If you’re looking for a carpet for your home that will withstand the wear and tear of your furry companion’s daily activities (and possible accidents), while providing a comfortable place for your pet to rest, you’ve come to the right place.
Great pet-friendly carpets are durable, stain-resistant, have zero moisture absorption, and are easy to clean and vacuum. There are several carpet options specifically designed for the homes of pet owners, but carpets designed for high-traffic areas often have these pet-friendly qualities.
Your pet and your future self will appreciate these carpet options, so keep reading to find out more about these options and find answers to all your questions about choosing and maintaining your carpet while owning a pet.
Many people think that pets and carpets don’t mix. But carpet can be a great option for households with pets if you choose the right one for the job. You no longer have to sacrifice the warmth and comfort when sharing your home with your beloved pet, as modern manufacturing technologies have allowed the creation of pet-friendly carpets. And your pets will also love the comfort provided by carpets.
Here are some of the things to look for when choosing a pet-friendly carpet.
Durability and Wear Resistance
Durable carpets can withstand the constant activity of not only your busy household of people, but also your pets. Homeowners with dogs especially look for carpets that are durable, as their dog’s play can create wear and tear in the carpet over time, especially as other household members join in on the fun.
If you have a home with very active pets, you’ll want a carpet that’s tear-resistant with strong fibres that aren’t going to fray or break down over time. Carpet that is torn, frayed, or broken down is more difficult to clean and is missing that cozy appearance you want for your home.
We stock some great worry-free carpets which are super durable and perfect for homes with pets.
Stain-Resistant Carpets
Stain-resistant carpets will prevent stains from showing up in the carpet after it’s been cleaned. These stains can include juices, coloured liquids, food, dirt, and urine. These carpets are especially attractive to pet owners because even the most well-trained dogs or cats can have an occasional accident on the carpet or track in mud from outside. Dark carpets can disguise stains well, but lighter carpets tend to last longer and maintain their appearance if they are naturally or artificially stain-resistant.
Stain-resistant carpets have this quality because they are either naturally stain-resistant, meaning the fibres in the carpet naturally don’t absorb or pick up any colour from exterior sources, or they’ve been artificially manufactured to be stain-resistant. Artificially stain-resistant carpets have fibres coated with a chemical finish so that, in the event of an accident, the carpet will repel any dirt or liquids so that the carpet itself doesn’t change colour from the stain.
Low Moisture Absorption
The quality of low moisture absorption in carpets goes hand-in-hand with stain-resistant qualities. These carpets won’t absorb any moisture, thus keeping stains from forming on the carpet’s surface.
Not only this, but carpets that don’t absorb moisture are going to dry faster, and that moisture isn’t going to seep through the surface of the carpet and absorb into the padding beneath the carpet or into the floorboards.
If this sponge-like padding absorbs too much moisture, it becomes a habitat for mould and mildew to thrive, which creates extra smells and can cause health issues for your household and pets.
Low moisture absorption carpets are great in the event of minor floods, small to large liquid spills, and urine accidents. If your dog or cat pees on this carpet, the carpet will not only repel that liquid, but it won’t absorb that pee.
Carpets that absorb liquids are going to take longer to dry and trap the moisture beneath the carpet, causing the odour of the urine to last longer. When you complete a deep clean or shampooing of your carpet to get rid of any stains or help restore your carpet, you don’t want a carpet that is going to take days to dry, as walking on a wet, freshly shampooed carpet is going to create even more stains and odours. This is why carpets with zero moisture absorption are so attractive to homeowners, especially those with pets.
Some materials used in carpets are naturally water repellent, such as triexta, polyester, and polypropylene. Others are treated to make them more water-resistant.
Easy Care and Clean + Stain Removal
Knowing that your pet, especially if your pet is a dog or cat, is likely going to shed fur and dander in your home, track dirt from outside onto your carpet, and make messes of food, kitty litter, or torn-up dog toys, you should expect to have to vacuum your carpet often.
You’ll want to find a carpet that is going to be easy to vacuum if you own a pet, and usually, these carpets have short and dense fibres that prevent any crumbs, hairs, or particles from hiding beneath or between these fibres.
