The Best Floor Cleaner for Dog Parents

Your guide to this review today is by Cleaning expert Ben Thurber
Published on
February 15th, 2019

Expert BioExpert Bio

Ben has over a decade of experience in cleaning projects of all types along the entire eastern seaboard of the United States. Ben’s formal training and certifications in cleaning include the AMRT (Applied Microbial Remediation Technician), WRT (Water restoration technician), CCT (Carpet Cleaning technician), as well as several other certifications from the IICRC. Ben has managed teams involved in cleaning projects around the United States. Ben’s passion for cleaning and leading teams goes back as far as he can remember.

The Cleaning Institute

Part of owning a dog is cleaning up after them. Of all the chores you will have to do during your regular ritual of cleaning up after them, spending time getting your floors spick and span enough to eat off of will often be one of the most time consuming ones. This is because your floors take up a significant amount of area in your living space, and one can only cover so much ground in a certain amount of time.

We know you want to get your floors cleaned up as effectively and quickly as possible, and that is why we spent some serious time trying out different products so that we could help you find the best floor cleaner for dog messes on the market right now. After some extensive independent inquiries were all said and done, we came to the conclusion that Mr. Clean with Febreeze was our Top Pick, with Lysol Clean and Fresh Multi Surface Cleaner taking Honorable Mention and Aunt Fannie’s Vinegar Floor Cleaner with Eucalyptus walked away with our Green Pick for this category.

But we didn’t just give these designations out at random, right? So what criteria did we use to determine what products worked and which ones didn’t? That’s a great question, and it is one we are happy that you asked. To that end, we will go into more detail below about how we ultimately came to our final conclusions about the best floor cleaners available.

Testing Categories

We wanted our review process to be transparent and easy to follow along with for both our readers and our actual review staff, so we decided to break the grading criteria down into three simple categories: power, appearance, and odor. We will take a few moments to explain these categories in greater detail below:

Power: Where this category is concerned, our primary focus was making sure that you did not have to use a large amount of formula to get your dog’s mess cleaned up the first try. Floors take up a lot of space, so having to spend a lot on floor cleaner would add up very quickly over time. If the formula was not concentrated and required a significant amount of the bottle to be used in one sitting, we lowered the score of the product in this category.

In the interest of full transparency, we will state that we weighed this category far more heavily than the other two because we felt that it was easily the most important of the three criteria which we chose to grade on.

Application: For this category, we were mainly focused on how easy it was to apply and use the product in order to clean the floors, as well as the quality of the packaging in which the product arrived. If the product was in any, way, shape, or form difficult to use, if the instructions were hard to follow, or if the packaging arrived in a damaged or otherwise defective state, than we lowered the score of the product in this category.

Odor: Cleaning the floors in your home or apartment area is already an unpleasant enough experience on its own as it currently stands. The last thing you need is to realize that a repungent odor is affecting your dog. That is why we used our noses to take notes on how good the cleaner smelled and how dogs reacted to it while we were using it.

If the floor cleaner had a bad smell at any time during its usage in one of our specialized trials, we lowered the score of the product in that category during our final evaluations and adjusted accordingly.

Top Pick

Mr. Clean With
Febreeze Meadows
and Rain Scent

Combining two long-trusted brands in the form of Mr. Clean & Febreeze, this multi-surface cleaner with a fresh rain & meadow scent consistently gets the job done right, the very first time, when used

Price Check

Most notable upside: This product was a pretty easy one to award our Top Pick to for a whole plethora of different reasons. It has a highly concentrated formula, so a little bit goes a long way in terms of getting the mess your dog made off of your floors first try.

Biggest downsides: For a handful of the surfaces that we tested this on, there was some streaking left behind after we used it, but our main concern here was that the packaging showed up damaged and destroyed when we initially received the product, so we had to request a new one. We know that’s not the fault of the floor cleaner itself, but it is still worth noting here for you in our review.

