Thursday, March 31, 2011

Schwang Manor: Pooches & Carpet Cleaning

 There is nothing that wakes me from a dead-sleep faster than the dreaded "bleh-bleh-bleh" hacking sound signaling that one of our pooches is about to throw up. And if I can navigate my sleep-ridden body through a dark house fast enough to find the sick pooch and direct them onto the hardwood floor I consider myself lucky.
But sometimes... I'm not so lucky.
Sometimes the said pooch is already lying in the middle of our rug when they themselves are woken by the "bleh-bleh-bleh" feeling. Like the other day when Miss M thought it was a great idea to eat sticks on our walk but actually ended up throwing them up in the middle of our carpet.
We've been using Nature's Miracle--which I've heard can even work on red wine--then we will go over it with our Hoover SteamVac with Clean Surge . The only problem is the SteamVac is huge, and in our small space we can only store it in the deep recesses of one of our pseudo-closets. Plus it's really heavy. So by the time we're able to pry it free from all the random items stored on top of it, it has really become a huge ordeal.
So we finally decided to try the Bissell Spotbot Pet Deep Cleaner--we used one of our many Bed, Bath & Beyond 20% coupons for a discount. We like that it's small, and that all you have to do is leave it on the spot and it actually does all the pushing, scrubbing, and cleaning for you. We were happy that it works well--though it may work a little too well. See, it leaves these little circles in middle of the rug. So you can see the areas that are really, really clean, but then the  rest of the rug seems dirty in comparison.
I think this is a better option, but I was just curious what everyone else does, and if you have any good tips--luckily, we don't have many rugs.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is definitely the worst sound to wake up to! We only have wood floors so I am definitely not the one to ask about cleaning carpets. I love that last picture of Miss M...she seems awfully concerned about something.

Kate said...

I love my spotbot! We've started using the handle attachment sometimes. It still gets the areas you're working on cleaner, but it's not as noticeable since it doesn't leave behind the hard edge of the circle.

Alison said...

I have the spot bot pet cleaner as well, the clean circle is something I have lamented as well! Ha.
The thing that bothers me is that I like to use all natural cleaners (like the natural enzymes in Nature's Miracle) and I feel guilty about using the Bissell solution. But it works so well!!

Unknown said...

When we were actively working with a rescue, we gave up on having any type of carpet or rug, but now that we are down to two fosters, we have brought the rugs back in. We bought a Bissell Little Green Pro-Heat Deep Cleaning Machine & it is wonderful! It is very lightweight & gets the job done. I will still gladly clean up any dog mess rather than be the one who gets to clean up after our kitties :)

Two Grad Students and a Pittie said...

what does everyone use as the best vacuum for pet hair? we're getting a new rug and havis black hair is def a problem!

www.twogradstudentsandapittie.blogspot.com

huser630 said...

Thankfully, our dog has never thrown up considering we have white carpeting. Not sure how we have been this lucky...so far. I am sure I just jinxed it.

When we were rescuing ferrets in our previous life, there would be the occasional mess. We have the Little Green Machine by Bissell and LOVE it! Though I would love to try the SpotBot too. I am obsessive compulsive about the cleanliness of my home.

Anonymous said...

poor little chick has a very sensitive tummy, so this is not an entirely uncommon experience at our house. and mr. ears sometimes lets out a little tinkle when he's extra excited. you would think we have some sort of system of cleanup, but you would be wrong. we normally do a half-hearted, half-asleep clean up job with some rags and soapy water in the middle of the night, and then are shocked to see the icky yellowish stain still on the carpet the next day. it's time to get serious on our rugs!

Anonymous said...

I can't imagine living with dogs in a carpeted house.. just for this reason! Tile, baby, tile!

houndstooth said...

I have been wanting one of those Pet Bots since they came out! I envy you. We have another small spot cleaner that we use most of the time because our big steam cleaner crapped out on us and I can't motivate my husband to either fix it, take it to a repair shop, or get a new one.

Barbara said...

I used to use Spot Shot in a can when I had carpets. Works well.

Amy said...

Our Ty does the same thing! He loves to eat sticks and then throws them up in the middle of the night. I'm glad to hear the Bissell Spotbot works so well. We also like their carpet cleaner - it comes in a can with a brush on the end and it's so conventient!

Maisie's Mom said...

Maisie sleeps in bed with me, and one numerous occasions I have awakened to the dreaded hacking sounds. usually I get her onto the wood floor in time, but once or twice I've been too slow and she puked IN MY BED. so now I am hyper sensitive to the slightest sound. it's happened a couple times in the office (which is 100% carpeted) and I've managed to hold her head over the garbage can while she threw up. it was a most unpleasant experience for both of us!

http://maisieme.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Well! Me and Brudder Ranger hardly ever throws up. But the kittehs - YEESH! They're puking machines! Mom uses Nature's Miracle and this other Woolite Stuff. And it'll go away but then slowly it's like it comes back. It's making her BONKERS. So maybe I'll try to tell her abouts the SpotBot. I bet she'd rather have one spot of the carpet be too clean rather than too dirty.

Wiggles & Wags,
mayzie

Unknown said...

It looks like your really getting the hang of your new DSLR, your pictures look great. Luckily we mostly have hardwood, but we did get a new living room rug and am just waiting for the first mishap!

Brenda said...

My goal is always to make it to the door and open it before the bleh-bleh-bleh becomes a barf. Isn't it amazing how you can go from a sound sleep to a dead run in the blink of an eye? Fortunately, I've had smart dogs that quickly pick up on the fact that the bleh-bleh-bleh feeling in their tummy means they should hurry and get outside. My last dog Jessie would come get me and look at me with this urgent body language and a distressed look on her face. I knew exactly what it meant, and would run to the door to open it, and she would go out and barf. She was such a good dog. Lady and Lucky aren't quite as proficient, but they try their best. When we can't make it to the door, we aim for hardwood or tile, like you! And yes, we deal with the clean circles too.

Kari in Alaska said...

We want to buy a spot bot if we end up with a house with carpet someday!

KAri
http://dogisgodinreverse.com

Luci's Mama said...

i know that sound (it wakes me up no matter how deeply I'm sleeping too)! i have the portable bissell that heats ups, but not the spotbot. I may need to upgrade to that if it does the cleaning for you! The same thing with the circle happens with the portable as well...Basically, I'm saving up for new carpeting this year :)

Felicity said...

I hope Miss M is feeling better. She looks very pitiful in the last photo (or should that be pitibull?)

Dogs will insist on eating silly things...

jet said...

we are going to replace our carpet soon, and when we do we will be in the market for something like the spotbot. At the moment I'm not too concerned if new marks appear on the carpet. Bender is also usually really good with spewing on the tiles.

ForPetsSake said...

I love that look on Miss M's face - so forlorn.
I use SpotShot on the incident spot and then some scrubbing. I've found it works great especially if the spot is just minutes old. If it's been a few hours, then it takes more elbow grease, but it hasn't failed me yet! Good Luck!

Mary said...

Yes! We have that same Bissell spot bot and I noticed the exact same problem! I wanted to barf myself when I saw how dirty the rest of the carpet looked in comparison to the clean spot. And then I felt like I couldn't use the cleaning solution (only hot water) because I was afraid the smell would kill the birds.

Levi barfed in our bed once in the middle of the night. It was so gross. The next time he started his dry heaves, I gave the old hard shove out of bed (oops) so that he would throw up on the bathroom floor instead. I felt bad, but I didn't want to go through the whole cleaning process again in the middle of the night.

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