If you have pets, then you know accidents are going to be a thing. Even the best trained dog or cat can sometimes miss the litter box, fail to make it to the door or simply be ill. Older animals are even more likely to deposit something unwanted on your carpet. 

Unfortunately, this can lead to unpleasant odors and poop stains, which can be very hard to get out. Ideally, you want to react quickly, but sometimes you find the mess when you move some furniture...and it's already a few days old. What can you do? Learn more about how to get pet poop stains out of carpet and other surfaces. 

Do Poop Stains Come Out?

If you catch the accident quickly, it can be easy to get the stains from forming in the first place. Typically poop stains will come out, but it can take a lot of work and the older the stain is, the harder it is.

Old, dried poop can leave particularly stubborn stains that may take a lot of work to remove, although you can usually get there eventually. It's very important to remove poop stains correctly and not rub at them, which can make the stain sink into the carpet fibers and become much worse. Hate Stains stain removers can help.

How Do You Clean Poop Stains?

You can clean up a recent accident by following these steps:

1. Put on protective gloves
2. Pick up as much of the waste as possible as soon as you notice it.
3. Use a moist paper towel or baby wipe to scrape remaining poop from the fibers.
4. Mix two cups cool water with one tablespoon of liquid dish soap and one tablespoon white vinegar. Do not use dish soap that contains bleach; it will discolor your carpet.
5. Spray or pour the cleaning solution onto the stain.
6. Blot at the stain. Do not rub or scrub. Repeat these steps until you can no longer see the stain.
7. Spray or pour a small amount of cold water onto the area and blot it up with a new cloth.
8. Sprinkle baking soda over the area. This acts as a natural carpet odor eliminator.
9. Let it sit for 10 minutes.
10. Vacuum it up.

This is a really complicated method. It will work on most stains but takes a lot of mixing and often requires a number of applications to deal with stains, especially older ones. Thankfully, there is a much easier way.

How to Get Pet Poop Stains Out of Carpet

The above method only works on new stains, and it involves a lot of work. Admittedly it does also avoid toxic chemicals that could harm your pet, but...

The easier method is to use Hate Stains Emergency Stain Rescue. You should still do steps one and two to get rid of as much of the mess as possible (and make sure to properly dispose of it).

It's also very important to use a carpet odor eliminator. Otherwise, your pet will smell the residual scent of poop and return to use the same place as a toilet over and over. Cats are particularly prone to doing this. Once a place is "acceptable" to relieve themselves in, they will keep coming back to it unless given a strong message not to.

Hate Stains Emergency Stain Rescue is proven to remove poo stains (pet or baby) as well as such other messes as pet vomit. Once you have used stain rescue, you should thoroughly rinse your carpet. Yes, our products do work better than home remedies! We can promise that they will work faster and work on stains that vinegar has failed on.

How Do You Remove Old Pet Stains Out of Carpet?

It's a horrible situation. You move the dresser and discover that in the space behind it, your cat has been...busy. Because you didn't notice it, kitty has gone back to the spot again and again and now there is significant staining.

Thankfully, Hate Stains has this covered too. Our stain removers, including both Emergency Stain Rescue and Miss Mouth's Messy Eater Stain Treater also work on older stains. You can also use vinegar and baking soda, but the older the stain, the longer this will take and you may have to apply vinegar and baking soda over and over and over again. For tough stains you might have to apply our products more than once with the prep, add, rinse method (always rinse thoroughly between applications), but they will come out.

Another option is to use a dash of hydrogen peroxide bleach, but test this on an inconspicuous part of your carpet first (you should do this with any stain remover). Wool carpets are particularly prone to discoloration if you use bleach or anything containing bleach on them. All Hate Stains products are completely bleach free.

It's even more important to take care of any lingering odors if your pet has developed the habit of using a particular corner as a toilet. As a note, if your pet suddenly starts pooping in the house then you might want to call the vet, as it can indicate a variety of health problems. In cats, it can sometimes indicate arthritis making it harder for them to get in and out of the litter box. In dogs, it can be a sign of:

• Stress
• Change anxiety (if you just moved or changed your schedule, this can make your dog stressed and more likely to do something).
• Fecal incontinence.
• Parasites
• A food intolerance or allergy
• Some kind of infection
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Dementia (yes, dogs can go senile).

Some dogs just like to go on the carpet, though.

If you have dogs or cats, then sooner or later they are very likely to relieve themselves somewhere you don't want them to. Sometimes there is a reason for it, sometimes there isn't. This can lead to staining and odors. Thankfully, it is relatively easy to get poop stains out of carpet. It is even easier with Hate Stains. Check out our various stain removal products and make sure to keep them handy so that you can clean up all of life's messes.