits for no one.

As tempted as I was to pull a Big Daddy, toss a newspaper over it and pretend it never happened, it wasn’t really an option. Not only would I rather not stain the carpet in my rental apartment, the scent of dog wretch isn’t exactly a pleasant odor. I knew I was going to have to pull up my big girl panties and deal with this. Luckily, I have synthetic fibre carpets, because I have NO IDEA how to clean high end wool carpets. I suspect if you can afford those, maybe you just call the carpet guy?

There are tons of “pet friendly” enzyme cleaners and oxygen cleaners and “bleach alternatives” out there, but I’m not wholly comfortable using any of them. They may be safe and they probably work, but if I can’t pronounce the ingredients in them, I don’t want to use them. Natural is better at Casa de Kolchak. I have a tried and true carpet cleaning method that I use any time I get a little spilly – or one of the dogs decides to upchuck all over the place.

I have a three step, fool-proof system to make sure stains get the boot.

dog friendly stain remover

  • Step one: Eliminate the stain causing problem. For me, that mean picking up the :gag: chunky pieces and using paper towel to carefully blot up any excess liquid. BLOT, do not under any circumstance rub. Just don’t do it. Don’t make me tell you again.
  • Step two: Liberally cover the stain with baking soda and allow it to soak up any remaining moisture (and odor, bonus!). Vaccuum up the baking soda. (If you live in an apartment and it’s the middle of the night, your neighbours will probably appreciate if you wait until the morning. They’re fussy like that.)
  • Step three: If any colour or odour remains, vinegar will nix it. Mix 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water and put it in a spray bottle. Spray the stain until it is completely saturated, but not soaked in vinegar. Allow to sit for 5 minutes. Place an old white, slightly damp towel over the stain. Heat the iron to the steam setting and apply to the stain, ironing until the stain has been removed. Kol’s Note: You’ll probably burn the heck out of the towel doing this, but afterwards, the stain should be gone.

I know what you’re thinking: “Is a carpet that smells like salt & vinegar chips any better than dog yak?” Well, no.  I’m not saying the vinegar smells great, but I pinky promise, the smell goes away as soon as the vinegar dries completely.

How do you deal with pet stains?

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Fetching! | The Daily Dog Tag

Friday 10th of January 2014

[...] DIY Dog Friendly Stain Remover [...]

Alfie Entlebucher

Thursday 9th of January 2014

Rooooo I puked all over the house last night - inlcuding ON THE CURTAIN. Yup, I totally scored some extra points there *waggy tail*. Thanks for the tips - will pass it on to the human!

Jessica Rhae

Tuesday 19th of November 2013

That sounds like a good system....a complicated good system :) Chester woke me up the other night puking. I managed to get him off of the bed so he could puke on the area rug. Luckily it can be washed....once I get it off the back porch and hose the pukey off of it.

jana rade

Monday 18th of November 2013

We've been using an enzyme based cleaner, been working great. Not just on puke, but also coke, coffee and blood.

DIY Flavoured Chicken Jerky for Dogs | Kol's NotesKol's Notes

Monday 18th of November 2013

[...] You can understand why I panicked when Felix got sick, vomitting a yellow foam. (Holy woof, I sure talk about vomit a lot lately, don’t [...]

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