When moving the janitor along, keep the left mouse button pressed to keep the cleaning meter full. Develop a sense of timing so that immediately after bopping a petpet, the button gets pressed again to refill the meter.
The janitor will collect water drops as he walks along the hall. Three drops fill his bucket meter at the top of the screen. Save water for emergency use; if a bunch of critters come along at once and the cleaning meter’s low, use the water to douse them. Then swing even a partial bop if you can manage it so the rest of the dirt comes off.
The dirt meter at the top fills up way too easily, so the petpets have to get smacked really well in order to keep them from tracking even a little dirt through the hall. Watch the mop button; when it’s orange ,there’s an upgrade available. Upgrade the head of the mop first two times, picking the biggest one available. This cleans the petpets better than upgrading the handle. Do that later. I usually upgrade just as I swing at a critter, pausing with the shift key in mid swing, upgrading, then letting the swing finish. That way, there’s no miss and no grumpy janitor having a mini-tantrum, which costs time and can let a dirty petpet slip past.
The little items the petpets drop are useful. Starbursts make the janitor’s swing more powerful, soap bubbles make the cleaning solution stronger, and feathers make the Yurble speed up in his passage over the dirt. The coins that drop are worth fifty points.
The animals are always counted the same point value, no matter what the nice green numbers say. The indigo cattle are 8 points, the gray guinea pigs with horns are 14 points, the white Pegasi are 19 points, the little griffins are 24 points, and the brown baggy petpets are 29 points. (I’m sorry I don’t know their proper names, but I’m still fairly new at this.)
Hope these help. Take care and happy playing. 🙂 – Loupat