2nd hand rug smells of dogs - any ideas??

Katgrit

Hi,
After decorating my lounge (cheap paint, sofa direct from factory on local industrial estate and some poundland cushions) I was after a huge spaghetti style shaggy rug which usually sell for £100+. After trawling ebay I finally found a very cheap used one of perfect colour and size, and got it courier'ed down for next to nothing.:T Its arrived today and its beautiful but HONKS of dogs. Only lasted 2 minutes in the lounge and i had to drag it into the hallway. :mad: Could still smell it there so its now outside in the back garden hoping it doesnt rain overnight. Its a stunning beautiful rug but the smell makes me feel sick. Any cheap ways i could get rid of the smell without paying a shedload to have it professionally cleaned? The price of the cleaning could well outweight the deal!

I've got rid of smoke smells out of coats before now by hanging them outside rather than bother washing them contantly but its a very thick rug and a very bad smell so i dont that will work this time!! Any ideas?? I'm not very good at knowing old style tips for anything - i'm not very domesticated!!

Cheers everyone, thanks in advance for any tips.

Olliebeak

Have you thought about sprinkling it with bicar, leaving overnight and then vacuum the following day? Or Shake 'n' Vac if that doesn't work.

Is it definitely dog smell - or could the rug be made of that wool that stinks to high heaven?

I once bought some hanks of pure wool to make a sweater and every time it was washed it absolutely ponged of 'wet dog'! Wasn't much better after drying either.

Katgrit

Olliebeak wrote: »

Have you thought about sprinkling it with bicar, leaving overnight and then vacuum the following day? Or Shake 'n' Vac if that doesn't work.

Is it definitely dog smell - or could the rug be made of that wool that stinks to high heaven?

Thanks very much for your reply. Unfortunately its definite dog smell!! (and i once had a coat that of that same wool you're on about!). Its not actually proper wool, its a shiny syntheticy spaghetti type straggly thread.

I assume Bicar is Sodium Bicarbonate? Is that baking powder? I'm gonna need a truck load of the stuff but i've only seen that in small containers. Any idea where i can get bigger boxes? Sorry for being such a numpty but my Mum worked very long hours full time, so we lived off microwave meals and me and my brother just never learnt basic housekeeping. Now i'm in my own house i'm gradually learning!

narabanekeater

Chemist sell it in bulk

madame_cholet

You could try hanging it outside to start, then spraying it with Febreze. I bought some to de-pong my teenage son's room (mouldy sandwiches left in wardrobe, that sort of thing) and it worked astonishingly well.

Bronnie

The best thing to use is Neutradol powder. It comes in a tall blue tub. You can get Neutradol air fresheners in the supermarket, but the carpet powder seems to have disappeared from the supermarket shelves. I got one a couple of weeks ago in Wilkos or somewhere similar (can't remember exactly!)

The nature of this rug, with it's spaghetti strands willl make it a bit more difficult to treat than a carpet. You'll need to work in the Neutradol thoroughly. I would be inclined to use the whole tub, work it in well, leave overnight and hoover thoroughly the next day.

In the meantime, I'd air it as much as possible.

Piggles12345

Shake and Vac type stuff is great.

A friend of mine's carpet stunk of sick so she got some lavendar flavoured pound shop shake and vac-esque stuff and put the whole lot down on the offending area.

It really worked- you couldn't smell sick in there at all ever again!! And it smelt of lavendar for a good couple of weeks!

rosekitten

because of the pile on this I would go
with spraying close up with febreze
and hang it outside to dry,also do the
underneath as well just turn the rug
over at intervals to ensure it drys
evenly.They do perfumed versions of
Febreze but myself I would use the
origional version of this.
We have used Febeeze on smelly stuff
before and its worked a treat and its
amazing when you have smelly teenagers
as well.

Katgrit

Well I've had 3 different chemist look at me like i was trying to buy heroin over the counter when i dared ask for more than the standard 200g tub of Sodium Bicarbonate. Gave up and went to the baking isle in Asda, and bought a trolley full for half the price of the pharmacy isle. Shook that all over it, then ran my hands through the pile to get it really deep down, and then went over it again, and then sprinkled shake and vac ontop too. Would have left it outside to air but it had started raining. Cant put it on the washing line because its so heavy it would just pull the hook out of the bricks (28kg of rug!!). Gonna hoover it in the morning and then put febreez on (they do a specific pet odor one) while I'm at work and then go the vets on the way home for some industrial strength flee killer just incase. Know i'm probably being over cautious but I'll cry my eyes out if theres fleas in it and they get into my new lovely sofa :eek:(once lived in a student house with cats fleas and when the central heating came on in October they all came out of the matresses and carpets and ate us alive (when the cat had moved out the year before) - honestly they were so big they were wearing BOOTS).

Thanks everyone for your advice. Last night i thought i'd never get rid of the smell but now I'm beginning to have some hope!! I'll let you know how i get on. Sitting in bed typing this on laptop and now whole house just smells of shake and vac AND dogs and i'm itching due to imaginary fleas!!:rotfl:

noonesperfect

Just for future reference - Chinese supermarkets usually sell huge boxes of bicarb of soda. HTH

thisuseridistakenagain

I got a stinky rug too - nothing helped unfortunately. In the end i gave it a going over with the hose in they backyard with some washing up liquid, then left it over some chairs to dry. It took ages to dry but the slightly damp smell was better than before at least! I gave it a good ousting after that.