Dealing With Pet Odor

Pet odor. If you have animals, you will probably have to deal with it at one time or another. It can be an embarrassing problem keeping you from inviting company to your home and keeping you from fully enjoying your home. You do not have to live with pet odor nor do you have to replace your carpet if you have odor. You can easily eliminate this odor if you follow a few simple steps.

First you have to find the source of the odor. This sounds easy, but it may not be as easy as just looking for yellow stains. Sometimes source of odor do not have a visible stain. To find the source of your odor, go to the store and buy a cheap black light. This should cost somewhere between $10 to $20. Now close all of the doors, blinds and drapes in the problem room. Turn the light on and move it over the carpeting in the room. Pet urine will shine bright white in the light. They do this because of the salts in the urine which glow under a black light. Mark the spots with a piece of tape or paper so that you can find them later without the black light.

Now it is time to treat the odor. To successfully treat pet odor, you must understand what is causing the odor. The smell is caused not by the pet urine, but by bacteria. The bacteria is feeding on the pet waste and produces ammonia as a byproduct which cause a foul odor. So to get rid of the odor, you must get rid of this food source for the bacteria. To do that, you will use a digester or enzyme. If you visit your local pet store, you should be able to find an enzyme treatment. One popular brand is called Outright.

Follow the directions on the bottle and mix up your enzyme solution. You will then saturate the area of the odor so that the solution reaches the carpet pad, tack strip and/or sub floor. The enzyme needs usually between 24 hours to several days to work depending on the extent of the odor and the amount of pet waste present. You might need to cover the area with plastic wrap to keep the area moist during that time period. Once you have given the enzyme time to work, and you have dried the carpet, you might have a visible stain on the surface that can be cleaned with a regular carpet spotter. Thats it, you have treated one of the most common of carpet problems.

If you find that you cannot remove the odor with an enzyme spotter, you might have a severe problem. Contact a local carpet cleaner to get an estimate on odor removal. They will have tools at their disposal which might be able to rid you of your problem. Most companies will be happy to provide you with a free estimate.

James C operates the Carpet Cleaner Directory.