Top Pet Messes and How to Clean Them

Pets are messy. They shed. They pee on the carpet. They puke. But we still love them.

We'd also love to clean pet stains on floors and furniture with a lot less effort.

We turned to two top domestic goddesses to find out how.

The Hair Issue

Brushing your pet once a week helps reduce tumbleweeds of fur from floating across your floors. But some errant hair is still likely to escape. Luckily, the solution is simple, says Linda Cobb (a.k.a Queen of Clean), a former owner of one of the largest cleaning companies in Michigan.

For stubborn fur on fabric, wipe a damp sponge over the hair. "I usually wipe from the back to the front and the sponge just rolls the hair up," she says.

Another trick is netting from your local fabric store. "You just ball it up, and wipe it over the furniture and that picks up hair like crazy," says Cobb, the author of four books, including How the Queen Cleans Everything (2002, Atria).

On floors, try the Swiffer Sweeper, a two-in-one system designed to both sweep and mop by using two types of cloths. Swiffer Sweeper dry cloths pick up 50 percent more hair, dust and dirt than a regular broom.

Potty Break

The key to avoiding a pet pee stain? Get to it right away, blotting up as much as you can. "Standing on a big wad of paper towels is a good way to draw things out of the carpet," explains Cobb.

Then pour club soda and salt on the spot. The carbonation lifts the urine to the surface, while the salt helps prevent staining by absorbing the urine. Lastly, dry with a clean towel.

To keep pets from re-soiling your carpet, she recommends OdorZout, an all natural granule that when sprinkled on previously soiled areas removes the smell of urine. That odor is what often attracts pets back to a particular area to potty.

Schar Ward, author of Coming Clean: Dirty Little Secrets From a Professional Housecleaner (2002, Book Peddlers), makes her own spray for bathroom accidents. It's a mixture of one cup white vinegar and four cups water.

With this, just spray, let sit for about 5 minutes and towel dry.

For good measure, she then sprinkles the area with one cup baking soda and two drops of bergamot oil, which can be found in health food stores and smells yummy."You might see it start to bubble but that's OK," says Ward.

"That means it's just starting to work." Let the mixture dry before vacuuming up.

What the Cat Coughed Up

Hairballs and vomit are a different story. Don't immediately clean them from your carpet, says Cobb. Instead, sprinkle a heavy coat of baking soda on the accident and relax. The baking soda lifts moisture from food and stomach acids out of the carpet.

After the baking soda dries, pick-up big pieces with a paper towel and use your vacuum's attachment to suction the rest.

Icky Litter

Litter requires a little diligence. Empty the entire pan at least once a week and wash it with straight vinegar, says Ward, who owned a professional maid service for 35 years in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Next, rinse the pan with water and dry. Pour a thin layer of baking soda on the bottom before filling it.

Place a mat where your cat exits the box to prevent your kitty from tracking litter through the house. Or, forgo litter for Yesterday's News. These moisture-locking pellets are made from recycled newspaper, and are often used in animal hospitals and humane societies.