No experience with carpet at all.. Maybe look at the reviews on Home Depot.

My neighbor got carpet for her living room. Within a few weeks there were quarter-sized darker spot on it. (Part of the mistake was getting a very light silver-gray color) She rented a carpet cleaner but they didn't come out. She called the carpet store, and the first thing they asked her was, "Do you have a cat?" She did. She was told. "We don't know what happens, but there's something about cats' paws, or what they get into, that stains carpets. You should have purchased 100% wool, it cleans better.."

That was a long time ago, and I'm sure technology has advanced. I detest carpet: no matter how often it's vacuumed, I feel like it's never clean. I'd get 8' x 10' for each room and not feel so bad if anything happened. And as a seamstress, I do think natural fibers still do clean better than man-made ones.

Do you actual wall to wall carpet ? If so , stop right there and get any other material for flooring and then check out ruggables for rugs , that is the answer in your situation. IMO wall to wall is just plain gross with that lifestyle.

I really love hard floors (in our case vinyl planks) with thick wool rugs in areas where we need softness and warmth. We have 3 cats and, like most cats, if they feel a little green about the gills they run for the rug. With tight wool pile most everything stays on the very top and cleanup is super easy. After a tragic couple of years with a senior kitty who was dying of kidney failure I would never combine cats and carpet again.

The last time I shopped for carpet Nylon was the preferred material. I like either flooring and have had both hardwood and wall to wall, but I found covering my hardwood with rugs to be more work than having wall to wall since I'd have to take them in for cleaning and also have a separate vacuum for the 2 different surfaces. There are pros and cons with both.......just depends on your life style, and age.

You didn't ask, but I suggest you look elsewhere besides Home Depot for carpet. Some of their prices may look great but by the time they're thru with up-charging for everything you'll pay more than if you bought a quality carpet from a retail carpet store. We recently priced having one room done by HD and the salesman told us they add an extra 10% of carpet to cover any unseen problems in layout. That can add up to a costly amount! I've 'never' had a carpet store do an add-on in the amount of carpet since a good installer will use nearly every sq ft you purchased.

If you're going with carpet, Stainmaster Pet Protect Nylon will be your very BEST option. No it's not stain proof, nothing is completely resistant to pet "accidents" but it will do much better than other fibers. You can use more cleaning substances on this type of fiber as well- peroxide based and it won't take out the dye color in doing so. Hope this helps.

You have one of two options:

1. Go with the high-end expensive stuff like the Stainmaster Pet Protect;

or

2. Go cheap and cheerful in a tough wearing berber that has multi-strand (mixed) colour. And when it gets too nasty to look at, you rip it out and find something else.

I have no issue with wall to wall carpet...so long as I have full control of the price and the 'remove when gross' option (which means low-cost carpet). As soon as I think about keeping a carpet 'nice' for more than 10 years my skin begins to crawl.

I've seen the amount of dander/dirt/nasty stuff that lives UNDERNEATH the carpet. For some large rooms it takes 5 Shop-vac's to clean up that asthma producing Nasty McNasty. Keeping a carpet 'nice' for more than 7-10 years gives me the heeby-geebies.

You may want to check out Mohawk Smartstrand carpet. They market it as "forever clean" and it has a good warranty that even includes pets.

For stains, they recommend using a clear dish washing liquid to clean it. Once you've cleaned up the stain by patting, you need to rinse it with water using a clean light colored cloth. Then you put down a clean and dry light colored cloth on top of it and put something heavy on top of the cloth until the moisture has been absorbed.

We have this carpet in our bedrooms and I've never had a stain I couldn't get rid of using this method and it only takes a few minutes to do. I'm not a huge fan of carpet, but I've never had a carpet that was so easy to clean as this one.

I personally like wall to wall carpet in bedrooms and think it is fine. Maybe buy a steam cleaner, they aren't that expensive, and you can steam clean regularly or when needed. Pretty cat - does he actually bring his "catches" into the bedrooms? Definitely nylon or wool - both wear better than polyester. I agree with another poster - area rugs are hard to clean.

In my opinion, nylon carpets with their strong durable fibers are ideal for pets. They are resistant to pulling from sharp claws, wear, and tear, and naturally resist pet orders. The natural stain-resistant fibers are also ideal for high-traffic areas like hallways and entries. Resistant to soil and mildew, nylon will remain clean no matter what gets tracked into your home. The same is for children who like playing outdoors and bring all the dirt at home.

We bought Mar Vista Silver Fox carpet, wall to wall. It's easy to clean and is very suitable for our interior.

Nylon carpet is my choice.

SJ McCarthy’s option of multi toned Berber. I used it in living room with dogs, cats, kids, and a rabbit. Cleaned beautifully, including an orange soda spill at our housewarming.