Honorable Mention

Lysol Clean and
Fresh Multi-Surface
Cleaner

With a long-standing reputation as one of the most trusted names in the entire cleaning supply world, Lysol has earned the trust of millions of people by making effective and safe cleaning products

Price Check

Most notable upside: Even people who have never used Lysol personally are probably familiar with the benefits of using this product – it kills 99.9 percent of germs, can cut through almost any type of variety of grease, grime, or dirt your dog may drag in, and it often leaves a very fresh scent behind, lemon, in this particular case. Also, the formula is concentrated, so you are definitely getting your money’s worth in terms of quality with this product purchase.

Biggest downsides: We don’t know why, but there seems to be a running issue with the products in this category, and it has to do primarily with packaging issues. This is supposed to be a three pack product, but when we received it, we only received one, and it was poorly packaged. Do be prepared to have your receipt ready if you order this in the event that you do not receive the full product shipment for some reason.

Green Pick

Aunt
Fannie’s Vinegar
Cleaner

For those who are worried about their dog being around harsh chemicals, Aunt Fannie’s vinegar-based cleaner is a great place to start.

Price Check

Most notable upside: This product is concentrated and formulated with non-disruptive ingredients, meaning not only will you get a lot out of an individual bottle usage, but it is environmentally friendly to both the Earth and your dog\'s body. This is a great choice for people who have allergies or are sensitive to cleaning chemicals, as it was very much designed with them in mind, as the founder of the company’s child has these types of allergies.

Biggest downsides: Unfortunately, there were two glaring issues we noticed with this product upon our receipt of it. The first was that the packaging, for a third time in this category, was damaged. On top of that, the eucalyptus smell that was left behind after we were done cleaning, well, didn’t quite smell like eucalyptus – or even good, for that matter. That’s two pretty significant strikes against a product that we otherwise felt had a lot going for it.

All Our Picks

Tips for Effective Floor Cleaning

Simply follow the instructions on the back of the bottle and dilute the chemical with some water in either a spray bottle or a bucket. Use a mop, sponge, or rag to apply the chemical to the floors in your home, and make sure to thoroughly rinse upon completion of the cleaning, especially if you have small children or pets in the home or apartment.

A Note About Safety and Storage

Despite the fact that many of these floor cleaners are designed to be environmentally friendly and pet (and child) safe, they are still not safe to consume in any fashion. To prevent a case of accidental poisoning, store these products on a high shelf or in a cabinet where they cannot be easily accessed. Also, the packaging can become damaged if they are stored in a place with a lot of humidity, so store these floor cleaners in a cool area that maintains a consistent temperature throughout the year.

The Best Floor Cleaner for Dog Parents

Your guide to this review today is by Cleaning expert Ben Thurber

The Cleaning Institute

Testing Categories

Mr. Clean With
Febreeze Meadows
and Rain Scent

Lysol Clean and
Fresh Multi-Surface
Cleaner

Aunt
Fannie’s Vinegar
Cleaner

All Our Picks

Mr. Clean With
Febreeze Meadows
and Rain Scent

Lysol Clean and
Fresh Multi-Surface
Cleaner

Aunt
Fannie’s Vinegar
Cleaner

Tips for Effective Floor Cleaning

A Note About Safety and Storage

Quick Links

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

The Best Floor Cleaner for Dog Parents

Your guide to this review today is by Cleaning expert Ben Thurber

The Cleaning Institute

Testing Categories

Mr. Clean With Febreeze Meadows and Rain Scent

Lysol Clean and Fresh Multi-SurfaceCleaner

Aunt Fannie’s VinegarCleaner

All Our Picks

Mr. Clean With Febreeze Meadows and Rain Scent

Lysol Clean and Fresh Multi-SurfaceCleaner

Aunt Fannie’s VinegarCleaner

Tips for Effective Floor Cleaning

A Note About Safety and Storage

Quick Links

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Mr. Clean With
Febreeze Meadows
and Rain Scent

Lysol Clean and
Fresh Multi-Surface
Cleaner

Aunt
Fannie’s Vinegar
Cleaner

Mr. Clean With
Febreeze Meadows
and Rain Scent

Lysol Clean and
Fresh Multi-Surface
Cleaner

Aunt
Fannie’s Vinegar
Cleaner