Keep your home fresh with our guide on How to Clean Pet Stains on Furniture! Tips for a spotless, pet-friendly home!
While you love your pets, you don’t love their stains — especially on your favorite sofa or ottoman. Your furbabies love and want to be around you, and they are constantly rubbing on you and your furniture — leaving telltale marks along the way. A couple of hairs on your couch might be “love letters,” but stains are different.
Cleaning pet stains from furniture can be challenging. The right tips, tricks and tools will make your furnishings look like new in no time.
Why Are Pet Stains Hard to Clean on Furniture?
Pets produce bodily fluids — their saliva, urine and feces can easily stain your performance fabric sofa or chair. These bodily fluids contain proteins and enzymes that help your pet digest food. However, these biologicals also damage your furnishings, including your exotic carpets, curtains and drapery. Thankfully, carpets and other fabrics respond favorably to cleaning by hand with natural cleaning solutions.
The chemical and biological makeup of pet fluids means stains don’t have to be a head-scratcher to remove. Cleaning takes a little planning, but the right supplies will help you remove the mess.
3 Precleaning Pet Stain Removal Tips
Before you panic and try to sell your favorite sofa as “slightly damaged,” you should follow these three tips, which often eliminate a stain before it forms:
- Act quickly: The sooner the wet material staining your furniture is blotted, the less impact the stain will make.
- Blot the stain: Use a paper towel, soft cloth or sponge to dab at the wet stain, working from the outside inward to keep it from spreading. Avoid rubbing, as this works things deeper into the fabric grain — making cleaning even more challenging.
- Keep club soda in your fridge: Quickly save your furniture by spritzing a little club soda onto the blotted stain. Keep it light and gently dab the biological stain when doing so.
While these three tips won’t necessarily remove an ingrained stain, they will help prevent a new one from forming. When you have guests and can’t get down on all fours to scrub the marks off your sofa where Fluffy just hurled, these three tips will help control the mess until you can get to it later.
2 Lifesaving Ways to Clean Pet Stains From Furniture
Rule No.1 of a pet-friendly home is having the right cleaning supplies on hand to manage stains when they happen or clean up the spots you discover the next day. Here are the top two pet stain types and how to deal with each, whether fresh or older.
1. Liquid and Solid Waste Removal Method
Urine, saliva and vomit are filled with chemicals like ammonia, bile and enzymes that tend to damage furnishings with long-term exposure. Feces also contain biological components that can mess up fabric if not removed carefully. You’ll need:
- Two spray bottles
- Hot water
- White cotton rags or cloths — white avoids additional stain or dye transfer from colored materials
- Liquid laundry detergent with enzyme action that’s also color-safe
- White vinegar
- A lint remover shaver
Method:
- Fill the bottle with two-thirds hot water and one-third laundry detergent. Shake gently.
- Spray the affected area with the solution. Use the narrow spray setting for harder-to-clean areas. Allow the detergent solution to sit on the fabric for a few minutes.
- Apply the white rags with a dabbing motion, gently working the rag over the surface. Turn the cotton rag over frequently to avoid rubbing the removed dirt back into the upholstery.
- Fill the second spray bottle with hot water up to the halfway mark. Add 1 cup of white vinegar, filling to the top.
- Spray the sofa or chair with the vinegar solution. Use a mist spray setting to lightly spread the solution on the furniture.
- Use fresh white rags to continue dabbing at the fabric, removing the last grit and particles that could stain your furniture. The vinegar also removes soapy liquid detergent residue from the fabric.
- Some fabrics may pull and make lint from the dabbing. If the newly cleaned fabric has formed fluffy bits, use the lint shaver to remove them gently.
Allow the furniture to dry before letting anyone, including your pets, sit or lie on it again.
2. Dry Stains and Scents
Not all pet stains are liquid, so having a method for cleaning dry or powdery messes and smells is ideal. Dander and dust can also cause staining. Remove these marks by using the following:
- Baking soda, which is known to have superior stain-removal powers
- A stiff-bristled brush
- Clean white cotton rags
- A vacuum cleaner with an upholstery brush attachment
- White vinegar
- Dishwashing detergent
- A spray bottle
- Hot water
Method:
- Gently vacuum the area to remove loose dirt.
- Spray the area with hot water.
- Lightly dust baking soda over the wet upholstery and allow to sit for at least 20 minutes.
- Use the stiff brush or the white cotton rags to lightly work the baking soda into the fabric surface. Work in a dabbing motion with the brush and rag.
- Vacuum the area with the upholstery brush attachment.
- Mix equal parts vinegar and water with a teaspoon of dish soap in a spray bottle. Spray lightly over the surface and let sit for five minutes.
- Dab the area with white cotton rags, working from the outside inward to pick up loose material or particles. Turn the rags frequently to reduce the risk of rubbing dirt back into the fabric.
- Vacuum again and let dry before use.
The Last Stain
Pet stains can ruin your day unless you are prepared to minimize the damage and prevent staining with pretreatment steps and quick cleaning action. Clean before they become ingrained, and always wash the whole fabric section to keep the “stain” from being cleaner than the rest of the area.
A bit of planning, elbow juice and magic cleaning supplies mean you and your pet can now enjoy sofa time — as stains are a distant memory.
Cora’s passion is to inspire others to live a happy, healthful, and mindful life through her words on Revivalist – wholeheartedly convincing them that everyday moments are worth celebrating. Cora has spent 5+ years writing for numerous lifestyle sites – hence her sincere love for both life and the beauty of style in all things. Keep up with Cora on Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook.
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