Cleaning Up After Your Pet Dog or Pet Cat
Cleaning Up After Your Pet Dog or Pet Cat
Introduction
When you make the decision to make a pet a part of your family it is your responsibility to take the good right along with the bad. Everyone loves to play with the new puppy or kitten and love on them, but often help becomes scare when they make a mess. Which, let’s face it, animals often do. Even the most housebroken animal can have an accident now and then, and there is always the chance of them getting sick. First you have to control your temper, and then you have to know how to clean up the mess. That is what we are focusing on in this lesson. We are going to give you some tried and true methods to make sure that your house survives your pet.
House Soiling
The Reason Behind the Mess
The first step to keeping your house fresh and clean is finding out why your pet is making the mess in the first place. If your pet has been house trained for years and now they are suddenly soiling the floor , there might be a medical condition to blame. Conditions ranging from heartworms to anxiety have been known to cause this behavior. You definitely want to consult your vet before you take any drastic measures such as banning the animal to the great outdoors for the rest of their natural life. If a medical condition is not to blame then it is time to go back to square one and work on house training once again. These steps are the same no matter if you have a dog or a cat.
Cleaning up the Mess
No matter the reason for your pet’s new messy habits, you still have to clean up the mess. You have to remove the stain completely for several reasons. First it can cause health problems to have animal waste in your home. A build up of these substances can cause allergic reactions as well as carry diseases. Also, if you do not completely remove the stain then it just encourages your pet to use the same area again. It is similar to them marking their territory out in the wild. Once the catch their own scent then to them this is an acceptable place to mark. So how do you do it?
There are a variety of products on the market today that claim to completely remove odors . While most of them work to varying degrees, the most important thing is to catch the mess as quickly as possible. If it dries then it is just that much harder to clean the fabric, especially when we are taking about carpet. If you need help finding all of the spots try using a black light. The urine stains will glow under the light. Soak up as much as possible with a clean towel or paper towels before you try to clean. If you just go straight to scrubbing you end up spreading the stain over a larger area.
For stains that are already dry you might consider using a steam cleaner . These machines are available to rent at most grocery and hardware stores. These types of high quality commercial cleaners help to clean all layers of your carpet where scrubbing only works on the top. Since you want to remove the whole stain, not just the part that you can see, you need a more powerful tool. The machines instructions are usually pretty easy to follow, so just stick to the plan.
Once the area is cleaned use a high-end pet odor neutralizer on the affected area. This will help to kill any remaining odor. These products are available at just about any pet retailer. If you have a question about which brand to buy, just ask the sales clerk. They know what is popular and what has worked for other customers. Remember, if you have used any kind of chemical on this area in the past, then the neutralizer will not work at all. The enzymes in the neutralizer will use them selves up on the chemicals and never touch the stain that you are want gone. If you want them to work you have to rinse out every drop of the previous cleaners, and even that might not be enough.
When all else fails, the only other option is to remove a small section of the carpet and padding. If you replace the carpet then you can know without a doubt that the stain is gone.
If the item is safe to machine wash , such as a rug or article of clothing then run it through on hot cycle . When you remove it from the wash check to see if you can still smell any odor or if you can still see a stain. If you do then you need to wash it again. Repeat the process until there is no evidence remaining. This will help to keep your pet from soiling the item once again.
Solving the Problem
If your pet finds and area that they are drawn to then the best thing that you can do is make it difficult for them to reach it. Shut the door, block off the area, or cover it with a rug, anything that will deter your pet from soiling the area. You want to do everything that you can to make that particular area as unattractive to your pet as possible. If your pet is scared of something, like plastic bags for example, then put it in the area. Be creative and use whatever weapons you have at your disposal.
The next step is to make the appropriate bath rooming area as attractive as you possibly can. Clear access, treats, and positive reinforcement are all great tools to use. Like we said earlier you might have to go all the way back to the beginning and start potty training all over again. Even older pets that have never had a problem before might become confused in a new environment. So if you are moving to a new house, be ready to help your dog or cat acclimate. You need to set the boundaries and they need to learn them.
