Cleaning Up Pet Urine Accidents in Maryland

Our pets. We love them. No matter what.

No matter if they barf up their breakfast. No matter if they hack up hairballs. No matter if they mistake the corner of the living room for the grass patch outside or the litter box.

Cats, dogs, rabbits, hamsters, lizards, birds… the list goes on as to the types of pets that people have in their homes and subsequently treat like family. Or even better than family.

With owning a pet comes many responsibilities. Some obligatory, such as taking them to the vet for annual checkups. Others more of a necessity, such as cleaning up after they make a mess, from turning over the food dish to the previously mentioned hacking or barfing — or other issues that create a smelly, unsightly mess that must be dealt with.

Pet accidents. They happen to every pet owner. And are they really “accidents” — as if the pet didn’t really mean to do it? That’s another story entirely.

Here are a few basic steps to consider when cleaning up your pet “accidents”.

Scrape or wipe it up — all of it
No matter the mess, whether tossed up morsels from the food bowl to a hacked-up hairball to urine or feces smeared in the carpet, the first order of business is to clean up the excess residue. There’s no point to applying carpet cleaning product or deodorizer to substance that you can remove with a few paper towels.

Blot and blot… and blot some more
Now is the time to get as much moisture (gross!) out of the carpet or off the flooring material, or even off furniture. Using white, absorbent paper or cloth towels, push down on the affected area. Do not scrub. The idea is to absorb as much contamination as you can.

Apply product — and clean!
The last and final step is to clean up all remaining residues from the surface of your floors. However, sometimes these cleaning products have a bleaching agent in them. So, always pretest colors and fabrics before adding cleaning products, although most surfaces are fairly durable and can handle mild cleaning agents. Get some ideas for the best products from your local carpet cleaning company. Control the amount applied with a flip-top bottle or adding the product to a white, absorbent paper or cloth towel. Work into the area and clean away the contamination. If you remove it when fresh, there should be no residual issues.

Sounds easy, right? It’s not always this easy. When you have difficult cleaning challenges, do the right thing. Call your professional cleaning company. After all, it pays to call a pro!