Several months ago a reader shared a tip in the “One Good Thing By You” Contest that at the time I thought was BRILLIANT…but not one I could personally use. It was her tried-and-true method for dealing with Pet Stains (or as she so adorably referred to them…Pet Potty Spots!)
While I don’t have a dog myself, No. 1 son (Erik) and his wife Kaitlyn have a boxer named Milo that we were dog-sitting for over Christmas. He’s not quite a year yet and while he’s completely trained when he’s at THEIR house…at OURS he got a little confused and accidentally left us with a “pet potty spot” on our carpet. That was over a month ago and while I tried to clean it up the best I knew how at the time, over time it has continued to get darker and darker and to bug me more and more. That’s when I was reminded of Shauna’s great tip and decided to give it a try!
All I can say is….WOW! It literally worked its’ “magic” right before my eyes!
Here is how it works….in Shauna’s own words:
“My best tip is for pet potty spots on the carpet. I use good old vinegar and baking soda. The steps are the important part. Pour enough vinegar to soak the stain and THEN add a small amount of baking soda. If you do the reverse, you will have a noisy, bubbly mess. Do it the right way, and you can hear the recipe cackling away, telling you how it is cleaning and deodorizing without leaving any residue. You need to let the spot dry for a day or two before sweeping up and then vacuuming. We cover the spot with a bowl or plate so that we don’t have baking soda kicked from heck to breakfast. You can actually see the yellow color being absorbed up into your little mountain of baking soda. Works on old stains too! Boo yaaaaaah!”
Shauna
I can personally vouch for every claim in Shauna’s tip! This method worked SO well and was SO easy! No rubbing, scrubbing or blotting necessary. Just pour on the vinegar, sprinkle on the baking soda, and WAIT! You literally see the yellow “potty spot” start to be absorbed by the baking soda. It’s crazy! (And kind of gross!)
I did my very best to show the difference in the before and after pictures…but unfortunately (and FORTUNATELY!) our berber carpet is pretty good as disguising stains in general! But hopefully you get the idea. Plus, it’s impossible to deny that the stain is being removed from the carpet just by looking at the color of the once white baking soda!
So dog owners, cat owners and grandparents of dog & cat owners REJOICE! Now you know a simple and EFFECTIVE way to clean those pet potty spots! Now go and SPREAD THE GOOD WORD! :-)
I can’t wait to try this. Thanks
Going to try this out right now!! We had our carpets cleaned by a man with a van full of all kinds of carpet cleaning contraptions and he told us we will never get those stains out. Will have to take before and after photos too… Thanks for sharing :)
@Morwenna–let us know how it works. I have OLD stains that I’d like to get out, but our carpet cleaning guy told us the same thing–they’re there until I REPLACE the carpet. It’s a nice berber carpet like Jillee’s and I suppose most people don’t see the spots, but I do. Some days I feel like the spots have got neon signs spelling out “ha ha! We’re still here!”
Hilarious! Some days I feel like my floors would have more dishes over the spots, than I have in my kitchen cabinets. Our 4 pound Maltese “Biscuit” thinks he has done us a favor, by not making us go outside into the cold with him and he has certain rooms that he loves more than others. Unfortunately, those hiding places are the rooms with carpet. I will certainly try this as soon as I get home today. Btw, Jillee, I LOVE your website and look for my newsletter from you before I read any of my other emails. Lots of great info!
ooh, can’t wait to try this one, have just the “spot” too. Thanks Jillee!
Trying this today! Hope ACV is okay as I don’t have any white vinegar on hand. Thanks for the tip.
is it possible that apple cider vinegar will stain? i’d hesitate to use it because of its color…
apple cider vinegar attracts gnats. I know it’s winter so they’re not out, but you never know. It’s probably best to stick with white vinegar.
Oh, I wouldn’t use ACV. It will stain light-colored carpeting!
I just have the pee pee puppy, and couldn’t stand the smell of the pee pee any more. I had researched how to get the smell out of my carpet. I had already steam cleaned my carpet with the pet odor version of steam cleaner and they still smelled. UGH. I was desperate. I put vinegar in my shampoo dispenser and hot water in my regular water dispenser, just yesterday, and “shampooed” again.. OH MY GOODNESS… The smell is GONE!!! YAY
Our pup is 5 years gone but her stains live on. (I have a feeling she laughed and pointed when we found some of her “gifts”) There’s one in my studio that seriously bothers me. I’m hoping this works because nothing else has!
