adopting carpeted cat furniture

[spypet]

A friend is letting me take this huge 4 year
old 2x2x6' cat tree off her hands this Sunday.
She was trying to donate it, but the shelter
could not find a volunteer to pick 120lbs up.

It's VERY well made, of non-loop carpet
heavy laminate, firm wood screws, Sisal.

The manufacturer gave me some ideas on
how to partially dissemble and clean it, to
ensure my cats don't inherit any germs,
but I would still enjoy your input here.

my new cats were from a multi-cat house
and traveled to many cat shows, so they
should have higher than usual immunities.

I own a canister vacuum and a canister
steam cleaner, but I'm not sure what cat
safe carpet shampoos to use, and any
other precautions I should consider.

http://www.naturemakesitwork.com/catalo ... hp?cat=Cat

 

[Ernie G]

Joe,

I can't imagine that you would need to take it apart to clean. If you have a small extraction machine, with a small hand tool it should be quite easy. First do a good vacuum job,you may have to use a sticky roller to remove the cat hair, then lightly spray small areas at a time with a product like procyon (its odorless) or bioclean then rinse with your extractor. Its just that simple.

 

[spypet]

I assume you are referring to these two products;

http://www.fagansupply.com/catalog.asp? ... prevnext=1
http://www.betterpools.com/Pages/Produc ... ID=01173NC

If I don't own an extractor, can I use the steamer to wet the surface
and a regular canister vacuum to lift the wetness and grim away?

 

[sweendogg]

You just said you own a canister steam cleaner. Do you really mean you have an upright steam cleaner? Ether way of upright steam cleaner or canister... it is what we refer to as extractors... less you are talking about dry forced steam cleaner. Please be specific so we can help you. Unless you use a good encasulating shampoo, and even then, any chemical you use to clean with you would want to have something available to physically flush all the contaminates out. Preferably an extractor which can flush and recover the liquid. If you don't want one and do not want to have a proffesional do this project for you.. I would suggest renting a rug doctor with an upholstery tool kit.

 

[Ernie G]

Joe,

David has answered the equipment question-and yes that is a good cleaning product to use -although there are lots of good,safe cleaning solutions that could be used.

 

[spypet]

forgive me for using the term steam cleaner
it's just a unit that boils water to spray steam.

since i don't have access to any wet extractor
do wet/dry solutions work? where you shampoo
a carpet, wait for it to dry, then vacuum it up?
or are such foams and powders just a gimmick.

 

[Ernie G]

Joe,

It's just a cat tree, so I don't think it's that crucial,and the most important part of the cleaning procedure is the vacuuming.
So I say give a shot and see how it comes out . Ernie G. out.

 

[Mikey P]

Maybe I should sell Supportive Memberships at Home Depot.

 

[Ernie G]

No kidding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!