When you think of pure natural sea salt, you probably don’t think of sea salt for cleaning pet stains. Salt can help clean up spills and eliminate odors, too. It’s also a great way to dry and clean a number of spills including wine, tea, coffee and pet urine from carpets and upholstery.

How to Use Sea Salt for Cleaning Pet StaiSalt for Cleaning Pet Stainsns:

You walk into the room and your pet has piddled onto your carpet. What do you do? Pull out a towel and try to soak it up? Get your carpet shampooer and try to clean it up? Both of these remedies leave a good amount of the urine in the carpet causing a stain and odor. Personally, I try to avoid carpet cleaning chemicals because they could be dangerous for you and your pets.

Next time, go to your kitchen pantry and pull out a bag of sea salt. Pour a heaping pile an inch or more high directly onto the wet spot, then walk away for a day or two.

I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but hear me out. Sea salt is a natural drying agent that over time will leach the moisture, offending odors and residue out of the carpet. But here’s the catch: you must let the salt set for several days. While it dries I cover it with a colander (that I use only for this purpose) to keep from disturbing the drying process. As the sea salt dries, it leeches the moisture and other odor causing elements out of the rug or carpet and pad.

The cleanup:

When completely dry, the salt will turn into a hard crusty clump that can be easily be scooped off of the carpet as a single piece. I’ve found that an old spatula (that I use only for this purpose) works great! All that’s left to do is vacuum the remaining salt and all that’s left is a clean carpet. This technique also works on upholstery.

If you have an old stain (pet or even wine) that’s been dry for a long time, simply pour a little bit of water on the spot, cover it with a heaping pile of sea salt and let it dry. Give it a try, you’ll be pleasantly surprised how cheap and easy sea salts cleans your pet stains. Comment below and let me know how it works for you!