Oxyclean for your machine! You can find some tips using it machines on their website. For me, it worked, but now I've simply removed all carpeting, it was hard to keep clean after cat #4....

We have many kinds of flooring. Hardwood is by far the best "wood" type floor. The bamboo is incredibly disappointing for animal nail wear. We have the old fashioned 50's style laminate flooring tiles, they hold up relatively well but do need finishing regularly. Ceramic is by far the best surface I think, in many ways except that grouts can stain easily (especially with cat vomit, which is a regular hazard with cats).

I hope you find something you like that works for you!

We just ripped out all our wall to wall carpeting last year and went with ceramic tile. I love, love, LOVE it. I went with a darker tile, when our tiler asked me what color I wanted the grout I said without hesitation the color of dirt if you have it LOL. So easy to keep clean (2 cats, 1 dog) and you don't have to worry if you track in dirt from the garden it cleans up in a jiffy. Originally we were only going to do the living room but the plan changed along the way and ended up doing the kitchen, dining room, bathroom and a small bedroom I use for a study because I loved it so much.
We still have carpet in the spare bedroom DH uses as a study and the original fir flooring in the master bedroom. If or when the carpet comes out of DH's study we'll probably sand the fir floor and antique it doing the same in the master bedroom.
All I can say about laminated flooring, it wouldn't look great for long in our house, we have a lot of driveway chip around our house and it does get tracked in with the dog and on our shoes. I'm so in love with my tile floors, I wish we had done them years ago.

Annette

I hate carpet!!! It's like any fabric-like material in the house - it harbours allergens!! My home currently has laminate throughout, and it is easy to keep with 2 cats. The previous owners had a dog, but I am not sure of the time-line with the flooring/dog. Where I have plants and the water has spilled over the saucers, I can see 'bumps' where the boards meets. Again, I am not sure the quality level. I like the look, but my favourite flooring has to be porcelain or ceramic tile. As Annette says, get dirt-coloured grout. Grout can also be sealed, not that I've ever gotten around to that. lol. Magic erasers are good to clean the grout in heavy traffic areas, especially kitchens. The downside to tile is that it can be cold to the foot. In my old home, in the bathroom, I put a product called Sunmat under the marble (OK, it was on sale) which helped with this. If you watch, you can get great sales on tile, which makes it more economical. Watch the durability level - I think it should be '5' or more on the underside. Porcelain is more durable than ceramic, and the colour is usually uniform through the tile, just in case you get a boo-boo. If you are handy you can even lay it yourself. I do, though the whole getting on my knees thing has been a challenge in the last couple of years!!

Nancy.

LOL Nancy, I'll never have wall to wall again, maybe the odd scatter or area rug but that's it. We've just gone through another cold winter with our unheated ceramic tile floors and I wouldn't have it any other way. We heat with wood most of the winter and the floors can't be that cold because I wander around bare footed most mornings, come summer the coolness of the tile on my bare feet, what can I say sigh!!! They're sooooo easy to keep clean, spills wipe up in seconds, love, love, love, them.

Annette

I have all three.. We put laminate in kitchen and bedroom and ceramic tile in bathroom. The rest of the house is carpeted. I have 2 cats (indoor/outdoor? and a husband who tracks garden and wood shop debris in.

Carpet is a great noise insulator and it is much cozier in winter, also I don't want to be dust mopping the whole house every few days.

I dust with Swifffer in bedroom, and wet jet in kitchen and by hand in bath.