Great idea! Any idea if the spots still show up under a black light after this baking soda and vinegar process? I’m going to have to buy industrial sizes of each, to get all my old stains out. LOL.
Thanks for posting this! We had a friend visit with her dog this summer and the dog peed on our basement carpet, which is white. I did my best to clean it but over time the stains show more and more. It’s driving me nuts. I will definitely be giving this method a try!
Equal parts hydrogen peroxide and water work just as well
It works so well in fact, that I had big white spots of “clean” in my older carpet. When we shampooed I figured what the heck and sprayed hydrogen peroxide and water over the whole traffic pattern area. At least the white spots blend a bit now. Not sure if it’s taking the color out or not, but it looks better. Ohhh, the challenges of having an elderly but much loved pet.
I will try this for sure. However, just so you know, the ammonia-white towel-iron worked like a bloomin’ charm on one of my ‘accident scenes’! This way seems even easier, now the test will be if it gets out the odor! Thanks, as usual!
What is the white towel iron and ammonia trick ? My spot is on my landing at the bottom of the steps i cant leave a bowl or anything covering my spot . Thank You Deb in advance.
Hi Tracey, you just spray some ammonia on the stain, put a towel over the top, and then iron over the towel. It pulls the stain out of the carpet and onto the towel.
Does this method also remove any odor?
It should help remove odor. When Milo first had this accident I used baking soda to get rid of the smell.
Joanne,
add a bit of citrus room freshener or i use plan old lemon juice and that normally works. The odor is gone from the vinegar and baking soda but the lemon juice adds a fresh air smell… a clean smell.
I’m gonna try this on the carpet where my toddler peed(and then hid the stain).
Regular “car
I would like to hear if the stains mentioned by the various readers work. I always have stains where I have carpeting. Would that work for coffee spills?
I do have a question, that maybe you can answer. I originally got the complete blog in my email. The ones that I really needed, I put into a special email file. Now I need to go to the website. I suppose I can do a cut and paste and put into a word document, but it was super easy before. Any thoughts on doing it the old way?
Thanks,
Sue
Curious to see the answer! I too am having the same “problem” with my emails now.
jillee explained this in the january 22 post—it’s just below the instructions for making a brown paper goodie bag…it’s a good reason!
Thanks Terri!
Hi Sue,
I did change my emails, but there is no reason that you can’t still save them in a folder for reference. You’ll just have to click through the link to see the rest of the post.
This is the explanation I posted last week:
A NOTE TO FEED READERS:
If you read One Good Thing By Jillee posts in a feed reader you will notice that we recently have started truncating the posts. Why?
Two reasons:
1). Because there are websites (called “scrapers”) that will steal entire posts (images and all) from the emails that are sent out. I work too hard to just allow scrapers to come in and steal the content. The only way to protect it is to truncate it. You can still access the entire post THROUGH the email simply by clicking on the headline.
2). Up until recently the emails were ad-supported, allowing One Good Thing By Jillee to monetize them to a small degree. But at the end of 2012 Google discontinued that service. So now the only way we make any money is if you come to the actual website. I know some people won’t like it, but we’ve had to weigh the pros and cons on this one and this is the decision my team and I have made. I hope you will understand and stick with us. I promise to make it worth that extra click! :-)
No problem, I.am.with you all the way! I’ll continue to spreadthe word about the website. Keep up the great work!
Love you,
PJ
Thanks, we have not had any luck using the Oxy carpet cleaners, will definitely be giving this a try.
I always have some sort of pet living in my house (we’ll not count the mice, okay?)
I live on a farm, sooooo —
Anyway, I do have, at present, 2 dogs & 4 cats. The cats are inside/outside kids,
but on very cold winter days they stay mostly in the house. Someone at some point
has an accident. This new “pet potty spot” cleaner will come in handy.
Thank you so much – Blessings
I know this is gross, but I was wondering if anyone could suggest what might get out vomit (both pet and children) from carpet. Seems like no amount of carpert cleaning gets it out for me. Thanks for any advice!
