Dealing with cat vomit is part and parcel of owning a cat. If your cat experiences digestive discomforts, it would often leave a pile of vomit on your floor. If you have carpet on the floor and don’t know how to get cat vomit out of carpet, then this article comes as the beacon of light to walk you through it.
Whenever anything spills on your carpet, you should act as quickly as you can. The carpet is not an exception in that regard. The longer you wait to respond, the deeper the mess would get inside the fabric fibers, which would make the cleaning process even more daunting. In that case, the stain and odor will not go away with ease.
Thankfully, you don’t need to use a lot of things to remove vomit stains and odor from your carpet. A combination of everyday household items would be enough to take care of it. In the following sections, we will describe how to get cat vomit out of carpet using some common ingredients.
How To Get Pet Vomit Out Of Carpet?
If your cat throws up on your carpet and you don’t notice it for a while, it could inflict some resilient patches of stain. The acidic content in cat vomit could be detrimental to your carpet fabric, therefore stain and odor is not the only thing you need to worry about when your cat relieves its upset tummy on your favorite rug.
You can use a homemade solution to clean the smudge of vomit, but if the stain refuses to go away, you would need to use commercial carpet cleaners. In this section, we will discuss some methods to cleanse off the cat vomit from your carpet. So, without further ado, let’s get the ball rolling.
1. The Club Soda & Ammonia Method
Things You Need
- Club Soda
- Ammonia
- Paper Towel
- Vacuum Cleaner
- Spatula
Step By Step Guide
Step 1. Removing The Solids
Take the spatula and pick out the vomit from the carpet. Be careful so that the stain doesn’t lay out over a greater area. Start scraping from the margin and move the spoon inwards towards the center of the affected region. In doing so, you would be able to keep the spread to a minimum.
Step 2. Apply Club Soda
Apply club soda solution to the spot and make sure it encloses one and a half of the size of the entire stain. Let it soak in for half an hour. Then, take a piece of dry cloth and put it over the wet area to dry out the moisture. Use a new towel once the current one gets completely damp. Keep on doing this until the stain comes off.
Step 3. Use Ammonia To Remove Leftovers
You would often notice faint spots on the carpet after you use club soda to remove the vomit. In that case, you would need a bit of additional help to apply the finishing touch. Take a bowl of water and add a tablespoon full of ammonia. Dip a clean towel into the solution and mop up the stained area with it.
Afterward, take a sponge or another towel, and use it to dry up the spot. However, you need to be cautious while using ammonia. Too much exposure to ammonia could damage your respiratory system. So, the ventilation of the room has to be up to the mark to prevent inhaling ammonia.
Never mix ammonia with anything other than water. Reacting with other household cleaning materials, ammonia can produce toxic fumes, which would be even more threatening to inhale. If you feel the room is not safe for ammonia, you should use commercial carpet cleaner formulas instead.
Step 4. Sprinkle Baking Soda To Dry The Spot
Sprinkle baking soda on the area to soak up the remaining moisture. Leave those for a few hours. Come back after two hours. By then, the carpet should dry off. Now turn on your vacuum and run it through the said area to take out all the particles.
2. Use A Carpet Cleaner Machine
If you are very late in finding out that your pet has tossed its cookies on your carpet, homemade or commercial carpet cleaning solutions might not be enough to get the job done. If that’s the case, then you should consider using a carpet cleaner machine to deep clean your carpet.
Things You Need
- Carpet Cleaner Machine
- Carpet Cleaner Solution
Step By Step Guide
Step 1. Rent / Buy A Carpet Cleaner
Carpet cleaner machines are quite expensive, and you will not be using them frequently. So, there is no need to buy one. There are many rental stores that can lend you a machine for a day at affordable rates. If you think the machine is too much for you to handle, you can also take the help of a professional cleaner.
