The Best Carpet Cleaners for Pets, According to a Husky Puppy Owner
The Best Carpet Cleaners for Pets, According to a Husky Puppy Owner
I'm the proud owner of two large dogs: a husky puppy and a 5-year-old German Shepherd, I love them to death, but like any animal, they can be incredibly gross. Isn't it funny how we talk about how cute our pets are, but never about their messes?
Whether you have a fur baby who has lots of accidents and vomiting incidents or you're gifting a carpet cleaner to someone who has a pet that's a frequent mess-maker, we're here to help you find the best carpet cleaner for pets that makes dealing with their occasional messes much more bearable, a lot less frustrating, and slightly less gross.
Best Carpet Cleaners for Pets
What to Consider
If you've begun the process of shopping for a carpet cleaner, you're probably a bit overwhelmed with the number of different brands and models that are on the market. They vary in shape, size, and of course, price. Here are some key features you should pay attention to prior to making a purchase or gifting one.
? Type of Machine
Carpet cleaners for pets are either portable or upright cleaners. Portable cleaners typically have smaller tanks, so they are lighter and a good choice for spot cleaning. If you want to clean an entire room or rug, we recommend getting an upright cleaner that you can push around, so you can cover more ground in less time.
? Hose Tool and Brushes
For whatever reason, it seems like pets always make their messes in the most inconvenient locations. We highly recommend opting for a carpet cleaner that has a hose tool that you can use to scrub stains from carpet, upholstery, and other hard-to-reach areas like a staircase where upright cleaners can't always reach. Besides that, ensure your carpet cleaner has a powered rotating brush so you don't have to scrub as hard.
? Tank Size
The larger the tank(s) your machine has, the longer you can use the machine since you won't have to empty its dirty water tank or refill its clean water one. Our colleagues at Good Housekeeping, also note that a 64-ounce tank filled with solution and water will add 4 pounds of weight to the machine.
"If you know you will be frequently cleaning up stains or cleaning large areas, a larger machine might be handier than a smaller one," said Carolyn Forté, executive director of the Good Housekeeping Institute's Home Care and Cleaning Lab.
Now that you know what to look for in a good carpet cleaner for pets, discover the best ones below that are vetted by our cleaning experts. We're confident you'll find one that'll help you or a loved one tackle any pet mess and get rugs and carpets looking like new in practically no time.
→ Need a new vacuum? Check out our guides to vacuums for pet hair, stick vacuums, handheld vacuums, and robot vacuums, as well as our full guide to carpet cleaners.
Pet Stain Eraser PowerBrush Plus Portable Carpet Cleaner
Bissell
amazon.com
$133.89
Our colleagues at Good Housekeeping put the Bissell to the test and dubbed it a carpet cleaning champ for its stain and odor removal, quiet operation, and its lightweight design.
"This cordless Bissell has a built-in rotating brush for deep cleaning," said Carolyn Forté, executive director of the Good Housekeeping Institute's Home Care and Cleaning Lab. "It removed fresh and dried red wine and blueberry pie filling stains and was easy to clean and maintain."
You can expect 20 minutes of runtime before needing to charge the battery. It's equipped with an 8-ounce tank and is compatible with Bissell's Pet Pro formula, which is readily available on Amazon for around $10 a bottle.
Little Green Carpet and Upholstery Deep Cleaner
Bissell
amazon.com
$109.00
The TikTok-famous Little Green carpet cleaner is a small and mighty carpet cleaner that makes it easy to remove stains from your rugs and furniture. It's just 17 inches wide, weighs under 10 pounds, and is equipped with a 48-ounce water tank.
Our tester Katie Pittman tried out the Little Green Portable Carpet Cleaner in her home for several weeks and said she loved how quiet and easy it was to use.
"I watched in awe as this little machine sucked out years-old coffee and pet stains from car seats, dried up pet messes from carpets, and even spruced up dingy-looking furniture upholstery like magic," she said. "The affordable price point and compact size of Bissell's Little Green carpet cleaner gives it two thumbs up in my book."
SpotBot Pet Spot and Stain Cleaner
Bissell
amazon.com
$185.39
The SpotBot is a corded carpet cleaner that you fill with water and a little bit of cleaning solution. It automatically sprays, brushes, and sucks up everything to clean your carpet and remove stains — even ones that have already set in.
