Expert: Jahann and Sons Persian Rugs - 9/10/2010

Question
How do you get a dog urine stain out of our oriental?

Answer
Hi Don,

Sorry to hear about your rug!  When it comes to pet stains, there are two things that you need to worry about 1) urine residue remaining in the rug and 2) discoloration.  

In order to assess just how bad the stain actually is, you first have to make sure that all of the urine in the rug has been removed.  The best way to do this is using cold water and a lot of white towels.  Saturate the area and dab up with the towels as you go, making sure that you are careful of the dyes.  In rugs with very stable dyes, we've run water directly through the carpet to make sure every bit of pet urine is out.  You need to do this because if pet urine is left in a rug for an extended period of time, the chemicals in the urine could cause the rug to have cracking and drying issues.

After all of the residue is out of the carpet, you may no longer notice a yellow stain.  But, if you still do, the best layperson's way to remove these stains would be to use a stain remover for dye-based stains or specifically for pet urine.  Nature's Miracle is a product that a lot of our customers swear by.  I give that info with a disclaimer, though.  In treating dye based stains, if you are not successful using whatever cleaning products you have on hand and then you take your rug to a pro to have it fixed, you can run into issues with the chemicals in your product having an adverse effect on the chemicals in our dye removers.  If your rug is of significant value, I would say just take it to a pro from the start, as his chances of success will be much greater if the stain has been left alone.  

I hope that isn't too confusing!  Please let me know if you have further questions.  If you're in the DC area, look us up!

Best,
Katie

Jahann and Sons Persian Rugs
4210 Howard Ave
Kensington, MD 20895
301-530-6660