Best Carpet for Pets (and Which Carpets to Avoid)
If you could ask man’s best friend and your favorite feline what type of flooring you should purchase, they’d undoubtedly pick carpet for its warmth and comfort.
But if you ask your golden retriever to go easy on your new carpet, she’ll make no promises. Dirty paws and poop on the floor happen. It’s the life of an animal. Some of the more spiteful cats may even “get back at you” by sharping their claws on your new flooring.
Despite the occasional headaches they may trigger, we love our pets. So if we’re going to live with them, we need to adapt. This means purchasing a carpet that will do the best job at protecting against the unique demands of cats and dogs. The good news is you don’t have to splurge on your carpet for it to do its job… you just need to know what features hold up well to pets and which you want to avoid.
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If it’s going to rain, you grab an umbrella. If your carpet is going to get hit with one of the 3 P’s (pee, puke or poop), it needs to have protection. By protection, I’m talking stain protection.
Every animal, no matter how well trained, will get sick at one point, and they aren’t going to make the toilet… make sure your carpet is ready for it. This makes name brand nylon, Smartstrand, and polyester good options for their stain resistance. Which one of these to pick? There are 2 philosophies I’ll explain below.
Captain’s Big Animal vs Small Animal Philosophy
There are two different approaches you can take when buying carpet that is likely to be damaged. One philosophy is that you should buy the most durable carpet you can, or the new carpet will be trashed before you have time to enjoy it. The other philosophy is to buy a cheaper carpet because your carpet is going to take a beating no matter how durable it is, and with cheaper carpet, you can afford to replace it with fresh, new carpet more frequently—let’s say every 5 years vs every 10 years.
So why do I call this the big animal vs small animal philosophy?
Big animals (medium to large-sized dogs) weigh enough to be considered another child running around the carpet. This requires extra resiliency from the carpet. A cheap carpet will break down quickly, looking old and matted down. Another thing “big animal” stands for is an animal that is better about not having accidents on the carpet. Consider choosing a Smartstrand or nylon carpet with good stain protection for “big animal” carpet, and make sure the density and other carpet performance factors are up to par.
Small animals don’t beat the carpet down physically. In other words, a carpet doesn’t have to be very durable to hold up to a Chihuahua prancing around. This means you shouldn’t have to worry about your carpet being crushed after a year of your small animal walking on cheap carpet. In this case, the inexpensive route may be the way to go because you can replace your stained carpet guilt free in a much shorter time period. Consider going with a polyester or olefin carpet here with low-medium face weight or density.
The Popular Carpet You’ll want to Avoid
Berber carpet is popular for many good reasons, but it also has drawbacks.
The primary drawback being it’s not animal-friendly… or rather, animals aren’t friendly to it. One reason is that the looped style of Berber is a perfect design for animals to snag their claws and cats sometimes treat it as a scratching post. This results in snags, which can permanently damage the carpet. Even if your animal is declawed, it can cause problems for Berber due to Berber’s unique tight weave. This tight weave helps it resist stains, but it also makes stains difficult to get rid of when they occur. While there are cases where pet owners have been very happy with their Berber carpet, I don’t think it’s worth rolling the dice.
Does the Padding Make a Difference?
If only this question had a simple answer. Many salesmen may direct you to moisture barrier padding. While there are cases where I don’t like moisture barrier padding (such as in damp basements), I do think it can be effective with pet urine. Pet urine can penetrate through normal padding and into the floor board. This makes it very difficult to remove the smell, even for professional carpet cleaners. Moisture barrier padding should keep the liquid from reaching the floorboard, so it can be extracted more easily. Keep in mind, this padding doesn’t work miracles (pet urine may still be difficult to remove), and it also requires that you have a competent installer that you trust to install it correctly (it requires special installation to maintain the “sealed” surface).
Captain’s parting words!
There’s no reason man’s best friend and carpet can’t coexist. It just takes a little extra thought to get the right carpet. While the “big and little animal” philosophy is in some ways self-explanatory, it doesn’t always hold true. Here’s what to keep in mind: the more traffic (bigger animal or a room frequently used by people) and the better trained your animal is at not doing the 3 P’s in your home, the more you consider “big animal” carpet and vice versa. If you want to go with moisture barrier padding, make sure you trust the installer. And after your carpet is installed, remember to always clean up accidents as soon as you notice them—especially urine. Now you and your favorite animal can live happily ever after.
Any questions on carpet for your pet? Let me know in the comments below.
We are recarpeting our living room and bedrooms. The rest of the house has hard-surfaced flooring. We are a two-terrier family so I was inquiring about Pet-Friendly carpet at Home Depot. The associate told me it would have to be vacuumed without the beater brush, due to the treatment. She said the carpet was designed (with a loose weave) to release hair and dander without the use of it and will get damaged if the beater brush is used. My concerns/questions are: I like a tight (dense/plush) carpet and wonder if that is possible with this feature. I am more… Read more »
I’m not sure about the loose weave “releasing hair and dander” easier. There are carpets that shed with vacuuming, particularly staple fibers. You might check out the vacuuming guide for tips on vacuuming with and without a beater bar. The beater can damage some carpet, but there are plenty out there where you can still use it although damage is always a risk. If you do without it, you’ll want a high suction vacuum.
I fell in love with textured carpets from Stainmaster. It looks like it is part looped part plush. I have a couple of big dogs who have reeked havoc on my Berber carpet. Strips missing everywhere and I have to trim it before I vacuum or more loops get pulled up.
Will I have this same problem with a textured carpet? Am I better off with a plush carpet?
I’d go plush. The textured carpet won’t be as bad as Berber, but imagine the dogs will still snag some of the loops.
Hi Captain, I have naughty male cat is pissing here and there marking territories. The naughty cat is finally behaving more and stop pissing, and I think it’s time to change my carpet to get rid of the smells that won’t go away even though I clean it professionally many time, I think my sub-floor was soaked. The current carpet i have is cheap and I know the padding is some thin and cheap materials with no moisture barrier. I ran to a local place and got introduced to the SS, SM, Shaw brands, but the price is very steep… Read more »
Cat pees the worst… I do think you don’t necessarily have to go with the name brands but I’d read this on branded vs generic nylon. I’d also read this guide on moisture barrier padding–that should answer a lot of your questions.
I have Mohawk silk strand carpet in 2 bedrooms and I like it.I have a client I am buying carpet for a high traffic area with dog. I am also interested for myself for a walk out basement also,high traffic. Silkstrand doesnt have the color I want.
The salesman ,says Dreamweaver P2 is the same thing.Is this true
You have Smarstrand silk? It’s not the same as Dreamweaver P2. They have similar stain resistance, but you can read more about PTT polyester (Smarstrand silk) and PET polyester (P2) on the page linked.
what is the best brand of carpet for stairs? have 2 med. size dogs? I want very good quality and stain protection (from dogs).
Depends on how much traffic your stairs good. For pure stain resistance, polyester or Smartstrand could be good choices, and you don’t have to worry about brand because stain resistance is built in. However, most people’s stairs take a beating from foot traffic–polyester isn’t resistant. Nylon is probably the most resistant fiber to foot traffic, but it’s stain resistance can vary, so this is the only one I’d worry about brand. There’s too many to mention but Shaw/Mohawk/Stainmaster are some of the major reputable names.