Pet cleaning supplies come down to three problems: hair, stains, and smell. They need different products, and using the wrong one on the wrong mess is why a spot keeps coming back weeks after you cleaned it.
My house holds an English Mastiff, a group of barn cats, two rescue rabbits and a desert tortoise. I have tested a lot of cleaners on a lot of floors. This is the hub for the pet home on Pet Approves.
Buy pet cleaning supplies by the problem, not by the aisle. Three products cover almost everything a house with animals throws at you, and the fourth one you own already.
Jump to:
The pet cleaning supplies kit
| Mess | Tool | How often | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urine, vomit, anything organic | Enzyme cleaner | On contact | Stain removers |
| Hair on upholstery | Reusable roller | Every couple of days | Below |
| Hair on floors and stairs | Handheld pet vacuum | Weekly | Below |
| Repeat accident spot | Washable pad | Wash weekly | Below |
| Toys over the whole house | Basket at dog height | Nightly | Toy storage |
| Fleas and pests in the yard | Yard treatment and routine | Seasonal | Pest free |
Those six rows are the whole shopping list. Everything else sold as pet cleaning supplies is a variation on one of them, usually at a worse price per ounce.
Enzyme cleaners for stains and odor
This is the one product you cannot substitute. A normal cleaner lifts the color and leaves the compounds that smell, which is exactly the signal that tells your dog to go there again. An enzyme cleaner digests them instead. Rocco and Roxie is chlorine free and color safe, and it is what I keep under the sink.
Nature’s Miracle is the other one everyone knows, with a light citrus scent and the same enzyme approach. Soak the spot, do not spray and wipe. The enzymes need to sit wet for ten or fifteen minutes to do anything.
For an old stain that has soaked into the pad under the carpet, the Advanced severe mess formula is the stronger version. Old urine needs more volume than you think, because the stain in the pad is wider than the mark on the surface. The pet stain remover guide covers carpet, hard floors, old stains and the machine option.
Note: never use an ammonia based cleaner on a urine spot. Urine contains ammonia, so you are signposting the spot for your pet, not cleaning it. Same reason vinegar is a poor choice on carpet.
If you buy one thing off this page, buy a gallon of enzyme cleaner. Of all the pet cleaning supplies I have paid for, it is the only one where the cheap version and the expensive version do genuinely different jobs.
Pet hair removal
The ChomChom is the item in this whole guide that surprises people most. No batteries, no sticky sheets, no refills. You push it back and forth on a couch and the hair collects in a chamber you empty into the bin. Mine has outlived three vacuums.
DELOMO’s roller does the same job with a Japanese brush material and is the one to grab if the ChomChom is out of stock. Both beat a lint roller on cost because you never buy a refill.
For floors, stairs and the car, a handheld with a motorized brush head pulls hair out of fibre instead of gliding over it. The BLACK+DECKER dustbuster furbuster is the one I keep in the truck. Hair removal is downstream of shedding, so the real fix starts with the brush in the dog grooming supplies guide.
Hair is the job where good pet cleaning supplies save the most time. A roller takes a minute on a couch. The same couch takes ten minutes with a vacuum and still looks furry from the side.
Washable pads and accident zones
If there is a spot that gets hit repeatedly, a puppy corner, a senior dog’s bed, the crate floor, stop cleaning it and start covering it. Washable pads absorb, hold, and go in the machine. Eterish’s are 36 by 41 inches and come two to a pack, so one is always in the wash, soft enough that the pet approves of lying on it.
Two packs beat disposables inside a couple of months, and they do not blow around the yard.
Pads are the pet cleaning supplies that stop you needing the others. Covering a known problem spot is cheaper in time and in carpet than cleaning that spot forty times.
Toy storage and clutter
A basket the dog can reach into is the difference between toys living in one place and toys living everywhere. The PET ARTIST basket is collapsible, soft sided so nobody barks a shin on it, and about 15 by 11 by 9 inches. Tip it out in the morning, put it back at night. The pet toy storage guide has more shapes.
The yard, the dishes and the pests
A towel by the door is the pet cleaning supplies item nobody puts on a list, and it removes more dirt per dollar than anything else here.
Half the mess indoors starts outdoors. A yard laid out for a dog means fewer dug holes and less dirt tracked through the door, which I go through in backyard designs for your dog. Pest season is its own routine, covered in keeping your pets pest free.
On bowls: yes, you can run pet dishes through the dishwasher, and the temperature does a better job than your sink. There is a right way to do it, which I cover in washing pet dishes in the dishwasher. Set the bowls up properly in the first place with the dog feeding guide.
Renting with pets
If you rent, the cleaning question turns into a deposit question. I have three guides on that side of it: a room-by-room guide to pet proofing an apartment, an apartment pet policy template for landlords, and the most common pet rental laws. Enzyme cleaner on day one costs less than a deposit on move out day.
The weekly routine
Pet cleaning supplies only work on a schedule. Here is the one that keeps my house from smelling like the animals that live in it.
- On contact: enzyme cleaner on anything organic, soaked and left to sit.
- Every couple of days: roller over the couch and the dog’s chair.
- Weekly: handheld vacuum on floors, stairs, and the car seats.
- Weekly: washable pads and bed covers through the machine on hot.
- Weekly: bowls through the dishwasher, toys back in the basket.
- Monthly: brush the dog outside before you vacuum inside. Less hair beats better vacuuming.
Where your pets sleep drives most of the laundry, so start there with the dog beds guide, and for cats the litter setup decides the smell of the whole house, covered in the cat litter box guide.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best pet stain and odor remover?
An enzyme based one. Rocco and Roxie and Nature’s Miracle are the two I keep. The category matters more than the brand.
Why does my carpet still smell after cleaning it?
The stain went through into the pad. Surface cleaning misses it. Soak a wider area with an enzyme cleaner and let it sit until it dries on its own.
Does vinegar work on pet urine?
It masks it briefly and can set the stain. Use an enzyme cleaner instead.
What removes pet hair from a couch?
A reusable roller, in about a minute. A vacuum glides over woven fabric where a roller grips it.
Are washable pee pads better than disposable?
Cheaper past the first couple of months and far more absorbent. You need at least two so one can be in the wash.
How often should I wash my pet’s bedding?
Weekly, hot, unscented detergent. Scented detergent bothers some dogs enough that they stop using the bed, so wash unscented until the pet approves of the smell again.
What pet cleaning supplies do I actually need?
Four: an enzyme cleaner, a reusable hair roller, a handheld vacuum, and a pack of washable pads. Under a hundred and fifty dollars, and they handle hair, stains and smell between them.
Are pet cleaning supplies safe around cats?
Enzyme cleaners are, once dry. Keep cats off the area while it is wet, and avoid anything with pine or citrus essential oils, which cats metabolise poorly.
Do I need separate pet cleaning supplies, or will household cleaner do?
Household cleaner is fine on dirt and useless on urine. The proteins that cause the smell need an enzyme to break them, and that is the one place a pet specific product genuinely earns its price.