need help with a cat smell in a rug

[juniorc82]

I have a nylon shag style rug with a cat smell. Doesnt really smell like urine just a strong cat smell. The lady said she cleaned it several times using a rug doctor style machine . I assumed there was plenty of residue in there since she attemtped to do it her self. I saturated with an acid and chemspec kills odor and let it dwell for well over an hour an extracted with fresh water. Its been a couple hours now and that thing still is funky . It isnt really a urine smell as much as just the smell of a cat but im sure there is some urine at play. what should I try on this thing short of nuking it with odorcide and telling her we did the best we could?

 

[sweendogg]

I'm assuming it tufted.. If it was woven I would say get some skunk out from masterblend and throw the rug in a pit for a couple of hours with about a quart of skunk out. In this case I personally would still pit it, but you may not want to take that risk. The non risky approach I would take would be Masteblend's anti allergy deoderizer. Its Chlorine dioxide and does a tremendous job of removing difficult organic odors. We would saturate the front and back with this product. let it sit about and hour, then use O2 system for its grease/body oil cutting ability and naturally deoderizing properties. Agitated with a 175, and extract.

 

[pitmaster]

[color=#FF0000] What is the age of the pet? The older the pet, the more renal function diminishes, this producing urine that contains more plasma proteins. Because less uric acephalia is secreted in this urine, it is less likely to stain a carpet however, it will produce an even stronger odor. In almost all cases, cat urine is the worst for pet urine stains and pet urine odors used your black light and OSR it should work [/color]

 

[Dirtmonger]

Wondering too if it is tufted. If it is one of those with a latex backing like Lisa Wagner warns about that could be your odor source. The latex off-gasses and creates a reeking smell. Just a thought

 

[sweendogg]

Tu She Dirty Mongerer, we don't run across a whole lot of the problematic latex off gassing rugs that are shags but that doesn't mean they aren't out there. That very well could be the problem and that would produce the smell he was describing.

Junior can you post a few pictures? This would help us verify atleast construction and possible problems. PIcture of frong and one of the back corner.

 

[renegade_cowboy]

You are not doing a good enough job flushing the rug. This is a thick pile rug and if you dont flush it nothing you do will work.


I would repeat with the acid prespray for 30 minutes, let it break down the uric salts. Then flush that out, I mean really flush out theexcess salt residue. Apply a a good enzyme allow 1-2 hours for it to digest the proteins and lipids. Then flush, flush, flush. We understand this is a think pile carpet so it take a ton of flushing.

If I remember correct you run with a portable? If so you may want to take the rug outside and flush it with a garden hose to be sure its fully flushed.

 

[sweendogg]

Brent, if he garden hoses a tufted rug, he is probably going to delaminate it. And he isn't sure the smell is from Urine, so while your theory is all well and sound if the rug has urine in it, if its a case of cat body oil or actuel latex offgassing, then the approach is going to be different.

ie.. Junior we need more details!

 

[renegade_cowboy]

Its true we are just throwing solutions out there and seeing what sticks with the lack of info we have. What is the difference of soaking a rug in a pit for hours or taking a garden hose to it. The two things that stick out the most for me is that its a thick rug and she tried to clean it herself. The latex may be an issue, but fully flushing out the thick rug may also be a good idea to. The rug is worthless if you cant fix the odor.

I wouldnt do much of anything JR unless you had her sign off on the rug. It might be a good idea to sub this one out if you cant control the odor.

 

[sweendogg]

to answer your question, both a pit and a garden hose flushing can delaminate a tufted rug both machine tufted or hand tufted. I'd throw in a pit myself because I've full washed enough of these to know how long i can keep them in before I start having a real problem. But I ALWAYS (very important) prequalify the delamination with the customers. I explain we try to minimize the delam, but with certain situations its inevitable. (a great time to upsell a complete backing repair or simply sell them a new rug.)

 

[juniorc82]

to answer your question, both a pit and a garden hose flushing can delaminate a tufted rug both machine tufted or hand tufted. I'd throw in a pit myself because I've full washed enough of these to know how long i can keep them in before I start having a real problem. But I ALWAYS (very important) prequalify the delamination with the customers. I explain we try to minimize the delam, but with certain situations its inevitable. (a great time to upsell a complete backing repair or simply sell them a new rug.)

I think I found the problem. The rug keeps foaming up due to the lady trying to be a hero with her rug doctor. I think the smell is locked in the eternaly foaming mound of domestic shampoo she put in this rug doing it her self. Im gonna go over it a couple more times with the porty and see if I can get the foam rinsed out. If not she gets the we did the best we could and odorcide treatment

 

[sweendogg]

If its still foaming up, use a pretreatment of an acetic rinse to help with the foaming.