Pets are as much a part of our lives as our family members. But what happens when they cause problems and odors in our homes?

Q: Since we got our dog as a puppy, we've had our share of accidents on our new carpet. I've tried over-the-counter products, but I am unable to remove the urine and vomit stains. What do you recommend?

A: With pets, the difficulty in removing stains and odor relate to the health of the animal and the type of food or medication it ingests. Many of today's pet foods are loaded with fillers and dyes to look like meat (although most animals are color blind). When a pet regurgitates on the carpet, it is a hot, acidic form of that food dye. Since most carpet dyes are set with hot acid, it is understandable why it could cause permanent stains. Urine has a coloring agent in it, too, called urea, which gives it its distinct color.

A trained professional can usually remove both food dye and urine stains IF the person who cleaned up the original mess didn't set them. For example, cleaning up a pet stain with vinegar could possibly set the dye (think of using vinegar to dye Easter eggs). Also, a pet stain should NEVER be rubbed because this can deform the fibers and drive the stain deeper into the carpet and padding. Rather, just blot the stain and call a professional carpet cleaner who is trained to use specific solutions or a heat transfer, which uses steam and a solution to transfer the fugitive dye to a cotton towel.

Q: How do I get odors out of my carpet. Even after treating them with products purchased at the pet store, I still smell something.

A: Gravity works against you in removing odors. Anything liquid usually seeks the lowest area in a room. This means it will travel down through the carpet, through the padding and into the subfloor. When most people apply over-the-counter products, they usually only scratch the surface of the problem because most of the odor-producing substance is usually deposited in the padding and subfloor. A quarter-sized spot visible on top of the carpet may be the size of a football on the backside of the carpet.

There is truly a science to locating the contamination. The use of a moisture probe, a long-wave black light or even your sense of smell may be necessary to find all of the contamination first. You may be successful in removing contamination from areas you know about, but there may be other places you are not aware of that also need treating. Untreated urine contains alkaline salts which, like table salt, draws moisture from the air. This is why most large urine stains feel sticky and can actually "grab" the vacuum and slow it down while you're cleaning.

To successfully remove the odors, you must eliminate all the contamination. This can be as involved as pulling up the carpet, replacing the padding, cleaning and sealing the subfloor and cleaning and treating both sides of the carpet before reinstalling it.

Consumers can buy a product that is fairly successful in removing urine which contains an active enzyme with mutant bacteria that feeds on the protein deposits of urine. This digester needs to time to work, however, and often consumers don't use enough of it to remove all the contamination.

Q: We have a large, older dog that sheds a lot and my home has an embarrassing "old, wet dog odor." He is well trained and we've never seen him have an accident in the house and think the odor is from his coat. How do we remove that smell?

A: First you have to find where all of his dander is. Many dogs rub against walls, furniture and sleep on the carpet. A lot of retrievers actually produce oil to keep their coat "waterproof" and this oil is fairly difficult to remove. We pre-spray upholstery with a special product to help dissolve oil and hair, clean it with carpet shampoo (remember, we are dealing with hair and oil), then follow with a thorough rinsing. After having your upholstery and carpeting cleaned, it is important to bathe your dog regularly to prevent this problem from recurring.

Q: After some tenants moved out of our rental properly, we totally replaced all the carpet because we knew they had cats, but there is still an odor. Where do we go from here?

A: You need to find all of the contamination before treating or replacing anything. Use of a long-wave black light in a dark environment will cause urine to fluoresce (glow in the dark). It's amazing to see where the contamination actually exists. It's not unusual to find that cats have climbed up curtains or walked along the top of a sofa and sprayed the walls. Many building materials are porous and absorb a lot of odors. Replacing carpet without treating and sealing the subfloor may contaminate the new carpeting. Simply repainting will not guarantee total removal of odors, either, because the walls may need to be sealed before repainting. In severe cases the heating and air conditioning ductwork has needed to be cleaned and treated, the sheetrock needed replacing. Most pet deposits simply don't come close to covering the damage caused by pets.