Me too Skye! I have a kitty, and I have kitty puke spots everywhere!!
I would try this method!
One of my dogs will go outside and eat grass and some times end up puking it up in my house. I searched the web for ways of getting the bile out when he does this. The best I could find was pouring regular table salt on it when it is still wet and that salt will pull the bile out and then you will need to clean it up after it dries. It appears to work the same way as this one does with the baking soda. From what I remember about the post I got this idea from, it also will work on human bile too. I even wet some of the old spots I had and put salt on them and it worked like a charm getting them up as well.
I have an old stain on the basement carpet that has been bugging me. I’ve tried everything. Can’t wait to try this!
We brought home a rescue this past weekend. She is doing well with housebreaking, but a few accidents have occurred. I will be trying this hint tonight.
Congratulations on the new dog. Kudos to you for the rescue, we have 2 rescues (13 yrs apart), dog 1 was a planned rescue, dog 2 just showed up at our new house (less than 2 weeks after we moved in)–Vet said the dog was 35lbs under weight (8 month German Shepherd). Our son has a rescue cat.
Hope this inspires some more people to rescue- dogs and cats.
I raise & show Chinese Cresteds and without hair they say no when it comes to rain. My floors are mostly tile but a few oriental rugs have been hit a few times so I will be giving this a try. I furnish them with potty pads and they are usually good but there are the misses where they are on the pad but not their bums :)
Kudos for rescue Trini ! I also have 2 rescues and no one leaves unless it is for a forever home.
Jillee- I just found your site this morning and have been scrolling until my eyes are blurry. Thank you for so much information !!
Do you have anything for cleaning/deodorizing concrete?
This would work well on -dry- spots, but not on wet. You want to use the opposite pH as the stain, when pet stains are wet they’re very acidic and the vinegar would only make it worse. Once they dry they are alkeline, and then the vinegar/baking soda will work like a dream. I’ve used vinegar alone with limited success, the baking soda is the “kicker” I needed! (the info is from a carpet cleaning specialist who lectured me at length one day)
I do have a pet but the stain & stench came from my son throwing up on the carpet, “the flu”!!! I did clean up and used vinegar and the smell was overwhelming so did just that, vinegar and poured on the baking soda and let it sit for 24 hours, vacuumed and no more smell !!! That is the trick letting it sit so the baking soda absorbs the stain & stench! What a wonderful way to clean it up as most people have these things on hand, for us no chemicals in the house!
I do have a pet but the stain & stench came from my son throwing up on the carpet, “the flu”!!! I did clean up and used vinegar and the smell was overwhelming so did just that, vinegar and poured on the baking soda and let it sit for 24 hours, vacuumed and no more smell !!! That is the trick letting it sit so the baking soda absorbs! What a wonderful way to clean it up as most people have these things on hand, for us no chemicals in the house!
OK.. this may be a stretch, but in Oct we were out of town and the apartment above us had a small fire. We had some smoke discoloration on my zebra rug. I actually have another longer fiber off white shag rug in my bedroom that is also discolored. The restoration people said it would be $600 each to have them “cleaned” and since I got them on sale and didn’t pay $600 for either of them, I couldn’t really make myself do that. So they were steam cleaned which did nothing for them. I am going to try this on the zebra rug first and see how it works. I have such a large area to clean that I think I’ll have to do it in strips. I’ll let you know how it does on smoke.
Totally get the pet thing removal that works – been there, done that. Here’s my question – how do you get rid of the smell of cigarette smoke? It appears that the only room the previous owners ever smoked in was the downstairs bathroom – but it reeks. Any ideas? Thx much
I had the same problem since my niece moved in with me as her father & stepmother smoke, like fiends! She doesn’t smoke. The stale cigarette smoke was stuck on her things! I wanted to vomit each time I went past her room. I didn’t know what to do either. It took 6 months for the smell of her things to go away. Even now when she brings out something new from her boxes I get a whiff of that smell. I think that Jillee has something on her site about odor problems. My only suggestion would be to paint the room & change or clean the carpeting (with vinegar).
