Rug Cleaning FAQs: Dogs, Cats, and Soiled Carpets

If you are a pet owner, you have already noticed that your dog or cat does not act exactly like a human. As much as you enjoy imagining that they have the same emotions, thoughts, and logical processing that you do, the truth is that they come with distinct instincts and behaviors that are decidedly not human. Rug soiling is one of those behaviors that can be baffling for pet owners to handle. How can you prevent dogs and cats from soiling your rugs, and when should you get professional rug cleaning in Fort Worth rather than trying to tackle the job yourself?

Why Do Pets Soil the Rug?

Your kitty or pooch doesn’t soil the rug or carpet just to make you angry or to get revenge. Anger and revenge are human reactions to things, not animal reactions. Instead, consider your pet’s incredible nose. Where a human can smell the unique aroma of a cooking casserole, a dog can identify each individual ingredient in that casserole. Dogs and cats are equipped with incredible olfactory sensitivity as a survival mechanism. They also use urine and feces to mark territory and to leave an “I was here” message to other dogs and cats.

Now consider the materials that make up your rugs. That beautiful wool rug whose colors and pattern you love is akin to inviting a herd of sheep into your house. Your dog knows the animal smell even if there are no actual four-legged creatures to associate it with. In addition, wool rug makers often set the dyes in the rug with urine from other animals. In essence, your wool rug is a provocative olfactory extravaganza to your dog or cat, and all those invisible animals invading their space is an invitation to mark their territory with their own scent (urine, feces, and oil from glands on their bodies). Once they have soiled the rug, they will often return to the same spot to keep the scent fresh with more urine, feces, or gland oil. A dog or cat returning to soil the same spot over and over is part of their natural instinct to keep their mark fresh.

Keeping Your Rugs Clean

While you can train your dog or cat to quit soiling the carpet, it is a very difficult instinct to extinguish once they have started and the smell is embedded into the rug, carpet, and pad. Enzyme cleaners may be effective if you catch the problem when it is fresh, so to speak, as fresh urine has a neutral pH balance. The longer it lingers, the more alkaline it becomes, and the more set into the carpet fibers and pad it remains. Odor removal powders are also an option, as is replacing that section of the carpet, and some professional companies that do rug cleaning in Fort Worth may be able to help remove the scent as well as the stain; but there are no guarantees here. As long as the instinct and the odor remain, it may be very difficult to stop the problem once it starts. Your best bet is to prevent your dog or cat from getting access to expensive wool rugs or previously soiled spots by closing doors, putting up child safety gates, or keeping animals outside when you are not at home. 

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