Pet Stains, Fur and Me

As if living in a household with two kids wasn’t challenging enough, we got a dog home last fall.

Well, he was rescued, but we decided to keep him. And then a few months ago, Ben brings home a cat. Talk about being an animal lover.

Suddenly, insanity unleashed itself on the house.

Here I was, bouncing between the kids while trying to keep Joey (the beagle) from decapitating Coco (the Persian) and tending to a million chores while doing it.

I thought I was prepared to work a little extra with the pets joining the kids.

But the stains, the stains on my beloved carpet, that I was not prepared for!

At first, it was a small puddle of urine in the living room. I panicked. But good sense prevailed and I cleaned it with some vinegar before it dried out.

Well, accidents happen, I thought. Joey was toilet trained and Coco was just getting accustomed to the new litter box.

Then, it happened again. This time, it was a bigger stain of poop. Coco was clearly the culprit. But by the time I noticed, the stain was dried up.

Vinegar didn’t work. So I tried baking soda with it. Zilch!

Beer, nopes! Bleach? I even tried bleaching my carpet but to no avail.

Someone suggested that it was the pH in the cat’s food that affected the intensity of the stains.

Just when I was about to give up hope and blow a few hundred dollars at the carpet cleaners, a friend’s friend (Thank you Adrianna) strongly recommended that I try the Bissell Pet Stain Eraser.

She has six dogs at home.

So, I consider her recommendation gospel for anything pets.

I got a great deal on a bundle from Bissell. It was the Pet Stain Eraser and the Pet Hair Eraser Vacuum. Ever since Ben found pet hair on his blazer during a board meeting, we have been struggling with lint rollers. So, when I got a good deal on the bundle, I plunged head first.

One day later, the package arrived at my doorstep and I was ready for the ultimate test.

Before I reveal how it went, let me explain a tad about the Bissell Pet Stain Eraser.

A closer look at the Bisell Pet Stain Eraser

The Bissell Pet Stain Eraser Cordless Portable Carpet Cleaner is a portable pet stain cleaner (resembles a vacuum cleaner) that can help you clean stains in a jiffy. At least that’s what the general consensus seems to be.

It can be used to remove stains on carpets, rugs, auto upholstery and other types of surfaces like carpeted stairs.

It is a reasonably compact unit that weighs just 5 pounds, has a sturdy carry handle and an all-plastic body with a removable cleaning brush on the bottom side.

There are two separate see-through reservoirs in the machine. One on the upper side of the unit which stores your stain cleaning solution and one on the bottom which collects the dirty water after cleaning.

You are free to use any stain cleaner of your choice. But if you are unsure about what brand to use, the package includes a sample sized bottle of the Bissell Spot and Stain + Oxy Formula that is pretty effective in removing stains.

I can vouch for it personally because I have used it to remove a horrible red wine spill stain off the couch that gave us sleepless nights for a week.

So, overall, the Bissell Pet Stain Eraser is pretty easy to use and handle. There are just a few removable parts, I.e. the two reservoirs and the brush which can be rinsed under water for quick cleaning.

It has a run time of about 15 minutes and takes under 4 hours to get fully charged.

How it works

First things first, the Bissell Pet Stain Eraser can reach into nooks and crannies that only your pet can manage to crawl into and pee or poop.

I like that, clubbed with the fact that it’s cordless.

Don’t have to worry about the kid tripping over the cord as you are sweating away cleaning stains.

But there’s hardly any sweating involved to be fair.

Once you pour the bottle of the stain remover into the reservoir and attach it back to the unit, you switch it on and spray the liquid on the stain and leave it for about five minutes.

This is a pre-cleaning prep procedure.

The moment you spray the cleaner on the stain, it sort of starts to foam which is pretty gross to look at.

But a quick five minutes later, it’s time to get to work. Use the brush on the bottom of the unit to scrub the stain. This is the only time that you have to be a tad careful.

I was extremely tensed the first time I used this, wondering whether I am aggravating the stain or spreading it around.

Thankfully, this helped the liquid to ‘dissolve’ the stain, if that’s the right word.

Once the stain looks washed out, power on the unit again and press the small button on the handle to activate the suction.

How effective is it

Coming back to Coco’s poop stain and my first experience with the Bissell Pet Stain Eraser, it worked like a charm.

Cleaned 95% of the stain at the first go. I didn’t want to risk ruining the carpet. So I waited for a couple of days before having another go at it. This time, the faint remaining hint of the stain, disappeared as well.

I couldn’t be more thrilled! Yay! Saved a few hundred dollars at least!

From then on, I have used this stain remover machine to clean stains numerous times. I have used it on the couch, in the car and even on my clothes to remove pet urine, vomit, dirt tracks and poop.