You can get activated charcoal and put it in a dish in the room, or you can leave a dish of vinegar in the room and close the door. After a day or so, it should help relieve the smell. My sister used to smoke a LOT in her house, and then moved into one where she is only allowed to smoke outside; that is when she realized how bad her old house smelled. Just the clothes and items brought from one house to another made the new place pretty bad. She did the vinegar in a dish trick (she has 2 cats and 2 dogs, wanted to be sure it wasn’t something that would hurt them) for a few days and it worked well. She did have to change out the vinegar every day for about 4 days, but it did the trick.
Using a shallow dish, either plastic or glass & big enough to fit a piece of white bread, put a piece of white bread in the bottom of the dish, & fill dish with white vinegar until bread is covered. Put the dish in the room where you have the odor & leave it there until it has absorbed the odor or has totally evaporated. It may take a couple dishes worth to work. If it doesn’t, then the tar is imbedded in the paint & you had better plan on scrubbing your walls/ceiling with TSP (trisodium phosphate – you get it at the hardware store), paint the walls/ceiling with KILZ & then re-paint the entire room. Those are the steps we take for our customers. My husband is a general contractor.
Unfortunately that’s not an easy fix. You could try painting but eventually the smell comes through. We were faced with the same situation and in order to eliminate the odor of tobacco smoke we were forced to re-sheetrock and paint.
Luckily you just have a bathroom, we’re talking an entire main floor. Floor to ceiling.
When you repaint a room that has a strong cigarette smell in, you can add vanilla extract to the paint and it will eliminate that smell.
Jillee! Milo is such a gorgeous boy! I can’t imagine him making a mess of any kind ;0)
Can you tell us more about him? I have had a boxer in my life since I was in 2nd grade, and I now have a 2nd grader of my own, so that’s alot of years. Anyway, we tend to have more vomit issues than potty issues – so I am going to give this a try on a recent vomit stain and will report back! Thanks for all of your wonderful home made cleaning recipes – I am your most recent “convert”!
Hey Sadie,
This is Jill’s daughter-in-law and Milo’s owner. Thanks for your sweet comment! What else would you like to know about him?
What is his personality like? I think he is gorgeous, and has a great head. Did you get him from a breeder? Our sweet gal is 10 years old, so I am kind of thinking ahead to when we will be looking for a puppy. We are in Texas and hope to find a puppy here when the time comes. Thanks for your reply! Feel free to email me if that’s easier.
Thanks for sharing the info about Milo, I have a 7 yr old boxer, milo really reminds me of when mine was that age :). He has always been a big boy, topping out at 97 lbs :). All I can say, is that boxer owners are like a family, we have this overwhelming love for the breed! he’s gorgeous! Here is to many happy years with him :)
I will certainly give this a try. Right now my problem is getting the smell out of wet stains so she doesn’t use the same spot again. Any ideas on this problem?
Sounds like, as mentioned above, you need the spot to dry. Try a fan to speed up the process.
Just pour the hydrogen peroxide right on the spot… all the way to the padding. I have never had the carpet color change either. This is what I do everytime, good luck. Toodles, Linda Marie
Mix 1 cup water with 20-30 drops pure eucalyptus oil in a spray bottle and mist the area. Eucalyptus is a strong scent that will keep her from peeing there again.
WOW!! I will be trying that this weekend.
Heres to hoping it works! I witnessed a pet potty accident and immediately grabbed my carpet shampooer. There is still a neon yellow stain on our carpet. (It was my husband’s friend’s dog) UGH!
Vinegar and baking soda are a great combination for any stain!
I had done something similar to this after trying out your baking soda, vinegar and water spray (which worked, but the spots came back later). I however did the reverse. Sprinkling the baking soda on, then spraying vinegar until the soda bubbled up and worked its magic. Then I saturated the spot with water and soaked it up with a towel a few times. Not only did this get rid of spots that have been there (even though cleaned multiple times) for close to a year, but those areas are the cleanest place in our carpet!
I wonder if it works on cat puke?
I bet it would!
Sounds like something I can use as I’m chemically sensitive and do most of my cleaning with vinegar and baking soda, anyway.
A lot of my favorite blogs that I’ve subscribed to have decided not to send their entire posts via email anymore. I’ve been unsubscribing from most of them, but because your website is easy to access and follow I’ll be staying with you. I do wish I could read your daily posts from the comfort of my inbox, though.
