I Tried Shark’s Portable Stain Cleaner on My Cat’s Worst Messes. It Works Like Magic

Pros

• Portable and lightweight for use around the house
• Has worked great on multiple soft surfaces, including carpet and upholstery
• Tackles both wet spills and dried-on stains
• The included stain removal spray works better than anything I’ve used before

Cons

• Battery life is short
• Relatively expensive at around $200
• The waste tank needs regular cleaning and airing out to avoid odors

If you’re a cat owner — or a pet owner in general — you’re probably familiar with their ability to make a mess of your carpets. Between hairballs, dirty paws from the litter box and vomiting from eating too fast, my cats have steadily turned the cream-colored, low-pile carpet in my bedroom into a sad shade of gray. There’s only so much even a full-sized carpet cleaner and generous amounts of stain remover can do to rescue a stained carpet, so when Shark offered me its StainForce to test, I wasn’t convinced it would make much difference.

After months of testing, I must admit: I was wrong. Despite its small size, the StainForce portable spot cleaner worked like magic at removing the worst cat stains from my carpets. It even worked on old, dried-up stains that I’d given up trying to lift. It’s not only earned a spot in my home, but my wife also can’t imagine living without it.

A unique portable design that just works 

The Shark StainForce is really three devices in one. The bundle includes a portable aqua-green caddy that holds the cordless handheld vacuum on one side and a unique two-in-one spray bottle on the other. It also has slots for some of the included attachments, along with a power cord that plugs directly into the StainForce unit to keep it charged.

The Shark StainForce itself is an interesting device. It’s a mix of a wet-dry vacuum, portable cordless vacuum and spot cleaner. The body reminds me a bit of an old-timey flintlock pistol, with a handle, a waste tank that holds wet and dry messes and a nozzle at the front that handles suction and stain removal.

There are two attachments for the brush end. One is a scrubbing head with thick rubber bristles that provide the agitation needed to work into carpets. The other is a nozzle designed more for suction and wet messes in tighter spaces. It also has a set of rubber scrubbers on it. I’ll be honest: I’ve barely used the latter, since most of the stains I’ve had to clean are large.

The spray bottle itself is interesting because it’s not just a standard stain remover like Resolve. It has two separate compartments filled with Shark’s custom cleaning solutions. One side holds a deep cleaner and the other an oxy cleaner; they mix in the spray head and work together to lift stains.

When Shark first showed it to me over video, it sounded like a lot of marketing speak. After all, how much better could this spray really be than any of the many stain removers I’m familiar with? The answer: a whole lot. 

It worked for stains I thought would be impossible to remove 

I’ll let the pictures do most of the talking here. Take a look at that gnarly yellow stain on my white carpet. That’s the work of my serial puker, Emperor Maximus. (Yes, I’m one of those guys who always think about the Roman Empire.) My not-always-so-regal cat eats too fast and sometimes yaks up his wet or dry food onto the nearest rug he can find. He’s also my silent puker, so I often don’t find the mess until it’s partially dried, as was the case with this stain on my bedroom floor. 

I expected it to be impossible to remove and, at best, to leave behind a faded yellow stain. I started by removing any large, dry chunks of cat food from the carpet with a paper towel. Then I used the included spray bottle to saturate the stained area and let it sit for about 30 seconds. After that, I fired up the StainForce and used the main rubber-bristle attachment to scrub the carpet while the vacuum’s suction removed the remaining wet and dry mess.

The results were impressive. The carpet looked pristine, with no trace of the stain. And this wasn’t just a fluke — I was able to replicate the results across multiple rugs, including a darker one in my foyer and dining room and a yellow rug in my living room. The messes I removed included ever-present cat hairballs and spills from tomato sauce, red wine and Coca-Cola, all of which are notoriously difficult to clean without leaving stains.

Notably, I was also able to get my father-in-law’s blood off our light blue sofa. To be clear, I didn’t kill the man — he’s on blood thinners, so when he accidentally cuts himself, he sometimes doesn’t even notice he’s dripping blood. Dried blood is probably one of the hardest stains to remove, so I assumed the couch cushion was a goner. But with a quick spray and about 30 seconds of scrubbing and vacuuming, you can’t even tell the cushion was once stained.

There are a few caveats to the StainForce. The battery life isn’t very long, and it’s not really meant for continuous use over a large area. For that, you’ll want a more dedicated spot cleaner, such as the one that comes with the Eufy E28 robot vacuum or a dedicated carpet cleaner, like one of the many we recommend across a range of prices.

You’ll also need to do some basic maintenance to keep the StainForce running smoothly. Because the tank holds both solid and liquid waste, you don’t want to let debris sit and fester. After every cleaning session, I emptied the tank, added fresh water and turned the unit on to rinse it out. The few times I forgot, there was a very unpleasant smell the next time I powered it on. I highly recommend staying on top of this step.

Is the Shark StainForce worth it? Absolutely 

“We should have gotten it sooner,” my wife said when I asked her for her thoughts on the Shark StainForce. Usually around $200 at full price, the StainForce isn’t cheap, especially since a full-sized cordless vacuum can run you about the same price. Our top pick, the Eureka ReactiSense 440, is even cheaper at $180 (even less on sale), while the $220 Hoover SmartWash+FlexForce can clean and dry carpeted floors, too. 

But the StainForce isn’t for that kind of use case. It’s meant to be small and portable, making it perfect for people like me who live in an apartment and don’t want to haul around a big spot cleaner. The caddy makes it very convenient to grab and go and it doesn’t take up much space to store. I haven’t seen any portable spot cleaner this size before; the closest may be the $130 Bissell Little Green, but that comes with a cumbersome hose and requires a cord. I can’t speak to the performance, since I haven’t tested it, but the size is enough to put me off. 

For me, the Shark StainForce and Shark’s custom spray have more than proved their worth over the past several months. I don’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone with messy pets, stain-prone carpets and limited space for a full-size cleaner.