The 3 best carpet cleaners for pets – tackle years-old pet stains, messes and odors like the pros

While it's easy to imagine our carpets are clean after vacuuming, that's really only half the job done, especially if you have pets. A carpet cleaner is needed for the deeper cleaning that gets into the carpet fibers, targeting bacteria and removing stains.

Anybody with pets will know this all-too-well, as mess left on carpets will often leave their mark for months or years. While it's not as easy as mopping a hard floor, deep cleaning your carpets doesn't have to be a strenuous task, and there are relatively affordable cleaners from some of our favorite brands that will transform how clean your carpets stay with pets in the house.

Even if you already have one of the best vacuums for carpet, getting yourself a carpet cleaner for pets will help you clean like the pros. I'm H&G's home tech editor, and since testing two of the carpet cleaners in this guide, I wouldn't live without one now. My carpets look, feel and smell so much cleaner.

The best carpet cleaners in 2024

Here's a summary of our tried and tested best carpet cleaners for pets, after testing them in our homes and in a local pet shelter in need of some serious carpet TLC. Read on for more details, or click the navigation links to take you to each product.

The best carpet cleaner for pets

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I tested the Bissell Revolution HydroSteam in a local pet shelter to find out how well it handles pet stains – and it exceeded all my expectations. There were stains more than two years old left by a previous owner's dog that were about as tough and dried-on as it can get. The Bissell Revolution HydroSteam was able to clear all of them using its deep carpet cleaning features.

What sets the Revolution HydroSteam apart from other carpet cleaners is its steam function. It can pre-treat stains using hot steam to break down the dirt and bacteria, and then clean using a combination of steam and carpet washing.

Its cleaning power is similar to what you'd expect from a professional. When testing at the local pet shelter, staff repeatedly mentioned how the floors had never looked so clean, and being able to remove two-year-old pet stains with an appliance that's as easy to use as the best upright vacuums is nothing short of impressive.

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I also tested old and new stains of red wine, cola and marinara sauce, and the Revolution HydroSteam had no trouble clearing all of it in under 10 minutes. You have the option of using the hose and attachments but the steam power in the main floorhead has everything you need.

If your pets are heavy shedders, I liked that the Revolution HydroSteam captured all of the dog hair within the floorhead. Removing it was as simple as popping off the cover and wiping away the hair, and the rest of the appliance is just as easy to use and clean.

This cleaning power comes at a sacrifice in mobility as the hefty appliance weighs 22.5 lbs – more than any carpet cleaner or upright vacuum we've tested. It's also on the more expensive side, costing $100+ more than the others in this guide.

Read more in my full Bissell Revolution HydroSteam review.

The alternative best carpet cleaner for pets

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The Shark CarpetXpert is the only other carpet cleaner we've awarded five stars, owed to its incredible cleaning performance, user-friendly design and reasonable price.

It has a special pet tool, with a 'small, self-contained dirty water tank that captures everything you suck up, stopping pet waste from getting into the main body of the cleaner,' wrote expert tester Camryn. It has silicone nubs that are much easier to clean than bristles, and it was able to clean Camryn's cat's vomit and the stain it left behind.

Camryn also loved the deep clean that the CarpetXpert achieves. When cleaning an area rug, 'there were quite a few spots that had old stains or discoloration thanks to dirt, but the CarpetXpert had no problem sucking up all the gunk,' Camryn noted.

She found similar results when spot cleaning, too, as the hand tool was able to completely remove stains from an outdoor lounger that were older than six months. It only took two rounds of spraying and scrubbing for the material to look as good as new.

Carpet cleaners can be a nuisance to clean after each use, but the Shark CarpetXpert is made of removable parts that make cleaning each individual component a breeze.

Read more in our full Shark CarpetXpert review.

The best value carpet cleaner for pets

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As its name suggests, the Bissell ProHeat 2X Revolution Pet Pro is a carpet cleaner that's specially designed for our furry friends.

A great feature of the ProHeat 2X is the 2-in-1 pet upholstery tool. You can switch between wet cleaning (with a trigger to spray cleaning solution), or dry cleaning, using the attachment's own dedicated filter to collect any solids like those in pet accidents. It's the ideal all-round spot cleaner for any furniture or small stains.

I tested the ProHeat 2X at the same time as my number one pick, the Bissell Revolution HydroSteam. When testing the two carpet cleaners at a local pet shelter, the Revolution HydroSteam was better at dealing with old, dried stains thanks to its steam function. When tackling two-year-old dog stains, the ProHeat 2X was able to clean most of the visible marks, but the Revolution HydroSteam was the only one to clean them completely.

