It's a hand held so it's not going to suck as well as a full size carper cleaner. It's for spot cleaning and for that it works very well. Don't over soak the stained area. We have 2 cats and they do cough up some of their food and sometimes a hair ball. 1. Remove has much as you can with a rag or paper towel. 2. Lightly spay the area with the cleaner. 3. Let it sit for 5 minutes. 4. Now use the cleaner to scrub the area. You might need to spray some more and go back and forth over the area. 5. It's that easy.