How do you remove the dog smell from a vacuum cleaner?

I have an older Kirby vacuum cleaner (upright with bag). When I have had dogs since I have owned the vacuum. When I use the vacuum it puts out a strong smell into the air of a dog that needs a bath. (I used a shop vac on the same floor and didn’t get any smell. So it’s not the rug, it’s the vacuum). Anyone know how to remove the smell?

11 COMMENTS

  1. Sprinkle some carpet fresh on the carpet once in awhile and vacuum it up. Start with a clean bag.:)

  2. Sprinkle baking soda on the carpet and vacuum it up. It will help to neutralize the odor in the bag

  3. Put a few drops of Thebes essential oil in the bag. Wipe off any parts you can easily reach. Please don’t use carpet fresh as it can cause some pretty nasty reactions via contact dermatitis, but baking soda works well and is not usually allergy causing. Also, leaving the machine out in the sun for a few hours may help clean it out. There is also a great product called "Anti icky poo" which can get any bad odor out of anything and is non toxic.

  4. Most of the time the smell is from the old bag. Try changing your bag even if it is not full yet…plus even the outer bag may need to be washed or changed. I have placed Bounce dryer sheets next to the inner and outer bag to help put out some fresher air.

  5. You need to change the bag then with the new bag put some baking powder in it, or if you can find those vacuum air fresheners.

  6. Depending how often you change your vacuum bag, the dog fur that sits in your vacuum will smell. Mine does the same thing. If I changed it every time I used it I would pay a lot of money for vacuum bags. Like some of the suggestions to make the bag last longer, try fabric softener sheet or baking soda sprinkled on the carpet when vacuuming. When I change the vacuum bag I put baking soda in the bag before putting the vacuum bag on the vacuum.

  7. I love the Arm and Hammer brand of pet carpet freshener. It really works well. If you don’t like that, get about 2 or three cups of regular baking soda or salt and drip about 20-30 drops of your favorite essential oil or combination of oils, shake, allow to sit 20 minutes, then sprinkle on your carpet and allow to sit about 30 minutes. It will help scrub out your vaccum hoses as well as deodorize. If you don’t like buying the bags all the time, you can empty that bag out evey time you use it to help keep it from getting too funky. Just make sure you leave a spot with the good smelling powder to vaccum up after you empty it out to help neutralize any lingering bag odor.

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