There are two parts to consider when removing Pet Urine Stains. The stain and the smell.
FIRST: The Pet Urine Stain
If you don't do something about the stain right away there is a chance that it may become permanent here's why:
When Pet Urine first hits the carpet it has a very high PH (Potential of Hydrogen) Which is why it smells like Ammonia. While the pet urine sits on the carpet and time passes there is a chemical change. The pet urine will go from being very high in PH to very low in PH. That change can distort or destroy the pigment in the dye of the carpet effectively making the carpet the color of the Pet Urine Stain. That does not happen all the time and there is no way to know if it has happened or not until after you try to remove the pet urine stain. When that does happen just spraying a pet urine stain remover may not work and if it does there is a good chance you'll be left with a spot that is sort of a clear-ish white because that spot is devoid of color. It is possible to fix that, maybe. You see, there is a chance the Dye Site was not damaged and will retain new dye. If so, the spot can be dyed back to the original color using spot dyeing techniques. Call us if you have any questions about that.
All of that was of course for older stains but for new pet urine stains it is a lot simpler
To remove a new pet urine stain: If it is still wet get Citro's Urine Stain Remover and a towel. Fold the towel so it is about an inch thick and large enough to cover the entire stain. Put the towel on top of the wet spot and step on the towel to absorb as much of the urine as you can. Switch to a dry part of the towel or get a new one as the towel becomes soaked with urine. When you can step on the towel and it does not get wet then you have removed as much of the pet urine as you will be able to. Then get Citro's Urine Stain remover and spray the spot with a generous amount. You want the spot very wet. Let the spot dry. After the spot is dry there should be no stain and no odor. If the stain is still there a second application may be needed. If the odor remains then the urine most likely got into the pad and that would require a Subsurface odor neutralizing which I will explain in a minute.
Second: The Pet Urine Smell
I have gotten a lot of calls about Pet Urine Smell in my 30 plus years in the Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning Industry.
Not surprisingly everyone is more concerned about the urine smell than the stain and rightfully so. You can cover a stain with furniture but you can’t effectively cover a smell. That’s because Pet Urine Smell is a tricky thing, it can go away and stay gone or return with a vengeance. It can even be in a room that you know has been pet-free. The good news is if the smell is from Pet Urine in your carpet, we guarantee we will get rid of the smell.
First, before we go any further a quick note: If you have a smell in your house that goes away and seems to come back randomly. Change your air filter. Sometimes the odor-causing particulate matter will become embedded in the air filter and circulate throughout your house when the HVAC system runs. Ok so moving on…
Treating Pet Urine Smell, some professional carpet cleaners will use a deodorant which you would think is a good thing, but a deodorant only covers the smell with a perfume so it seems like the smell is removed but really it will return once the perfume smell fades. What your cleaning company should be using is an Odor Neutralizer.
If you are going to remove the odor you’ll need to use an Enzyme that will consume the odor-causing bacteria. Odor neutralizer is applied by adding it to the general cleaner, most of the time, and as the cleaning occurs the Enzyme will stop the Pet Odor Smell. There is one caveat if your pet has deposited enough urine in a spot it can sink down into the pad where regular cleaning/extraction cannot touch it.
Now the situation is a little trickier: The odor-causing bacteria is gone from the carpet but not the pad. So, while at first the odor is gone after a couple of days it will work its way back up through the carpet and into the air where once again you smell it. This happens maybe 5% of the time but don’t worry there is a way to fix that.
I can’t speak for anyone else but if you have Citro’s Carpet Cops Odor Neutralize your carpet and the smell comes back within a few days and it is not a new pet stain. We will come back at no charge and take care of the issue.
The process is pretty simple, first, we find the spot by smelling the carpet. That’s right we will get on our hands and knees and smell the carpet to find the source of the urine smell. Then we pour a few gallons of Pet Odor Neutralizer onto the spot and let it sit for a few minutes. Sometimes even walking on the carpet to push the Odor Neutralizer down further into the pad. Then we use a tool called a “Water Claw” to extract the moisture back out of the carpet. That spot will take a few days to dry but it will not mold or mildew or have a bad smell.
That is how it is done. If you have the equipment it’s a pretty simple process and works almost all the time.
-Jeff Citro
Citro