As a 13 year carpet cleaning veteran, the most common stains I see in homes are pet urine and feces. These stains can be extremely damaging to carpet fibers.

There are a few tips you must know when cleaning up these stains to keep from causing permanent damage to your carpet.

Pet Urine

1. Blot urine with a very absorbent towel, pressing the towel with your heal, while standing on one foot. This allows you to soak up the urine from the pad and the carpet. Do this 3 or 4 times with new places on the towel.

2. After the urine has been removed, spray a solution of white vinegar and water (50/50 mixture.) Leave in the carpet. This neutralizes the acid in the urine that could discolor and distort the carpet fibers.

3. Never rub or scrub the carpet, while cleaning up pet urine or any other stain. This only pushes the stain into the carpet fibers and padding.

Pet Feces

1. Wait for feces to dry!!! Do not even think about any type of clean up until the poop has dried completely. If you do, the feces will absorb into the fibers and cause permanent discoloration.

2. Once feces has dried (about 24 hours) pick up and discard. What you see left on the carpet needs to be cleaned up by a professional.

3. Once the professional arrives at your house, make sure he doesn't apply any soap or other chemicals to the remaining feces. They first need to extract the stain with clean hot water. If some of the stain remains after going over it 4 to 5 times, some detergent can be applied and extracted.

4. After feces has been completely cleaned up, a sanitizer needs to be applied to kill any remaining bacteria.

Applying these steps when cleaning up pet stains will save you costly replacement and extend the life of your carpet.