Frankly, one of the Dyson vaccuum cleaners.  There's a reason the've a model
call "The Animal".

If there's a stain, I've had really good luck with a product called Folex.

M.

FOlex (I get it at Target) is great, and also I've been trying this new
thing that is an oxy cleaner. It comes with two tubes tied together and one
nozzle that mixes it as you spray it out. I'm out right now, so I can't
remember the brand, but it works really well. I spilled some red wine (on my
very light carpet) and panicked, but that got it right out.

Nature's Miracle.  Never found any products better!

dragon

With seven cats, our light-gray carpet falls victim to an up-chucking almost
every day. In our experience, nothing works better than - or even as well
as - hydrogen peroxide (3%), which we purchase at the grocery store for
about one dollar (U.S.) per 32-oz bottle. Lift the chunks from the carpet
with a paper towel, blot (don't rub) the moisture with another paper towel,
SOAK the area with hydrogen peroxide, let rest for an hour or more, and then
vigorously scrub the area with a clean, wet white utility towel. A second
treatment is rarely required. Although not necessary to the actual removal
of the stain, we follow with a small wet-dry vac to remove as much remaining
moisture as possible. To facilitate application of the hydrogen peroxide, we
replace the plastic cap on the opaque brown-plastic bottle with a
trigger-type spray top.

Invest in a carpet shampoo machine like Bissell.  Get one with the on
board tool for spots.  I fill the reservoir with hot water and 2
tablespoons oxi clean powder.  Use the tool to wash out the barf stain.
It's the only think that works well for me.  Plus, when it's time to
shampoo your carpets, you can use it too.

I have tried a variety of cleaning products.  Absolutely the best for
cleaning the carpet with no "leftover" stains has been a Bissell Little
Green  machine (I have the "proheat turbobrush compact multipurpose
cleaner," model #1425-1).  It is easy to use, and it is also easy to clean
the machine iteself (not always true with some machines) -- a dirty water
tank and a clean solution tank, both of which just lift off easily.

For general maintenance, I recently got a Dyson "The Animal" vacuum cleaner.
It is very pricey, but I absolutely love it.  It has a rotating "turbo"
brush for pet hair on furniture.  It also has an on-board extension that
reaches 17 feet and does *not* topple the vacuum cleaner when working on
furniture, stairs, etc.  It is very heavy and would not be something that I
would want to carry around if one machine had to be used on more than one
floor of a house, but it has large wheels and is remarkably easy to push.  I
bought mine at Sears and used their "price match" program -- by searching
the web for best prices, I took a copy with me to Sears and got a reduction
of $70.00 off their listed "sale" price.

MaryL
(take out the litter to reply)

Photos of Duffy and Holly:      >'o'<
http://tinyurl.com/8y54 (Introducing Duffy to Holly)
http://tinyurl.com/8y56 (Duffy and Holly "settle in")

IMO, pick up the hairball, and let the vomit dry, so you're not
wiping wet muck into the carpet (I lay a paper towel over it, so we
don't step in it).  It will dry on the tips of the carpet and you
can brush out the debris with a dry scrub brush or old hair brush,
then vacuum.  For the residue, a spray of Spot Shot aerosol (from
any supermarket cleaning aisle) and wipe with a clean damp rag or
some wet paper towels.

By the way, Spot Shot gets out all sorts of little stains, even
when they've been there for months.

My two cats used to bring up about one hairball a week each when
they were on dry food, and somewhat less when they were on the
Science Diet and Iams canned kitten food when LeMieux first went
diabetic.  But I've only seen one hairball since I switched them
to Wellness canned last spring.