It has worked flawlessly every single time.

Oh wait, it didn’t on one occasion. But that wasn’t a pet stain. So, that’s not really a deal-breaker.

Considering that it’s priced just a tad under $70, that’s incredible value for money.

It’s completely worth every single dollar that you spend on it.

If you live with pets, you have no idea about the peace of mind that this can bring you.

The features that I liked the most

• The size: I can easily use the Bissell Pet Stain Eraser even with my baby hanging on my hip. It is lightweight and compact.
• Grab and go: It’s always ready to use provided you charge it. You can just grab it, power it on and use it. The cleaner liquid is stored in the reservoir so there’s no fumbling around.
• Easy to use: I hate gadgets with a million buttons and settings. Ok, maybe I am sounding like an old hag. But the Bissell Pet Stain Eraser is effortless to use. There’s just a couple of buttons that are perfectly positioned for easy access.
• Easy to clean: Both the tanks have nozzles that make it easy to refill and empty them. Cleaning the unit is a breeze.
• The price: It’s priced under $70. To say that it can wipe stains off your $700 sofa and your $2000 carpet speaks volumes about the value that it brings.

My verdict

Do not even think twice. If you are struggling with homebrews and what not to remove pet stains off just about any surface, do yourself a favor and get home the Bissell Pet Stain Eraser. You can thank me later.

Now, let’s talk about the other problem and my experience with the Bissell Pet Hair remover vacuum.

My doubts about the Pet Hair Vacuum

At first glance, I was skeptical. The Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Cordless Hand Vacuum looks exactly like the handheld car vacuum that we have at home.

I thought that I’d jumped the gun and had already started to calculate the returns procedure considering that it was a bundled deal.

How different could it be from a normal car vacuum cleaner?

But then I thought that I’d give it a shot. After all, Bissell had gained new respect after my experience with the Pet Stain cleaner.

So, I unboxed it.

It looks very similar to the Pet Stain Cleaner because it has the same lime and black two-toned plastic casing with the see-through reservoirs. There’s a power button and a suction button close to the handle.

This one weighs a lot lesser though. I’d say it’s close to 3.5 pounds.

There are three separate attachments/accessories in the box. One is a motorized foot that attaches directly to the base of the machine, the others are an upholstery tool with a brush and a crevice tool which can be used individually or connected together to increase their reach.

The Bissell Pet Hair Eraser has a 5 hour charge time with a whopping one hour runtime.

Is it really worth it?

I set off to work straight away with the Pet Hair Eraser.

The first spot that I wanted to try it was the car. We had made two trips to the vet in the past couple of days and Joey sheds like crazy due to the anxiety during these trips.

I grabbed the cleaner and headed out to the car. I must say that it is very comfortable to hold while you are carrying it around home and using it.

Thankfully, it isn’t too loud. I’d say it’s quieter than our car vacuum.

After powering it on, I realized that I had the wrong attachment on it. Btw, you can attach/remove or change accessories even with the unit powered on. That’s a neat feature.

With the motorized foot on, I made six passes on the car seat. It has a cleaning path that’s approximately 4.5 inches wide. So you do not have to make too many passes to clean a seat.

I’d say that it removed 70% of the hair on the seat, which was pretty good considering that I’d spent a couple of hours with my car vacuum trying to clean it. This was done in less than 5 minutes.

After another few passes, the seats were almost hair-free.

Next, I attached the crevice tool and reached into the seat crevice as well as areas that are otherwise impossible to reach. Got it cleaned as well in about ten minutes.

Total damage = 20 minutes

The features that I liked the most

• The portability: The Bissell pet hair eraser is so lightweight that you can carry it or hold it in any position while vacuuming. I have used it to vacuum our curtains because as strange as it sounds, I do find dog hair there. It didn’t strain my arms too much and the extra reach with the attachments helps a lot.
• The motorized foot: This accessory takes the cake. It is so effective as compared to a regular vacuum. It glides on the surface and lifts the hair off it allowing better cleaning.
• The dual filter mode: The Bissell Pet hair eraser has a dual-action filtration system that helps prolong the lifespan of the machine by preventing large-sized debris from entering the unit.
• Easy to empty: Emptying the dirt canister is effortless. Just detach it from the unit and press a nozzle to dump the hair into your garbage bag. You’d have to be a tad careful with this especially if you are allergic to pet hair and dander. Just wrap a garbage bag around the nozzle before removing it completely.
• Great price on the bundle: The pricing on the bundle is so much better than buying each of these separately. And with pets in the house, you are going to encounter fur sometime or the other. Better take preventive action than trying to cross the bridge when you come to it.

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