A carpet that is easy to clean is also important for pet owners, as they can create liquid messes on the carpet that will need to be cleaned up promptly before it absorbs too much or gets tracked around the home. A carpet with shorter, denser fibres is going to be easier to scrub any stains out or shampoo, and carpets with shorter fibres are going to dry much more quickly.
For more information about how to maintain your carpet.
Odour Resistance and Odour Treatment
Some pets, like dogs, have a natural odour that hoomans may find unpleasant. Also, when accidents occur, unwanted smells can linger even after cleaning. Having a carpet with an odour resistance feature is a plus!
The Desire Carpet Collection boasts extremely durable carpet with wear resistance, excellent stain protection as well as odour resistance with Carpet One’s exclusive Active8 Odour treatment.
Backed by Good Warranties
Carpeting any property is a big investment, so be sure to pay attention to the product warranties. Most carpets come with warranties for wear resistance and stain resistance. Other warranties you may want to look for include fade resistance, odour resistance and pet guarantees. Be sure to read the fine print about the duration, exclusions, and other conditions for the warranties.
Learn more about carpet warranties here.
Other Pet-Friendly Qualities to Look For
Some pet owners look for plush carpet so they are comfortable for their pets to nap and play on. Families with pets are likely to spend a lot of time on the floor playing or interacting with their pets, so the comfort of the carpet is important to them as well. If the comfort of the carpet is important to you, you may be sacrificing how easy the carpet is to clean, but plush carpets are available with durable, stain-resistant, and moisture-resistant qualities.
Some of the fibre materials to look for in pet-friendly carpets are also present in carpets designed for high-traffic areas of your home. These fibre materials include wool, nylon, triexta, polyester, and olefin and are often recommended by experts for pet owners.
These fibres have varying degrees of natural stain-resistant and durability properties, but you can find carpets made of these fibres that are woven a certain way for extra durability and are sprayed with a stain-resistant chemical coating.
Best Carpet Options For Pet Owners
The best carpet for pet owners is going to have more than one of these qualities, depending on what the pet owner deems most important for their particular needs and preferences. You may want a carpet that is extremely durable and easy to vacuum, while not being too concerned about how stain-resistant or moisture absorbent it is, or vice versa.
Lucky for you, Carpet One has plenty of carpet options that have more than one of these qualities, so depending on what you’re looking for, we’ve got the perfect carpet that you and your pet are going to love! You can visit our carpets page on our Carpet One website, where you can filter the carpets by colours, features, looks, and fibres, depending on what you’re looking for, and select multiple qualities from the drop-down menus in the left column. You can also explore the following Carpet One collections for pet-friendly carpets
- Desire Carpet Collection
The Desire Carpet Collection boasts extremely durable carpet with wear resistance, excellent stain protection, and odour resistance with Carpet One’s exclusive Active8 Odour treatment. - Triexta Carpet
Triexta carpet is another great, pet-friendly carpet that offers excellent resilience to household wear and tear as well as colourfastness and superb stain protection built into every fibre that never wears off – no chemical cleaning required.
Pet Accident Cleaning How-to and Products
Even the most well-trained pets can have an occasional accident, which can damage or cause wear to your carpet. Cats are known to spray areas of their home with urine, especially male unneutered cats who want to mark an area as their territory.
You can prevent this by using a spray and scratch control spray. Spraying this along the floorboards of your home can prevent your cat from spraying or scratching up your carpet.
For dog owners in the process of potty training their dog, you can purchase a spray that will help prevent your dog from peeing on your carpet. Because animal urine accidents can’t always be prevented, you’ll want to maintain the look, quality, and smell of your carpet by cleaning up these messes effectively.
To clean up a urine stain, you’ll need paper towels, white vinegar, baking soda, a vacuum, and a stain and odour remover spray. You’ll want to clean up the stain as promptly as possible, ideally while the spot is still wet. If it’s an old stain or the spot has already dried, you can skip step 1 in the process.
To clean up pet urine from your carpet, follow these steps:
- Soak up moisture with paper towels or a dry reusable towel. Be sure to immediately throw away paper towels or immediately put the reusable towel in your washing machine after soaking.
- Spray a 1:1 white vinegar and water mixture on the stain.
- Let it sit until dry.
- Apply baking soda to the stain. This will help absorb moisture and eliminate smells.
- Vacuum up the baking soda and excess moisture from the carpet.
- Spray the area with stain and odour remover.
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