More Info About Carpet Cleaner: Best Vacuum For Berber Carpet
Step 2. Pick A Cleaning Solution
After you choose a machine, ask the rental store employees and find out what brand of cleaning solutions should you purchase for it. Remember, not all cleaning solutions would work well with all types of machines. So, you have to be sure that you are purchasing a formula that is compatible with your machine.
Step 3. Free Up Space
Once you bring the machine home, you should remove all furniture from the room you will be working in. You would need a substantial amount of operating space while running the machine. Moreover, your carpet would need 24 hours to dry after the treatment. So, you should clear out the whole room.
Step 4. Load The Machine
At this point, you must be wondering how to get cat vomit out of carpet using the machine. The machine saturates the carpet fiber with the cleaning agent and then draws out the dirty water. So, the first step would be to pour cleaning solution into the tank. Then, the machine is ready for the job.
Some machines might come with a secondary tank that holds fresh water. Never forget that these machines vary from one model to the other. For this reason, you must read the instruction manual thoroughly before plugging it in and rolling it on your carpet. It is the smart thing to do.
Step 5. Do A Color Test
Before executing a thorough clean up, you need to test how your carpet material reacts to the cleaning solution. Apply the cleaner on a small, hard-to-notice portion of the carpet. Leave it for a few minutes and check for color changes.
If the color remains unchanged, then it is okay to use the cleaner on the carpet.
Step 6. Switch On The Machine And Run It On The Carpet
Plugin the machine to a power outlet and switch it on. Operate it in straight patterns, like a lawnmower. Go down a line, move to the side, and come back up. Never go over a spot more than once, because it could damage the carpet. A single swipe is sufficient to get rid of puke stains and odor.
Step 7. Monitor The Solution
Keep an eye on the solution tank. If the solution becomes too grimy, empty the tank and then refill it with a new batch of solution. If the carpet is small you might not have to do this.
But for larger rooms, you should check the cleaning solution regularly so that you don’t end up injecting more dirt into the carpet, instead of cleaning it!
Step 8. Switch Off And Empty The Tanks
After you go through the carpet out and out, turn off the machine, unplug it, and empty the tanks on the sink. Turn on the air conditioner and heater to speed up the drying process. Opening all windows could also help, as more air will pass through the room and absorb humidity.
Best Way To Clean Vomit Out of Carpet
How to get cat vomit out of carpet in the best way, you ask? If you watch your cat throwing up on the carpet, and act immediately, then you can use this simple technique that we will talk about in this section. It is low coast, easy to do, and works great if you do this within a short period of the spill.
Things You Need
- White Vinegar
- Spoon
- Gloves
- Garbage Bag
- Spray Bottle
- Towel
Step By Step Guide
Step 1. Pick Out The Solids
Wear a pair of gloves and scrape out the vomit with a spoon. Try to take out as much of the vomit as you can with your hands. Put the waste in a bean bag and seal off its mouth.
Step 2. Prepare A White Vinegar Solution
Now, you will have to address the stain and odor. Prepare a homemade mixture to remedy this situation. Take some white vinegar and dilute it with water. Then, take the mixture on your bottle and spray it on the stain. If you don’t have white vinegar, then you can use hydrogen peroxide as a substitute.
Step 3. Do A Test Spray
Before spraying the solution on the stain, spray the solution over a small area of the carpet. Wait a few minutes and check whether this leaves a spot or not. If the carpet absorbs the mixture without leaving any noticeable marks, the solution is safe to use on your carpet.
Step 4. Blot The Spot With A Towel
After spraying the white vinegar solution, you need to put pressure on the spot with a clean paper towel. This allows the mixture to reach deep inside the carpet. Repeat this process a few times until the stain becomes invisible.
Step 5. Dry The Spot
Wait for the carpet to dry. You can also use baking soda to dry the carpet, as we had mentioned earlier.
Final Say
Hopefully, this article has helped answering all the questions you had about how to get cat vomit out of carpet. Just like any other stain, it would be best if you can respond as soon as the spill occurs.
The longer you leave the vomit on your carpet, the more difficult it would be for you to dispose of the yellowish stain and foul smell.