carpet cleaning........

[Mildred]

I'll put one on my wish list.............
Is it as noisy as a hoover?
My cats tolerate the hoover noise but hate it when the vax comes out to scrub the carpets.

[Mark]

The Karcher extraction machine is excellent - so much better than the cumbersome thing you can hire from Morrisons etc. It also comes  with 2 different attachments. It is excellent and pays for itself in no time. If there is a spill or a cat throws up. I just use it with plain water and it doesn't leave a trace.

[Mildred]

Our carpets were getting water stained from all the little clean ups I had to keep doing - vomit and pee!
We have a vax rapide but it doesnt do a very good job - to be honest we got better results on hands and knees using a brush and bowl of diluted carpet shampoo.
Anyway, after Doris went through a two month phase of peeing all round the house! and the smell was fighting back whatever we used, I got a professional to come in and it was money well spent.
We'd hoovered twice with the dyson then when he arrived he hoovered again and it looked like we hadnt bothered.The shame!!
He then cleaned the carpets and the results were amazing - no water marks,no traces of cat vomit OR pee.
Its lasted for 8 months so far.

[Sam (Fussy_Furball)]

To be honest with you I wouldn't bother hiring a carpet cleaning machine  .... they  are difficult to use, cost a lot more than you initial think and never really do the job very well.  I would get a carpet cleaner to come round and do the job "professionally" - the results are unbelivable.

[Mark]

I agree. We are gradually losing the carpets but still have a way to go. The first to go was the basement which was repeatedly peed on. Also as it leads to the garden, it was so impractical. We now have engineered oak (posh version of laminate  ) which we wish we had done at the start. It is so easy to vac & mop. Especially when you have a Willow that on a daily basis, eats grass in the garden and comes in to chuck it up  - I know someone said cat sick stains laminate but this stuff is brilliant. We also had the dining room carpet taken up and the boards sanded & polished earlier this year. It was £1000 but will last forever, unlike carpet  - He did a good job despite all the rubbish you hear about Polish workmen. He came with good refs - he did some of the floors in Westminster Abbey  - you can see in the pic. Apparently, the flooring is cork  . Also another bonus is that they don't drink tea or coffee  http://www.bgfloorsanding.co.uk/sb/Displaycompany.do?p=homepage&id=SB0002071751000080

[Kay and Penny]

my own opinion, FWIW, is that laminate flooring and cats were made for each other, and carpets and cats weren't

[Mark]

The problem with steam cleaning is it doesn't actually remove anything from the carpet. You would be amazed how much dirt & grime goes down the toilet when you empty the container with the suction machines

[Kay and Penny]

steam cleaning doesn't involve any kind of chemical, just water

so it's healthier for humans and animals too

[Mark]

If the carpet isn't stained, you could try using one of the Karcher type ones that pumps out water and sucks it back up. If you use fairly hot water, it should be OK. Maybe there is an odourless carpet shampoo. I use renew but it does have a feint smell.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/RENEW-Shampoo-for-the-Puzzi-100-(-2-x-5lt)_W0QQitemZ220320380155QQcmdZViewItem

This shampoo is really economical. I bought a Karcher machine from these people (cheapest around) when I ran a B&B and it is excellent as it doesn't scrub. It is perfect for getting cat sick out of carpets  as it sprays the solution deep into the carpet and sucks it up straight away so no traces left in the carpet. I know you can hire them as well.

£300 well-spent as it will last for years and handy to have for any accidents like spilled wine 
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Karcher-Puzzi-100-10lts-Renew-Shampoo-Carriage_W0QQitemZ250395239287QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_3?hash=item3a4cb82377&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14.l1262&_trkparms=|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A30

You get 2 x 5L of shampoo included 

[nicchick]

Hello, my carpets are getting a little grubby - especially the hallway carpet by the front door. I am intending to get a wet hoover jobby with shampoo and stuff to clean them and give them a fresh smell.

However, my older boy (3 yrs old and neutered) has on a couple of occasions made it very clear when he has been offended by smells!! We once had a dubious character that visited and left his rather grubby hat. We left it on the floor in the hallway so we could give it back at some point and to my horror he piddled on it!!  (obviously we didnt give it back - I threw it in the bin!)

Also, the other occasion was when I washed the pale door mats with lots of vanish stain remover - he then started to piddle on them. I have now thrown them away and bought new mats and he hasnt done it since. He doesnt mind the smell of the mats if they are washed with biological liquid, it just seems that  he didnt like the smell of the vanish?

Sorry about the ramble but what I am getting at is my concern that if I wash my carpets and he decides he doesnt like the smell and starts weeing on the carpets.......... hope this makes sense!

Is there a cat friendly carpet shampoo?

thanks, nikkix