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When testing red wine, cola and marinara sauce in my own home, the Bissell ProHeat 2X was able to clear both new and old stains almost as effectively as the Revolution HydroSteam. But while the Revolution HydroSteam is the stronger cleaner, the ProHeat 2X is 5lbs lighter and includes a more comprehensive set of attachments, like the 3-in-1 stair tool and the spot cleaner.

For more general carpet cleaning, the ProHeat 2X should be all you need, and the pet upholstery tool is an added bonus for pet owners who are regularly cleaning up after their pets. It also costs around $130 less than the Revolution HydroSteam.

Read more in my full Bissell ProHeat 2X Revolution Pet Pro review.

How to choose a carpet cleaner for pets

Knowing how to choose a vacuum cleaner is a little different to how to choose a carpet cleaner for pets. Carpet cleaners can't typically handle any solid matter so you're looking out for different criteria.

• Suction power: To find out which carpet cleaners have strong suction, read reviews such as the ones in this guide. Frustratingly, brands rarely list suction power on carpet cleaner product pages. They'll occasionally mention wattage but that only represents the amount of power used. This is likely because carpet cleaners rely on much more than suction power, like their brushrolls, cleaning solutions and attachments, but strong suction will still reflect how effectively stains are pulled out of the carpet and how quickly dirty water can be extracted.
• Cleaning solutions: If shopping to help clean up after pets, look for brands that offer specialized pet cleaning solutions. Bissell's Pet Stain & Odor Solution and Shark's Deep Clean Pet Formula are great examples, as they're designed to clean the chemicals found in pet messes and target those specific smells. They're also safer to leave on your carpet with pets around.
• Attachments: Carpet cleaners excel in the many handheld attachments they come with. Like a couple of the carpet cleaners in this guide, you can even get separate tools to handle pet messes directly from the floor. Others include stair tools, upholstery tools and dry tools. If you want your carpet cleaner to handle all-round wet/dry cleaning, look for a solid set of attachments.
• Portability: The carpet cleaners in this guide are better suited to more serious floor cleaning, with tools to handle spot cleaning. If you're only looking for a spot cleaner, instead consider the Bissell Little Green Portable Cleaner or the Shark MessMaster.
• Ease of use: As carpet cleaners can be used for so many tasks, it'll help to have one that's easy to use. This can include a long hose and cord for greater accessibility when cleaning, a light build to help carry up and down stairs, and water tanks that are easy to empty and refill. And as so much dirty liquid feeds through a carpet cleaner, it'll make life easier down the line if you're able to easily take it apart and clean each component.

How we tested these carpet cleaners

At Homes & Gardens, we will only include products in our buying guides which we have tested fully. You can learn more about the process in our detailed guide about how we test vacuums. We want to vouch for every product we feature, so that you can trust us to be truthful and critical, where necessary.

Carpet cleaners are a different breed to traditional upright and cordless vacuum cleaners so the testing criteria changes. To accurately test their performance on pet stains, I tested the two Bissells in this guide at a local pet shelter where there were dog stains on carpets that were more than two years old, and an abundance of general pet stains on all the carpets.

Aside from that, we test carpet cleaners in our own home using specified substances: a quarter cup of red wine, a half cup of cola, and a half cup of marinara sauce. We also test the variety of features on offer; if it has an upholstery tool, we'll test it on upholstery, and if it has a pet tool, we'll test on pet mess.

Meet the team

Dan Fauzi

I am the home tech editor and cover vacuum cleaners on a near-daily basis. So far, I've spent 40+ hours testing 14 vacuums and carpet cleaners for Homes & Gardens, including the two Bissell cleaners in this guide.

Camryn Rabideau

Camryn is a seasoned product tester of eight years who's reviewed more than 50 vacuums and carpet cleaners, including the Shark CarpetXpert in this guide.

FAQs

Are carpet cleaners safe for pets?

Not always. You'll know if a carpet cleaner is safe for pets if the cleaning solution is labeled as pet-safe. Many brands offer these (you can find examples in our how to choose section).

To make sure it's safe, always follow the instructions for each carpet cleaner and each solution. It's advised not to mix solutions from other brands and stick to the ones designed for your machine.

What do professional cleaners use for pet accidents?

Pro cleaners will use different techniques to deep clean carpets, depending on the type of carpet, the type of mess, and the equipment they have available. Steam cleaning carpet (or hot water extraction) is one of the most popular methods from professionals as the heat penetrates carpet fibers and breaks down stubborn stains.

The Bissell Revolution HydroSteam is our best choice in this guide because it uses steam cleaning to both pre-treat and clean carpets.

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