Ever use a enzyme solution to get rid of old pet stains?

[Orchidflower]

I have old pet urine stains on some wool rugs and am thinking about getting an enzyme eliminator to spray on them, but am wondering if they work or not. Has anyone here tried to get old pet stains off a rug or carpet? What did you use? Anything work at all or is this a lost cause?
Anyone ever use these enzyme solutions before and have any tips when using them that are helpful?

A friend suggested her formula of white vinegar, ammonia and water, a scrub brush and a towel; but, I read that on wool rugs ammonia will make the dye run on oriental rugs.

 

[travelover]

Went through a lot of that with DW's cat before its 9th life expired. I used a black light to find the spots and treated them with Nature's Miracle brand. It gets rid of the stink pretty well, especially if it is not in the carpet underlayment.

This was on carpeting and on a hand knotted wool rug.

 

[figner]

I also have a recipe from a friend which involves hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and a small amount of dishwashing soap. It worked reasonably well for me on painted wood, but required multiple treatments (the instructions for use go into much detail). Not sure if rugs would be colorfast with it, though. I would test with a small inconspicuous area first. If you're interested I'll post the whole thing.

 

[Orchidflower]

That recipe with baking soda, dishwashing soap (they show Palmolive) and hydrogen peroxide I found on the net before I posted this. Good to know it works okay, thanks.

I did speak with a real pro who cleans rugs and wowie! that's the business to get into:
6x9 rug $135 plus $54 for some Scotchguard type stuff which is smart to use and 9x12 is $270 plus another $108 for the Scotchguard.

Moral of this story: Forget finding the CEO boyfriend, and get yourself a good rug cleaner or plumber for a beau. Seems they're the ones making the money now. I'm in shock....

 

[LOL!]

I think our last 6x9 rug cost less than $100 to buy, so why would anyone spend $189 to have it cleaned? Just buy a new one.

 

[Tesaje]

Never use ammonia on urine. Urine contains ammonia so more does not help.

If you can get the rug saturated with the enzyme cleaner & keep it wet for a good 24 hours, they work pretty well. The trick is keeping it wet long enuf for the enzymes to break down the urine compounds.

 

[Orchidflower]

I think our last 6x9 rug cost less than $100 to buy, so why would anyone spend $189 to have it cleaned? Just buy a new one.

I paid $800 and $700 for each of these 6x9 Chinese rugs back in 1984. They are top of the line as I said and should last for years and years and years. Plus, as I understand it, the Chinese won't ship any of these type of rugs anymore over here, so....they've escalated in value bigtime.
In fact, I looked up on the net today to see if anyone was selling Chinese rugs, and some rug company was selling Chinese rugs for large amounts that were from the 1920's and 30's and 40's. Wow..nice to know something I bought escalated in value for a change.
The 9x12 was a $6,000 rug purchased about 10 years ago. Worth it to clean for sure.
That's why.

Here's just one of the companies selling old Chinese rugs:
http://www.antiqueorientalrugs.com/Rchinese6.htm

Yeah...I'm shocked, too, at the prices..but whoopie!!!

 

[CyclingInvestor]

I have used Anti-Icky-Poo for many years. It works very well on odor and pretty well on visual stains. Although my dogs are well trained (after the initial puppy phases), accidents are more common with the many dogs we babysit.

 

[Nova]

I use Petzyme (Petsmart, I think...maybe Petco...one carries it, the other doesn't). Never took more than a day to find my pet's little surprise, so I don't know about old stains. Works like a charm on regular carpet and did not harm the color. Never used it on a wool rug. Good luck!

 

[Orchidflower]

Well, I've Googled, I've looked at yelp.com and Citysearch.com for local referrals. Finally I went to the BBB, called someone who looked like they were a design company and they referred me to someone.
This KILLS me to pay this much just to clean rugs, but they are so heavy that I can't lift them easily even to take them to my patio to clean. So, I might just have to pay it this time and then keep a spray bottle of enzyme cleaner here to catch every spot that happens after that.
Somebody is going to have to tighten her belt for the rest of the year I guess....%$#^&!!! Thank heaven I quit eating out pretty much...sigh.

 

[travelover]

My local rug cleaner will give you two for the price of one if you drop off the rug. Still not cheap. I don't let them talk me into all the extras and add-ons. I tell them to just clean the darn thing.

 

[Gotadimple]

I use Nature's Miracle, and have used Petzyme -- they are both similar products. I have also used them on old stains before steam cleaning. Spray the stain well at least 10 minutes before cleaning. Add about a cup of the product to the water in a hot water 'steam' carpet cleaner.

Adding to the soap in the cleaner boosts cleaning in general. Works very well ('til the next accident!).

-- Rita

 

[BTravlin]

I know people who use the enzyme cleaners to remove urine odors from scuba wetsuits and they swear by them. Don't know about pet urine though.

 

[calmloki]

If the stains are old there is a very good chance that you will still see some sign of it after cleaning: the urine will have dyed the wool. A good cleaner will get most of it. After cleaning many old hand knotted wool rugs I have much respect for the rug cleaning shops - there is much art and care and plain hard work involved. Think the rugs are heavy now? Nothing like they will be wet. Just drying a wool rug is a serious process that has to take into account the wicking effect as the water eveporates. I visited a big oriental rug cleaner down in the bay area when volunteering at a rug show - I found the mechanized portion of their cleaning process fascinating - rug beaters and hanging drying rooms - really neat.

Good rug cleaners can do some amazing things - I've seen them remove nearly all the red bleed from a navajo rug using spot application of chemical, masking, and sunlight. Lots of art and knowledge.

 

[Orchidflower]

I definitely get your point, calmloki, and that's some good advice. Wow..this is going to be pricey $$$$$.