Hi Murielle, I just wanted to let you know why I changed my email format and why a lot of bloggers are changing theirs as well. This is what I posted on my blog last week:
A NOTE TO FEED READERS:
If you read One Good Thing By Jillee posts in a feed reader you will notice that we recently have started truncating the posts. Why?
Two reasons:
1). Because there are websites (called “scrapers”) that will steal entire posts (images and all) from the emails that are sent out. I work too hard to just allow scrapers to come in and steal the content. The only way to protect it is to truncate it. You can still access the entire post THROUGH the email simply by clicking on the headline.
2). Up until recently the emails were ad-supported, allowing One Good Thing By Jillee to monetize them to a small degree. But at the end of 2012 Google discontinued that service. So now the only way we make any money is if you come to the actual website. I know some people won’t like it, but we’ve had to weigh the pros and cons on this one and this is the decision my team and I have made. I hope you will understand and stick with us. I promise to make it worth that extra click! :-)
I’ll be trying this today. I have 2 very distinct (have no idea why it isn’t 4–but grateful) paw prints because DH let the puppy (80lb German Shepherd) in the front door when it was raining. We have a dog door around back. Outside in front of the dog door & the sliding door we have a very large outdoor muck rug. On the inside right in front of the dog flap is an old bath mat. This system is extremely effective when the dogs are not allowed in through the front door. Now if I could just line the opening somehow with a towel so it would dry them off as they come in from the rain;)
Awesome
Awesome
Awesome
Thank you!! I so badly need this…I don’t even want to tell you how bad.
I don’t have so much of a pet potty spot issue as much as a pet pukey spot issue. (dang cats!)
Much needed – THANK YOU!!
I have a friend who calls them “Protein Puddles”!
What is the best way to remove regular stains, like pop being spilled on the carpet a couple of years ago? I tried to clean it up the best I could when it happened. Now it is a dark spot and it is sticky. What are your suggestions?
I use this method for that…yes I found it on Pinterest. ;)
Fill a spray bottle with hydrogen peroxide and 1/2 handful of baking soda. Shake it up and spray on carpet stains, upholstery stains, and clothing stains.
I have 5 kids and there was red juice spilled in my carpet. I could not get it out for anything. This was like magic and took it all out.
It works for me, I hope it works for you.
Here is my go-to regular carpet stain remover Betsy. :-)
http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2011/12/homemade-carpet-stain-removerno.html
Any tricks for getting the smell out of yarn/fabric?
I use this method all the time with all sorts of spill including potty spots. Although, I do try to soak up as much as I can first because I don’t want it in the carpet pad. This will also work without the vinegar. Baking soda does such a fab job at wicking up the moisture and deodorizing!! I use the vinegar method with a dry stain.
For all of the sufferers of the left over ODOR problem–
Try something called ODOR MUTE. It is MADE to work on severe odors like from a kennel or diaper pail. It is NOT A CHEMICAL (other than the fact that ALL molecular creations are made from chemicals!) it is an ENZYME that EATS the odor.
Heres how it works–You have an odor on fabric. Mix up the POWDERED enzyme in a bowl or spray bottle; saturate the stain. let sit, sop any excess up while leaving the spot wet, and LET DRY. You can use a fan for this.
For whole room or drapes–spray and LET DRY. I have personally used this on WALLPAPER that was hit with UNDILUTED SKUNK droplets and it WORKED. I have also used it on skunk that sprayed INTO my living room after braving THREE barky dogs–two of them much larger than the skunk–crossed my porch and tried to GET IN THE HOUSE and sprayed my front doors (One metal one glass) and the tile entry and wood door surrounds. Altho it took a few tries to find and hit ALL of the spots AND the aluminum siding and wood OUTSIDE we got it done.
This can be used on PET FUR and PET ACCIDENTS; I have used it with wild animal rehab cages and wood cage floors for 40 years. Carpet; clothing; diapers; flooring of all kinds–all those little nicks and scratches CAN and WILL hold odors—this will get it gone. Refrigerators; washing machines; rugs; drapes from SMOKE and SMOKING; mold and mildew–I haven’t found the odor this WON’T get out as long as it has an ORGANIC BASE ie pets or tobacco etc.
Smaller items can go in the sink or washer with the solution and then AIR DRIED.
