Is this a recent problem? I am guessing so since you say he is potty trained. Do you use ammonia to clean the mess? If so, that could be a source of it being an ongoing problem. I came across this last week while researching homemade carpet shampoo:
"Avoid Ammonia If you have animals, ammonia is not a good thing to use on your carpets, especially if you are treating a pet stain. The smell will just lure them back to the same spot. Also if you have hardwood floor under the carpet, ammonia will turn the wood black. I unfortunately found out the hard way. Post by Roberta Doyle"
Here's the link: (copy and paste in browser or search homemade carpet shampoo on this site)
Our goal is to not use commercial shampoo at all. We have a cat and don't want to use the chemicals. Also, a friend of mine that cleans carpets professionally says to not use soap at all because the residue will attract dirt faster. So never spot clean with soap! That spot will get dirtier faster than the rest of the carpet.
We used vinegar and water in the soap dispenser, about 50/50 mix, but I think we could have used stronger since you could barely smell any vinegar. Since the machine automatically mixes the soap with water, this weekend (still have half the carpets to finish) we will try straight vinegar in the soap dispenser for even better cleaning power. We are also going to spray baking soda/water mixture on spots that need extra cleaning. We won't put baking soda in the machine and definitly not mix vinegar and baking soda!
Thanks again, I'll put up our final results of using straight vinegar and spot cleaning with the baking soda when we're finished.
Thanks for the input!! We went ahead and tried the vinegar on Monday. It works great! We kept increasing the amount we put in the soap dispenser with each new tankful and found you can use a lot!
Thankfully, I remembered what happens when you mix baking soda and vinegar before trying it in the machine! (remember the volcano experiment?) I like the idea of just sprinkling it on the carpet for 20 minutes before. We still have half the carpet to do and will try that. Thanks again all!! ... View related article.
