Remove Cat Poop Stains and Odors from Your Carpet: A Step‑by‑Step Guide

If you’ve ever been a cat owner, then you already know that if the litter box isn’t clean, your furry, feline friend will find somewhere else to poop. If you’ve forgotten to clean the litter box, you’re likely to find a pile of kitty poop on your floor.

That’s not so bad; if you have tile flooring and can pick the fresh kitty poop up, sweep, mop, and disinfect, then change the litter box. What’s really bad is when the cat poops on your carpet, and even worse is when that cat is a repeat offender. While you can get the poop up, it does stain, and over time those stains start to stink to high heaven.

Whether it’s a new kitten, a senior cat that can’t quite make it to the litter box, or your cat’s just being ornery because he’s mad at you, no pet owner wants poop stains and smells coming out of their carpet. Luckily, there are a few things you can do to get the stains and the smells out. We’ll go into a few of those tips and tricks in this blog.

Steps For Getting Cat Poop Stains Out of Your Carpet (10 Steps)

There are a few steps you can use to get the poop stains out of the carpet. We’ll go through those steps in our section below.

1. Safety First and Foremost

You should never clean up cat poop or try to remove the stains and smell without first taking the proper safety precautions. The following items should be gotten before you start cleaning.

• Latex rubber gloves: Cat feces can make you sick, especially if your cat is sick already. Cat feces contain bacteria and parasites that can be transmitted to you if it touches your skin. Latex rubber gloves will allow you to clean up the mess without worrying about it touching you.
• Paper towels: You’ll need paper towels to pick up the mess.
• A trashcan: Make sure you bring a trashcan with a liner inside of it to put the mess in after you pick it up. You don’t want to have to take the feces across the carpet and into the kitchen to throw it in the can there.
• A premixed bucket of white vinegar and dishwashing liquid: You want to get a bucket and add your premixed solution to it, so you don’t have to run back and forth to the sink.
• Baking soda
• Vacuum cleaner
• Old clothes: It’s not a good idea to take on this task in your work clothes or clothes you want to keep. Instead, opt for older clothes in case you spill the mixture above on them.

Now that you’ve gathered all the materials you need to clean the cat poop and smells from your carpet, you can move safely on to the next step in the process.

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2. Get the Mess Up Before It Begins to Dry

While you want to gather all your supplies and be completely safe when taking on this task, it’s essential to try and get the bulk of the mess up before it airdries. The longer the poop is allowed to sit on the carpet, the harder it’ll be to remove. The particles of the poop itself will come apart and start to stick to or sink into the carpet, and that’s when you’ll really have a mess on your hands.

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3. Clean a Small Area with the DIY Solution

Now that you’ve gotten the bulk of the poop up from the carpet, you’ll want to test a small area of the carpet with the DIY solution below.

Vinegar and Dish Soap Solution

• Basic dishwashing soap
• Add one tablespoon of white vinegar

This mixture will work on most carpets. However, you want to test it in a small area that can be hidden first, just to make sure it doesn’t ruin or bleach your carpet. Never use bleach or anything containing bleach to remove stains on your carpet, as the bleach will leave a bleach spot behind.

Also, regardless of what myths are circulating out there, bleach does not effectively draw the smell of cat poop out of carpets.

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4. Spray the DIY Solution Directly on the Stain

Once you’ve determined that the DIY solution doesn’t stain or bleach out your carpet, spray the solution directly on the stain you’re trying to remove while trying not the get the solution anywhere but in the affected area.

You’ll want to leave the solution to soak into the stain for a few seconds for it to loosen any dried feces that picking it up left behind.

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5. Blot the Area Thoroughly

Once the spray has soaked into the stain, about five minutes should do it, blot the area gently and thoroughly to soak up the liquid. At this point, you should be able to see the poop coming out of the carpet.