Moving Or Selling? Here’s How To Remove Old Pet Stains From Carpet

In this guide, we will teach you how to remove old pet stains from the carpet before you move or sell your home. We love our pets, but they are both a responsibility and a joy.

Unfortunately, they don’t use a toilet like us, and that means accidents like these become unavoidable if you own a dog, cat or other pet for long enough. How to remove pet stains from a mobile home carpet is a must-have skill.

Why clean pet stains before moving?

If you are selling your home, you will want to do this before you start showing to interested sellers. No one will envy the prospect of moving into a new home and then having to take on cleaning all the carpets.

Even if there are no obvious signs that your carpet has pet stains, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any. Long-time pet owners can get used to a mild smell of cat or dog urine or other stains until the point where they don’t notice it any longer. However, for new inhabitants, it will be very obvious. Even without stains, pets do carry a scent of their own, and you can often smell whether pets were living in a place or not.

Not only can pet stains result in an unpleasant smell, but it can also be harmful to the residents’ health. Cat urine is especially high in ammonia which can cause respiratory problems. Like any animal waste, it also carries a range of bacteria. There’s simply nothing good about it.

So, why should I clean if I am the one moving out?

The answer to this question is two-fold. One, it’s just common decency that you clean up after your own pets. Moreover, don’t leave the park or the next owner with an uncomfortable problem on their hands.  There’s no reason that you should end your stay on bad terms with the park management or new owners.

Secondly, you might be charged for any extra cleaning services required by the park. You will need to refer to your lease agreement as it should stipulate who is responsible for what when it comes to preparing a home for an exchange of hands.

Cleaning old stains

Now, let’s see how you can remove these pesky stains from your mobile home carpet. Remember to always be responsible when it comes to your health and hygiene. Always use gloves when handling excrement or urine, and if it’s particularly bad, use a facial mask.

These are general solutions that should work equally well for all kinds of pets. However, if you are looking for cat-specific cleaning solutions for the whole home, we have you covered here.

Find the stains

Once stains have dried up, they might not be so easy to find. The smell won’t be as easy to trace back to its source. Additionally, it won’t be as visibly apparent. Of course, you could deal with this by just deep cleaning the entire carpet. However, that will take a lot of time and effort if you believe there might just be one or two affected areas.

You should start by eliminating furniture from the picture. Go over your furniture, shelves or tables and make sure they are stain free.

Then, slowly scan the floor. You can identify an old stain by a slightly darker discoloration, a sudden musky smell or a greenish/yellowish tint. The carpet might even be a bit harder on the spot as the urine or leftover feces dried.

Be an “investigator” and search for the source of scents

If you are sure that you have cleaned up any obvious spots but there is still a scent, try any tight areas your cat might be able to squeeze into or under. Cats sometimes like to do their business where they feel isolated and safe.

If you have recently rearranged a room, it might now be the case that the pee is underneath a piece of furniture.

If you couldn’t find any stains but are sure there must be some around, consider using a handheld UV torch to find them. It might seem extreme, but you can buy them for as little as $10.

Cleaning new and old urine stains

If there has ever been a pet owner that has never had to clean up a urine stain, they are either much better caretakers than us or just extremely lucky. Cat owners suffer even more as cat urine has a strong, musky scent that tends to stick around much longer than dogs urine. Luckily, it’s not that much harder to clean old stains than to clean new ones.

What you need

• Plastic bag
• Paper or old towels
• Rubber gloves
• White vinegar
• Warm water
• Dishwashing/laundry soap
• Vacuum
• Baking soda
• Peroxide
• Scrub brush

Step by step

1. If the stain still has a bit of wetness, start by blotting up as much of it as possible with paper towels. Once the towel is soaked through, get rid of it and use a new one. Repeat until almost dry.
2. You can then use some baking soda spread on the surface to soak up the remaining moisture for about 30 minutes. Vacuum up the granules when done.
3. Let’s start with the lightest treatment first. Mix just a few drops of dishwashing or laundry soap with hot water. Moisten the area with it but don’t use too much for fear of causing water damage to the wooden floor below.
4. Then dab the moisture dry with paper towels once again. If you used too much of the solution, vacuum it up after each application. You can smell the spot after each application to see if it improved.
5. Now, you can kick it up a notch. Vinegar is great at breaking down the urine further and loosen its grip on the carpet fibers. Mix 1:1 parts vinegar and water (room temperature). Soak the area, but again try to avoid overdoing it completely. Blot the area instead of rubbing it to protect the fibers, let the liquid penetrate deeper, and avoid spreading the urine.
6. Lightly brush the area; this will help the solution get in among the stain and free up the particles. Don’t scrub too vigorously or you will damage the carpet. Try to not spread the stain further by keeping your scrubbing tightly focussed.
7. Just like before, use the paper towels to soak up most of the moisture until the spot is just damp. Then, let the baking soda soak up what remains and suck it up with the vacuum after 30 minutes to one hour.
8. If any trace of the stain remains after a few rounds of this, you might need to move on to the other solutions below.

