More than 50 percent of dog owners take their precious pups on a car ride at least once every month.
Some people do it because they know how much their dogs love riding around in the car. Others do it because they want to bring their dogs with them when they travel.
If you’re one of the millions of Americans riding around with a dog regularly, it’s important to find a harness to keep them safe. It’s also a good idea to learn how to clean car carpet sooner than later since it’s only a matter of time before your dog has an accident in your vehicle.
It can be challenging to clean up the mess left behind by your pet. But the key is to act quickly before the stains and odors that come along with them set in.
Here are 7 tips for getting the job done.
1. Start By Using Paper Towels to Soak Up the Mess
The first thing you should do after your dog has an accident in your car is soak up any liquid left behind with paper towels.
Gently blot the affected area with the paper towels to pull any liquid up out of your car carpet. Resist the urge to scrub the spot since that could end up spreading the stain and the smell associated with it around.
You don’t want to start treating the stain until you’ve been able to get the area as dry as you can. Depending on how large of a dog you have, it may take quite a few paper towels to get this part of the job finished.
2. Pour Club Soda Over the Stain and Soak That Up, Too
Even if you start cleaning up after your dog as soon as it has an accident, there is probably going to be a stain in your car carpet once you’re finished blotting the area with paper towels.
Club soda should remove the stain for you, as long as you move fast. Pour a tiny amount of club soda over the stain and immediately soak it up with more paper towels.
If you weren’t able to catch the stain quickly and it has set for a few hours or even a few days, you can still use club soda to remove it. But you may have to use club soda two or three times to get the stain to come out.
3. Clean the Area With a Pet-Friendly Carpet Cleaner
At this point, your car carpet should be looking a lot better than it did when you first discovered your dog’s mess! But it’s not quite back to normal.
After you’re done with the club soda treatment, find a pet-friendly carpet cleaner and use it to clean your car carpet thoroughly. Read the instructions on the back of the cleaner’s bottle to see exactly how to use it.
4. Roll Down Your Car’s Windows to Dry the Area
When you’re finished cleaning your car carpet with a pet-friendly carpet cleaner, your carpet should be about as clean as it’s going to get. The stain should be gone and your car should even smell a little bit better.
It’ll now be time to let your car carpet sit and dry out completely. Roll the windows down in your car and allow fresh air to circulate through it.
This will serve two purposes. First, it’ll dry the area that you treated with your carpet cleaner. And second, it’ll take some of the odors that are still lingering in your car and move them out.
Let your car dry out for an hour or two before proceeding.
5. Sprinkle Baking Soda Over the Area and Let It Sit
No matter how hard you worked to clean your car carpet, there is a good chance your pet’s mess is going to leave at least a faint odor behind. One of the most effective ways to get rid of it is with baking soda.
Sprinkle baking soda over the section of your car carpet where your dog’s mess was. Let it sit for at least an hour or two once you’re finished.
Baking soda is known to be a natural odor eliminator. It’ll pull the odors out of your car carpet and get rid of them once and for all.
6. Vacuum Up the Baking Soda
If you allow the baking soda to stay in your car carpet, it’ll make it look like a mess. So once the baking soda has had time to do its job, vacuum it up.
While you’re at it, vacuum the rest of your car, too, to prevent dog fur, pet dander, and other signs of your pooch from hanging around. It’ll make your entire car smell fresher.
7. Contact Professional Carpet Cleaners If the Stain or Smell Sticks Around
As long as you’ve followed the first six tips, you shouldn’t have any stains in your car carpet or odors in your air following your pet’s accident.
But in the event that you can still see or smell evidence of your dog’s accident, you should repeat the entire process that we just went through again. There are some messes that are tougher to clean than others.
You should also consider contacting professional carpet cleaners to come in and remove pet odors from your car. They can use high-tech equipment and special cleaning products to make your dog’s mess a thing of the past.
All Pet Owners Should Know How to Clean Car Carpet
If you own a dog and you spend a lot of time in the car with it, it’s going to have an accident eventually. Your dog is going to stay in the car for too long or get too excited and lose control.
For that reason, you should know how to clean car carpet to prevent your dog’s mess from sticking around for a while. You should also find the phone number of a good professional carpet cleaning company in case you ever encounter a mess you can’t handle.
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