I tested the SpotBot last March and found it to be an absolute lifesaver for cleaning my living room rug after far too many accidents with my husky Luca. I also regularly cared for a 17-year-old cocker spaniel who occasionally had diarrhea and I couldn't believe how well it worked to clean up even the messiest of stains.
It's worth mentioning that the machine is quite loud when it's running on auto mode and I wish the cleaner had a built-in dryer since it leaves my carpets damp after running a cleaning cycle. So, I highly recommend blotting the spot with a towel after it runs. Regardless, I'd much rather have the SpotBot than clean the messes by hand, and can't recommend this carpet cleaner for pets enough.
PowerDash GO Pet+ Portable Spot Cleaner
Hoover
amazon.com
$88.19
This carpet cleaner by Hoover flaunts a lightweight and slim design that makes it a lot easier to move around your home to clean anything from paw prints, urine stains, or marks on a staircase. It comes with a bristle brush tool that helps tackle tough messes.
We appreciate that the Hoover is equipped with a long 5-foot hose so you can clean in awkward places like behind the couch. Our only complaint is we wish its tank was a little bit larger. On the plus side, its compatible cleaning solution is cheaper than other solutions and doesn't require any mixing, either!
CARPET ONE Smart Carpet Cleaner Machine
Tineco
amazon.com
$399.00
For those ultra-tough stains, we recommend the CARPET ONE by Tineco. It's an upright cleaner, so you use it like a vacuum. The cleaner has four different cleaning modes: auto mode adjusts the amount of cleaner it sprays based on how dirty the floors are, the max mode is the most effective at cleaning (but it uses more water). There's also a dry mode and accessory mode which lets you use an included hose attachment to clean stairs and furniture.
I tested the Carpet One for about a month and can't sing enough praises about it. But, weighing in at about 17 pounds, the device is heavy and difficult to move around — especially when its tanks are full. Fortunately, it offers impeccable cleaning performance. Compared to competing upright cleaners, this one has a unique heating panel that maintains a consistent water temperature of 104 degrees Fahrenheit. The hotter water helps the cleaner cut deep through stains even if you have thick carpets.
I was absolutely blown away at both how dirty the water in the tank was the first few times I ran the machine and how clean my carpets ended up — especially as someone who vacuums daily. If you can afford it, the Tineco CARPET ONE is a reliable and easy-to-use cleaner that gets the job done.
Ultra Pet Stain & Odor Remover Spray
Resolve
amazon.com
$9.46
There are two cleaners that I keep on hand at all times: Resolve and OxiClean. Resolve Ultra Pet is my personal favorite cleaner for cleaning up pet messes. I've used it to clean up poop, urine, vomit — you name it and it always brings my carpets back to their original state.
I also love that it can be used on upholstery. During his potty training period, my puppy Luca would pee on the couch from time to time and this cleaner penetrates fabrics deep to ensure the stains wouldn't remain.
Instant Carpet Spot Remover
FOLEX
amazon.com
$6.65
FOLEX is the number one bestselling carpet cleaner on Amazon and has 60,000 5-star reviews and counting. What we like most about this cleaner is that it works incredibly well at lifting old stains. Typically, the most effective way to remove stains is to tackle them quickly, but FOLEX somehow manages to miraculously remove any stain — new and old.
"We had a senior dog who had multiple accidents on our carpet," wrote Amazon reviewer Dee Harb. "These stains were years old and dark... I used many other stain removers, but they only helped minimally remove the stain," they added. "In comes Folex, and it has completely removed the black stain that was set in the carpet for at least a year."
Advanced Stain and Odor Eliminator
Nature's Miracle
amazon.com
$13.55
When crowdsourcing favorite carpet cleaners from my co-workers, Nature's Miracle was without a doubt the most popular recommendation from pet owners at my office. Many of my peers absolutely swear by it.
Since it uses an enzymatic formula, the cleaner works really well at ridding your carpets of odors from dog urine, diarrhea, vomit, and other pet accidents. It's safe for use on carpets, hard floors, furniture, and fabrics.
Like the Resolve cleaner we previously mentioned, Nature's Miracle works best if you wait 10-15 minutes for the cleaner to soak in before blotting it up. But if you have stinky urine-soaked carpets, this is the cleaner you're looking for!
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We've tested and evaluated several carpet cleaners for pets to make the process of shopping for one a breeze. These expert-approved models performed best at ridding carpets and hard floors of smells and stains.