MONEY MATTERS WITH SHEILA--DON'T TOSS THAT CARPET!

Uh-oh!
(Photo by Simona Nováková)

Last week Janice offered some advice for preventing cat hairballs. Keeping with the pet theme, let’s talk today about that other pet problem that has plagued all us pet owners from time to time—accidents. It’s bad enough when Puss in Boots or Snoopy piddles on the linoleum, but it’s ten times worse when the accident occurs on carpeting. A hundred times worse when it’s wall-to-wall carpeting because the urine seeps down into the padding. Shampoo as much as you want, you’re not going to get that smell out once it’s trapped in the carpet padding. Many a homeowner has had to replace carpeting thanks to her pet’s lack of bladder control. But wait! Before you spend hundreds of dollars on new carpeting, try this trick:

Fill a syringe with white vinegar, and inject the vinegar through the carpet into the carpet pad. Make sure you hit all the smelly areas. The vinegar should neutralize the urine, eliminate the odor, and save you from having to replace your carpet. Unless that carpet is  orange shag from the 1970's. In that case, you might want to go ahead and replace it. ;-)