Cleaning new and old feces stains

Even poop might find a way to evade you behind a couch or underneath a chair until the day you finally pack everything up. Depending on the consistency of the feces and how old it is, you might need to adjust the steps a little. If it was very runny you will have a much harder job on your hands than if it was firm.

What you need

• Rubber gloves
• Plastic bag
• Baking soda
• Old comb or scrub brush
• Some hot water
• Dishwashing/laundry soap
• Commercial cleaning product
• Carpet cleaner or vacuum
• Enzymatic cleaner
• Dustpan

Step by step

1. First of all, try and remove as much of the solid pieces of feces by hand possible. If you have gloves, great. Otherwise, you can use the plastic bag and invert it. Discard the feces in the plastic bag but keep it close by. If it’s almost completely liquid, gently blot the area with paper towels and scoop it up, you don’t want to press it too hard or rub it as it will just spread it all over. A dustpan can also be handy to scoop up large amounts.
2. If the stain hasn’t completely dried and is still a bit wet, cover the area with baking soda. Baking soda is great at sucking up any remaining moisture from just about any surfaces. Letting it rest for 30 minutes should do the trick, but you can leave it longer if it’s convenient for you. Vacuum up everything you can once it seems completely dry.
3. Next, you can use an old plastic comb or brush to loosen the remaining debris. Don’t be too rough to avoid damaging your carpet. You can use the vacuum to suck up the loose pieces. If it’s too tough, dampen a white towel in slightly hot water. Blot the area in preparation for the next steps.
4. Create a 30/70 to 50/50 mixture of laundry soap and water. You can repeat this step for as long as you feel is necessary. Simply blot the area with the mixture using any paper or old towels. Again, don’t get too rough else you might damage the carpet.
5. If any trace of the stain remains after a few rounds of this, you might need to move on to the other solutions below.

Other solutions on how to remove old pet stains from carpet

There are also other DIY solutions you can turn to. For example, you could use a commercial carpet cleaning product or rent/buy a carpet cleaner.

We don’t want to jump straight to an enzymatic or commercial cleaning product if it’s not needed because it’s very strong and could damage your carpet fibers. You can just use the product according to instructions that go something like this:

1. 1. Spray onto the stain (try to keep it as local as possible).
   2. Let it sink in for a while.
   3. Blot with the towels.
   4. Vacuum the stain and let it dry.

Examples of good products include BUBBAS, or Simple Solution.

You can also rent a carpet cleaner from companies like Lowe’s. This will still cost significantly cheaper than hiring a cleaning service. These devices penetrate deep into the carpet with a cleaning solution and suck it up.

If the stain is gone, but there is still a strong odor coming from the spot, it’s time for more drastic measures. You will need to pull up the carpet to see if it penetrated all the way through. This is only possible if it was a very viscous poop. However, we recommend that you save yourself the trouble and call for a professional deep clean.

Last Resort – Calling in backup

You’ll sometimes find, no matter how hard you try, that you just can’t get rid of every single trace. There might be a lingering odor, or a stubborn stain just won’t go away. In this case, the best thing you can do is call in a professional deep cleaning service.

These guys know what they are doing and know how to get rid of these types of accidents completely. The carpet will also look as good as new once they are done. Depending on the size of the area that you need clean, a service should cost between $80 to $200.

You could always leave it to the park management, but you never know what service they might use and how much they will charge extra.

Rounding things off – Removing pet hair

While not as gross, unhygienic, and potentially hazardous as urine or feces, pet hair can be just as annoying. It comes with its own discomforts. For example, the possibility of giving some people intensely and extremely uncomfortable allergic reactions as well as being unsightly.

It can also be very frustrating to clean, particularly from a carpet. It seems like the only way is to pull the hair out strand by strand. Obviously, this could seem like it’ll take ages. These steps are very easy and highly effective.

What you need

• A vacuum
• Clean sponge mop
• Fabric softener
• Baking soda
• Water
• Spray bottle

Step by step

1. Vacuum the carpet thoroughly, you might already remove enough hair during this step that you don’t need to continue.
2. Dampen an area of the carpet using a mixture of fabric softener and water in the spray bottle. It’s easiest to work with a small area at a time and then move on.
3. Wet the sponge mop and use it normally to gather hair from the carpet. It should clump and you can remove it at regular intervals.
4. If the carpet is still wet you can move on to the next step, else give it another spray with the water and fabric softener.
5. Distribute the baking soda on the area you want to clean. Let it rest for 30+ minutes and then vacuum the carpet one last time.

Responsible pet owners clean up after their furries

So, we hope that this article helped you realize why and how to remove old pet stains from carpet, which was made by your beloved pets and how easy it is. Doing this is in the best interest of everyone involved and won’t cost you a fortune of massive amounts of time. You really have no excuse to be a responsible pet owner!

If you want some advice and guidance on the packing up and moving process, this article should help you.