Ugghhh!! That is gross - a petri dish as my DH calls anything that could potentially be moist and grow things. I too love rugs but don't have any in the master bathroom other than a small washable one that we step on when we get out of the shower or tub that hangs on a rod when not in use. Your bathroom is probably more pristine than mine but I don't care for nice rugs in the bathroom just like I don't care for carpet in the bathroom.

I do have a small non-washable one in our powder room (not in front of the toilet) but that room is mostly used as a feline drinking fountain (also gross I know).

I have a lot of rugs, some of them Turkish. I don't use them in kitchens or wet areas because they're hard to clean, and the colors will run. It might (or might not) be worth having that one professionally cleaned by a specialist oriental rug cleaner.

I now am using a small washable rug that was intended to be a bath mat. Never again will I attempt a wool rug in a bathroom that sees regular use. I do have one in the powder room, but like you 3katz, that room is rarely used.

And what is it with cats preferring to drink from the toilet?! Ours have fresh water always, and two of them would rather lap up that awesome potty water. Of course this means being very careful about what we use to clean the toilet. Dang cats.

It was less than $100, and honestly I don't even want to touch it again, so it gets to live at the landfill now. ;)

IdaClaire, my aunt used to wash all of her rugs herself. She would lay them out on the pool deck and scrub them with the suds from a basin of Ivory Snow. Then she would hose them down to rinse the soap off. She let them air dry in the hot, dry Texas sun. You could try that with your rug. Looks like you have nothing to lose.

Ew.

I wouldn't trust this rug not to start its own shroom farm again. If I had invested more in it I might try cleaning it, but it's so smelly now that I can't ever look at it the same way again.

Off on a cat tangent - Bunny, that thought has crossed my mind but I have one cat with kidney disease and one with feline urological syndrome and they both need to drink as much as possible. Since they prefer to drink out of what is for the most part an "extra" toilet I just go along with it. The other one likes to drink out of the bathroom faucet - gets up there and waits for us to come turn it on. They do drink out of their water bowl from time to time but I don't think they'd drink as much water if I limited them to only the cat bowl vs. the toilet bowl.....sigh....

That’s disappointing. I, too, had a stinky Pottery Barn rug years ago, so I know how awful that can be.

Like Bunny, our rule is toilet lids are always down so the cats don’t drink from them. I also always wondered if it might not be possible for a cat to fall into a toilet and not be able to get out. I leave a wide mouth drinking glass on the bathroom counter filled with water for them to use, which they love.

Edited to add....I read once that cats prefer to drink away from where they eat, and they prefer to drink from a surface higher than the floor. In addition to the floor water bowls, we have a few bowls/glasses in higher locations....bathroom counter, window seat and a bench. We also have a fountain which two of our four cats love to drink from.

3katz, I understand. If that were the case with mine, I'd have water dishes in each bathroom, in addition to their big one in the kitchen. I drew the line when cats were slipping and sliding into the toilet and then running berserkly dripping wet through the house. Zephyr likes to lick the water left behind after I take a shower, but it's not deep and it's not toilet water.

Ha-ha - mine are apparently still agile enough not to fall in - even the 20 year old! I guess she knows enough to stand on the floor and lean over. Once she passes I may start closing the lid.

Only washable rugs in the bathroom. The kitchen sink rug is indoor/outdoor so also easy to clean.

All toilet lids are kept in the closed position, when not in use, in our house.

bbstx, my friend washes her wool small Orientals into the bathtub. Not sure what she uses for “soap”. maybe Woolite…anyway, she gets right into the tub and does the Lucille Ball squish the grapes thing. Dries them on a flat screen and they come out clean and fresh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUxjOS3g6Uc

Agree with Bunny and chipotle-even though we don't have cats or dogs who drink out of a toilet, all our lids are lowered before we flush and stay that way. It grosses me out a bit when guests don't put the lid down..

I just commented on another post of how far the bacteria goes into the air when flushing without closing the lid…15 feet! Toothbrushes, hand towels, a bar of soap…yikes!

And, the recommendation is always keep the lid down.

I will probably keel over from bleach before the germs get me.

When I'm at a friend's house, I always close the lid, regardless of what position it was in originally. It's surprising to me how many do the opposite.

JudyG, love the mental image of Lucy in the bath tub washing her rugs! (Thanks for the link to the clip. I love that skit!) When I was shopping for my LR rug, at one of the oriental rug stores, the guys were out in the parking lot washing a rug with a garden hose.

I have a 5x8 rug under my kitchen table. One day I decided to wash it in the backyard. Rolling it up and getting out there was easy. Then I washed it. Does anyone realize how much water these rugs hold? I couldn't move the dang wet thing. I was just trying to get something underneath it so it could drain and air out and it about killed me.

We have one authentic Oriental in the living room -- a room we rarely use except for foot traffic to move from one part of the house to the other. I send it out to be cleaned every 6 or 7 years.

Ya I bought a polypropylene rug for my kitchen at the lake because it was washable. Then after I got it I thought how the heck do you ever dry this thing. It could be dirtier after I have it out in the driveway/yard long enough to wash and dry it.

When I took some of my Persian rugs to be washed at an Iranian place outside of Boston, I noticed they were dying carpets on horizontal racks outside in the dry air And breeze. So, after dog sitting for a friend (doggone “accident”), I took that old, worn 8’ x 10’ foot carpet outside and washed it (gloves on) with soap, water from a hose, and a scrub brush (soft, gentle). I rinsed it well and then put it atop some wooden saw horse & slats tables to dry In fresh dry air, filtered light and a breeze. It came out beautifully. Totally fresh.

This was an older Persian carpet that did not have much value.

The cat stories are cracking me up! I agree with Bunny, we always leave our lids down, but it IS amazing how many people don't (ie guests)!! Have you ever noticed realty ads, the number of pics that show toilets with the lids up?? LOL

Sorry about the rug. I think wool can be a bit susceptible to this if it gets wet and not well ventilated such as a rug could be.

As for cats drinking from toilets. We have one that used to do that. We keep the lids closed now as she got a stomach bacteria that required antibiotics and was really sick and the only way she could have gotten that would be the toilet.