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Ask the Veterinarian/pet urine saturated carpets

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Expert: - 2/22/2011


Question
I am thinking about purchasing a home.  My concern is that the house smells of urine.  All the bedrooms have pee stains all over the carpet.  I did a search on the web, but mostly the products are advertising clean up products that are used pretty immediately after an accident.  I'm guessing that the urine stains are not recent (house vacant) and there is a lot of stains.  it's 30 degrees outside and the house smells very badly.  Is this a cleanable issue, or does the carpet and pad have to be removed, maybe the flooring damaged as well?

Answer
You would spend as much money or more on trying to clean up old stains rather than just ripping out these carpets and getting new pads and carpets.

You can try to have them professionally steam-cleaned but the pads have been soaked as well, and even the pros cannot clean them well.

So rip them out and start fresh. You won't know what the flooring looks like or whether or not it's damaged until you do. You can probably bleach the wood on the sub-flooring but that won't be possible with the pads etc.

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Jana Connell RVT, CVT

Expertise

PLEASE READ BEFORE SUBMITTING TO ME: I am NOT a vet and do NOT diagnose diseases. That is only for a licensed Veterinarian to do. I will give you suggestions and steer you toward calling your vet for help. You can call the vet's office and talk to the technician there or the vet at times. Don't be afraid to call them! If you have a serious issue with your pet please post it to one of the veterinarians in here- I will tell you the same thing in my answer. IF your pet is injured or in an emergency situation, CALL YOUR VET- Do not wait and post in here. Just call the vet's office and get them in to see the vet right away. Critical treatment time is lost if you seek answers here when you should have your precious pet at the vets!! Don't sit at home waiting for an answer when your pet is critically ill or injured!! I can answer most questions about small animal and wildlife care as well as small animal nutrition. I can also answer questions about all phases of dental care for small animals. I DO NOT answer questions about birds (unless it is wildlife or songbirds) or HAMSTERS/GERBILS/CHINS/GUINEA PIGS/REPTILES/FROGS/RABBITS/PET BIRDS OF ANY KIND so please submit these questions to the appropriate sections. I, as well as other experts in here, do NOT do homework questions- that is for YOU to do! Please respect these rules for all of us. Thanks!

Experience

I have over 35 years experience in the field of veterinary medicine. I specialized in small animals and did wildlife rehab for over 25 years, mostly raptors, squirrels and opossums. I am a Small Animal Nutritional Consultant with 6 certificates from Hills Pet Foods, CNM and Purina. I also specialized in Small Animal Dentistry which is a field I truly love.

Organizations
Audubon,World Wildlife Federation, American Society of Veterinary Dental Technicians.

Education/Credentials
Licensed with California and Oregon, RVT and CVT. Certified Veterinary Dental Technician Have over 500 logged hours of Continuing Education Credits(that means I keep up to date!).

Awards and Honors
Nominated for Expert of the Month for the last 5 years.

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