6 Carpet Cleaning Solutions for Pets in 2023

To assist you erase any evidence of your pet's natural messes-- muddy paws, pee, poop, and barf-- from carpets and rugs, SprucePets.com checked 31 popular and bestselling stain and odor removers in early 2023.

During testing they stained beige carpet squares with mud, wolf urine, and a simulated vomit mix that consisted of a vinegar component for easy smell recognition. Each cleaner was evaluated on all three discolorations, with testers following the cleaner's directions, then bearing in mind about how efficiently stains were removed and odors eliminated. Each test was conducted two times: once with fresh spots and once with discolorations that were enabled to set-in overnight.

The general favorite was OxiClean Carpet  & Area Rug Stain Remover which is easy to apply and mainly utilizes Safer Choice ingredients-- sodium percarbonate and salt carbonate-- to lift discolorations and remove smells.

Best Overall - OxiClean Carpet & Area Rug Stain Remover

• Eliminated odors and discolorations in ten minutes

• Inoffensive fresh scent

• Most effective in tests

• Set-in stains took 2 applications

In lab screening, OxiClean Carpet & Area Rug Stain Remover was the top-performing carpet cleaner in every evaluative category, from its effectiveness to its odor removal.

Update

This stain treatment makes it simple to attend to messes rapidly, and its efficiency is hard to overemphasize.

During screening, OxiClean was the most reliable cleaner against fresh spots and accompanying odors from mud, urine, and simulated animal vomit. It was still effective against set-in discolorations, however took two treatments prior to getting rid of a stain fully. It has a light, fresh scent that smells clean, and the nozzle on the bottle is easy to adjust, allowing you to efficiently mist a target area.

Best Enzymatic - Kids 'N' Pets All-Purpose Stain + Odor Remover

• Uses enzymes to break down stains made from eco-friendly matter

• Cruelty-free, Non-toxic

• Light fresh scent

• Finest cleaner for eliminating urine odors

• The item lathered a lot, which made it a little messier to wipe up

Enzymatic cleaners like Kids 'N' Pets All-Purpose Stain + Odor Remover use the exact same class of chemicals as your body provides for breaking down organic components in food.

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Since bodily fluids like feces and urine likewise consist of natural proteins, they can be efficiently countered by enzymatic cleaners, which break down complex organic particles into their constituent parts. This makes them specifically useful for dealing with animal urine, given that enzymatic cleaners can break apart uric acid and ensure that smell is gone for good.

For vomit and urine, complete saturation from the spray cleaner paired with hands-on agitation was able to eliminate the odor and their associated smells. The spray has a light and fresh scent that dissipates. But while enzymatic cleaners are best at breaking down natural messes, they were surprised to discover that Kids 'N' Pets All-Purpose was likewise terrific at tackling mud spots-- though it did require two treatments to totally eliminate,

Best Budget - Woolite Advanced Pet Stain &  Odor Remover + Sanitize

• 2 spray settings

• Kills bacteria and deodorizes

• Thicker consistency made it harder to spray accurately

Woolite Advanced Pet Stain & & Odor Remover + Sanitize came very close to receiving an ideal score, can be found in second to their choice for Best Overall, OxiClean Carpet & & Area Rug Stain Remover.

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It eliminates stains, kills 99.9% of germs, and deodorizes smells. It has a thicker consistency which made it harder to top treatment areas, but it's an efficient cleaner throughout all classifications and safe for use in a house with animals and kids.

The bottle has 2 spray settings to assist you target the mess with enzymes to dissolve proteins in the organic matter left by your adorable animal. It has an artificial scent that provides a fresh scent that we did not discover overwhelming.

Best Scented - Angry Orange Pet Odor Eliminator Spray

• Light citrus scent

• Paraben-Free, Sulfate-Free, Phthalate-Free

• Safe to use on the majority of home surfaces

• Completely gets rid of detectable smells overnight

• Offered as ready-to-use spray and concentrated formula

• Required more than one application for set-in stains

• Guidelines call for more scrubbing than with other cleaners

The Angry Orange Pet Odor Eliminator Spray is safe to use on a range of surface areas where you may experience a stain and odor left behind by your furry good friend consisting of carpet, wood floorings, tile, upholstery, vehicle interiors, and more.

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It is made with genuine oranges, consisting of the peel, and leaves behind a sweet citrus aroma that we discovered appealing.

Similar to many cleaners, fresh spots from urine, vomit, and mud were much easier to get out, with set-in discolorations requiring a second pass. Angry Odor was especially helpful for saturating a stain overnight, with a strong aroma that subdued even wolf urine successfully.

They did discover, however, that using Angry Orange took a bit more elbow grease, considering that the instructions require working the cleaner into a soap as soon as its been sprayed on to a surface area. In spite of that, we did not discover it extremely foamy.

Best Enzymatic Carpet Shampoo - Nature's Miracle Carpet Shampoo

• Set-in stains gotten rid of with one treatment

• Efficient enzymatic cleansing eliminates odors

• Smelled bad during preliminary interaction in between chemical and stain

• 64-ounce bottle is heavy and tough to pour

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We discovered Nature's Miracle Carpet Shampoo to be very effective in the testing trial, but the scent of the product, while it was lathering up and getting to work, smelled even worse than the stain.

Thankfully the unpleasant smell was temporary, while its deep cleaning effectiveness fully and permanently removed both fresh and set-in discolorations. The hair shampoo can be utilized by itself (like we provided for testing) or with a steam carpet cleaner to clean carpets and upholstery. The formula is color-fast and our test carpet looked as good as brand-new after cleaning, however we constantly suggest testing in an out-of-the-way area prior to a complete application.

Best for Fresh Stains - Woolite INSTAclean Permanent Pet Stain Remover

• Fresh stains and smells were gotten rid of with one treatment

• Fresh, mild fragrance.
  

• No scrubbing required

• Set-in mud stains needed more than two treatments

Eradicate fresh spots and smells in under a minute with the Woolite INSTAClean Permanent Pet Stain Remover. This cleaner can be found in a user friendly spray bottle to quickly saturate messes from pets on rugs and carpets.

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During lab testing, new spots and smells were easy to eliminate with extremely little manual agitation needed. For set-in spots, permitting the item to sit for 5 minutes, as mentioned in the instructions, brought about the successful removal of the mess. An older, impacted stain from mud was the most difficult stain for this item however we did see obvious improvement after 2 treatments.

The item has a delicious aroma that was more workable than a lot of the other cleaners we evaluated, not too sweet or too powerful. Once the cleaner is dry, the surface areas cleaned are safe for kids and animals, and we did not witness any discoloration.

For DIY, OxiClean Carpet & & Area Rug Stain Remover is the top suggestion for removing family pet stains and smells from carpets and carpets. Set-in spots might need more than one treatment, however the effectiveness of this cleaning spray is reliable and the formulation is color-safe.  If you are trying to find a cleaner with less chemicals, our choice for finest scent Angry Orange Pet Odor Eliminator is devoid of parabens, sulfates, and phthalates, and has a natural citrus aroma. It efficiently gets rid of smells and discolorations but may require more treatments.

If you'd like to hire a professional to do the task, or are feeling a bit overwhelmed, we are happy to help and are a simple phone call away.  The video here shows the pet stain carpet cleaning results we recently achieved in a very highly stained bedroom in Rancho Cucamonga.