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We all need a carpet spot cleaner every now and again, right? This one may be the last you’ll ever need.

I’m about to tell a tale of epic gross out proportions, with pics – you’ve been warned!

It all started when we went out of town for a weekend and asked our trusty dog-sitting neighbor to keep up with Dexter.

No problemo.

We leave Friday morning and all is well.

To be honest, all is usually well. Dex is an easy doggo to watch and we’ve never had a problem.

Until…

Cut to Saturday morning and the text on my phone: Can you call when you have a minute?

PANIC!

We call and our neighbor informs us that the night we left, Dexter had his first ever accident in the house. One involving diarrhea.

(I TOLD YA IT WAS GONNA BE GROSS!)

We didn’t care about the mess.

Me: That’s fine – but, is Dex okay?

Him: Yes, he seems fine today.

Me: Do we need to come home?

Him: No, but there’s a little bit of a mess in the living room.

Me: But Dex is okay? You’re sure?

Him: Yes…just wanted to let you know.

We told him not to worry about the mess, he could cover with a towel from the garage and we’d clean when we got home.

Seriously – DON’T CLEAN IT!

Cut to us getting home.

Dex is crying because he’s so happy to see us. He met us at the door and stuck like glue to us.

Poor traumatized baby.

I go in to find the mess…oh, lawsy…it’s in the living room, by and in his crate (in our bedroom), and in Garry’s office.

Way more of a mess than I expected.

The neighbor only saw the living room mess (my guess is he was traumatized too!).

I felt HORRIBLE for my sweet Dexter.

Luckily everything was dried and only took an hour to clean (this is the joy of Berber carpet).

Remarkably, the house didn’t reek. So weird.

As we were driving home, I did a search online for how to get poop stains out of carpets and what follows is the magic solution we used with great success.

NOTE: I decided the original formula might not do the trick (I’ve linked it linked below), so I changed the ingredient measurements for our very dirty situation.

Materials:

2 TBSP Liquid NON-BLEACH Dish Soap

2 TBSP White Vinegar

2 -3 Cups Cool Water

Tools:

Bucket

Carpet Brush

White Rags

Instructions:

Mix all ingredients together in a bucket. The mixture can be used straight from bucket or poured into a spray bottle for use.

Remove as much debris from spot on carpet before attempting to clean.

Blot excess liquid with white rags (this will allow you to see when the rag no longer pulls any stain color off the carpet).

Sprinkle – or spray – a small amount of cleaning mixture on stain (you should start with the least conspicuous/or small spot, to be sure there is no adverse reaction to your carpet).

Blot with white cloth (or white paper towels) until ALL liquid has been absorbed.

Repeat as necessary.

Once stain has disappeared, spray or pour a small amount of cool clean water onto area, then blot with clean towels until dry (this clears carpet of cleaning solution).

OPTIONAL: Once completely dried, sprinkle with baking soda and vacuum after 10-15 minutes, making sure to vacuum completely.

Notes:

The original recipe for this cleaning solution can be found on Service Master Clean.

I have adapted for my needs.

I’m sure if you fiddle around with it, you’ll get a recipe that suited for your purposes, too.

You may find that a shadow of the stain returns. If so repeat the steps.

Gross out pic as promised:

BEFORE: by his bedding.

AFTER (unretouched):

This pic was taken after my first attempt to clear the stain. I cleaned one more time and the stain came up.

Here’s a horizontal pic of the same stain after the first attempt to clean (unretouched). You can still see a slight shawdow of the stain, but waaaay better than the first pic (~hurk~):

The Good: It works!

The Not So Good: It didn’t work so great on a set/attempted-to-be-cleaned-then-set stain (I thought I’d spare y’all a pic of a brownish stain…IN MAH LIVING ROOM!)

My neighbor tried to clean one of the spots and that is the one spot I’m having trouble getting out (not that I blame him – cause, lawsy it was a sight!).

Do you think it would be weird to put a plant right in the middle of a walkway to hide that obvious something-bad-happened-here stain?!

The rest of the spots were undisturbed and still had dried poop on top; those stains came out perfectly, once we cleaned off the debris.

While all carpet cleaners advise is to resist scrubbing, because that can push stain deeper into carpet fibers, I used a carpet brush after the bulk of the stain was out.

Yes, I used the apple scented Dawn! Wasn’t an issue. I think the vinegar cancelled out the scent!

If you find yourself in the middle of a pooptastophe – this is the stuff to use to dig your way out.

I pray you don’t, but if ya do – get to cleaning with this solution.

“Come out, damned spot! Out, I command you!” Lady Macbeth and I have that in common.

How To Use The Last Carpet Spot Cleaner You'll Ever Need

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

This is one of the best stain cleaners I've ever used on my carpet...my white Berber carpet. (I see ya shuddering)

Materials

2 TBSP Liquid NON-BLEACH Dish Soap
2 TBSP White Vinegar
2-3 Cups Cool Water

Tools

Bucket
Carpet Brush
White Rags

Instructions

Mix all together in a bucket, or pour into a spray bottle for use.
Remove as much debris from spot on carpet before attempting to clean.
Blot excess liquid with white rags (you'll be able to see when the rag no longer pulls any color off the carpet).
Sprinkle - or spray - a small amount of cleaning mixture on stain (you should start with the least conspicuous/or small spot, to be sure there is no adverse reaction to your carpet).
Blot with white cloth (or white paper towels) until ALL liquid has been absorbed.
Repeat as necessary.
Once stain has disappeared, spray or pour a small amount of cool clean water onto area, then blot with clean towels until dry (this clears carpet of cleaning solution).
OPTIONAL: Once completely dried, sprinkle with baking soda and vacuum after 10-15 minutes, making sure to vacuum completely.

Notes

I found this "recipe" on Service Master!
You may find that a shadow of the stain returns. If so repeat the steps.
While all carpet cleaners advise is to resist scrubbing, because that can push stain deeper into carpet fibers, I used a carpet brush after the bulk of the stain was out.
Yes, I used the apple scented Dawn! Wasn't an issue. I think the vinegar cancelled out the scent!