Also works on vomit and other kid or sickness smells.
Once again the trick is letting it DRY slowly to let the enzymes do their work.
You can get ODOR MUTE at some pet stores; I have bought it on AMAZON and keep it sealed in a jar for these occaisions—we have three dogs–one older and not well—guinea pigs; a degu; whatever wild animals wander in and two small kids who are forever coming down with SOMETHING–and these past weeks with the various forms of FLU have caused me to have to break out the ODOR MUTE several times!
This also got OUT the smell from an older car with cloth seats and trim fabric when we used it in a steamer–you would not have been able to tell it had been smoked in for almost 10 years!
It comes as a granule and I see it now comes scented; I have never used the scented kind.
(I have no affiliation with ODOR MUTE) Just a VERY happy customer!
Will be trying Jillees trick tho for the stain aspect!
I am getting my house set up for my 2 new pups coming in two weeks. I am so happy that I found this post before I got frustrated with potty training them.
Thank you so much for sharing!!!!
This is a great tip. I’ve used vinegar for years but never with baking soda. It looks like that makes a big difference. Thanks!
This does work although I have been doing it backwards using the baking soda first, then pouring vinegar on top. I have very light soft green carpets, and the nephew and his wife lived here with two dogs who stained the carpet up very badly. I have had to apply this a couple times, but the carpet looks good now.
All I have done is look at the ingredients that are being used above… but here is what I do and it is my suggestion:
I use Hydrogen Peroxide, not vinegar. The Peroxide has no odor….
2 cupsd Hydrogen Peroxide
2 tsp Baking soda
2 small drops of dishwashing soap, I use Dawn.
It has something to do with the peroxide breaking down
the enzymes….? But I have to tell you it does work. I
have two dogs and one cat with ATTITUDE!! (CATTITUDE !)
The best to all and thanks for sharing, Linda Marie
This is Linda Marie again and I also use this on the dogs when they have gotten too close to a skunk!!
Toodles, Linda Marie
FOR ALL YOU CAT LOVERS OUT THERE; the best way to deal with cat puke is to eliminate the hair balls. My 6 year old is a rescue cat , we got him when he was about 2. For the last year or so, I have been giving him COCONUT OIL at night about a pea size or so. I noticed less shedding and a shinier coat about 1 or 2 months after starting the nightly coconutty (new word) session. Also, he wouldn’t take petromalt or any other hairball remedy. good luck – hope this helps !!
new subject: WHITE VINEGAR ROCKS – Ive been using white vinegar for many (forty years and counting) years. I first used it cleaning my mom’s apartments, duplex and houses. Not only does it remove odors and stains, its a sanitizer! I love using it in the rug doctor (rental rug cleaner) but you must clean the roller on the bottom as it collects dirt, hair and smelly odors before using on your carpet. Oh, I add about 1/2 cup of vinegar to the water and it cuts the suds so you wont need a defoamer. Also, the vinegar removes detergents residue so no more crunchy carpets. YAHOO !
How are you giving the coconut oil? My two cats are 16 yrs. old and don’t take medicine well. Would love to try this to help stop the vomiting!
Just give it to them. It tastes/smells good, they’ll probably lick it off a spoon or plate. Be sure to get virgin, unrefined coconut oil.
yes, its me again. I agree with linda on the skunk odor remedy. I first saw it on Mythbusters for the best remedy to get rid of skunk odor. Please be careful with hydrogen peroxide as it will remove color (first test in a hidden spot) Still loving your blog and all your tips, Jillee !!!
OMG I cannot even tell you how happy I am to learn about a homemade stain removal recipe that costs next to nothing. I’ve been using this magical stuff that costs $70 per gallon (yes, you read that right), and while it works really, really well….I am constant need of it with 3 dogs and a cat. I am going to try this immediately and I will report back on its effectiveness. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
This works really well. Leaves absolutely no odor from the urine. And I have tried every expensive thing out there.
I have used your method on some old stains and am just waiting for it to dry now, thanks. I have four Chihuahuas and they are pretty good but now and then there is an accident of some sort. To freshen the smell I walk around spraying an atomiser with a mix of listerine (mouth wash) and water. I think it helps with the smell from bacteria as well. Helps me get a “fresh start”.