Simple & Effective Tips to a Pet-Friendly & Clean Home

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Mother and daughter with dog in bed

Pets fill our homes with tremendous love and companionship, they make our homes lively but unfortunately they also fill homes with odours, fur and a whole lot of mess like muddy paw prints and unwanted parasites. Savvy pet owners have established that it is possible to keep our pets from overtaking our homes and at the same time allow them to overtake our hearts since owning a pet and a tidy house are not mutually exclusive.

So what’s the trick to keeping your home sparkling clean while still being able to enjoy the happiness of our furry friends? Well the basics will always remain the same, and that’s grooming your pet and cleaning up straight after them are the most general things you can do to ensure your home has the best chance at staying clean and odour-free.

It has been proven that homes with pets have more types of bacteria than homes that don’t have pets. Sharing your home with a pet is easy if you train your pet accordingly. Give the pet ample space and sufficient exercise and try to spend as much time together as possible. Just like humans, most of us enjoy company and this is certainly no different to animals. Bored pets especially cats and dogs have a tendency to scratch and chew. There are numerous tips for keeping your pet and house clean.

In this post we’ll explore 6 critical tasks you can do regularly to ensure your pet can safely and cleanly co-exist within the comforts of your own home. Let’s go!

1. Cat owners: ensure litter box is clean-out daily

Just like us, no one likes to use the bathroom without it been cleaned. Pets like cats don’t use dirty litter boxes so it is advisable to scoop the litter daily. If the odour persists, change the litter and clean the box thoroughly. A covered litter box helps reduce unpleasant odours. Removal of surface bacteria helps eliminate unpleasant odours. High quality and effective sanitisers helps eliminate cold and flu viruses making your home germ-free.

Clean the mess as soon as possible. To keep the house clean and odour-free you should always keep an eye out for messy spots and clean immediately using a paper towel or a cloth. Use a wash cloth to clean the offending material. After moisture evaporation use an enzymatic cleaner which masks the odour and eliminates the organic materials which serve as a source of bacteria.

2. Bathe Consistently: Regularly bathe your pet using appropriate shampoos

It is recommended to bathe your pet at least once a week or in every two weeks. Brush your pet to break and scrub away loose fur before it ends up on the curtains, floor or on your bed. Keeping your pet clean will help your house tom remain clean.

Secondly, always keep your pet’s nails trimmed. Trimmed nails ensures that your pet won’t scratch or cause any unwanted damage to valuable upholstery. By keeping your pets clean, it will in turn keep your rugs and furniture clean. By doing this you’re able to preserve the lifespan of your rug or furniture as they won’t need to be constantly washed. It is easier and fun to clean your pet than cleaning your upholstery.

Follow these simple steps to effectively clean your pet before they enter the household.

Rub off dirt and mud from your pet using a damp towel. Rub down and follow up upwards with a warm towel straight from a radiator or clothes drier is recommended especially if it’s cold. Dry the pet’s paws when they come indoors. This prevents staining and dirt embedding in the carpet.

A handy trick you can use is to place a towel near the door so that the pets clean off their paws by wiping off the towel as they enter. Your pet can be trained so that he or she can’t reenter the house without wiping off his or her paws. If you encourage this sort of behaviour consistently with treats, your pet will soon understand the process and will action this as part of their routine.

For an effective doormat, we suggest using a microfibre mat that will help remove mud, dirt and also water.

3. Importance of Grooming & Vacuuming: Neat & clean go hand-in-hand

Properly groom your pet outdoors, this minimises airborne particles that contribute or act as allergens. Get loose hair off a molting pet through rubbing over its body. Metal flea combs make good brushes for cats since they are easy to clean than soft-bristle brushes or the traditional wood brushes. If the pet is shedding fur heavily apart from the normal seasonal shedding can be a sign of wrong food, skin or health problem or even stress.

Vacuum consistently 

Get rid of your pet’s fur by using a quality vacuum cleaner. A high-powered vacuum cleaner is one of the most useful tools in helping you clean up fur from your home. It is advisable to get a vacuum cleaner with high–grade filer, especially if there is someone in the household with asthma. Animal fur can often act as an allergen and can at times trigger severe asthma attacks. A quality vacuum cleaner is recommended as it helps with sucking up microscopic allergens.

For a thorough and effective clean, we suggest following our decluttering process. You’ll notice that not only will your home be more welcoming to pets, it will also free up more household space for your pets to play.

4. Think Ahead: Choose furniture fabrics that are easy to clean

Choose fabrics which are easy to clean if you are going to let your pets on your furniture. Having a leather couch or even a microfibre couch is preferable than silk which stains easily and is quite difficult to clean. Leather is an easy to clean and is a durable material, however is expensive to restore once damaged. This may occur from sharp nails.

Ultra-suede is a machine washable microfibre that has a very smooth, cozy and seductive feel. It is beautiful and remains cool and cozy for your pet no matter the climate. Stain resistant fabrics such as Crypton, is an almost indestructible synthetic fabric. It is also resistant to smells, muddy paws and bacteria. Matching the colour of the furniture to that of the pet makes the fur that has been shed less noticeable. Some materials like velvet tend to attract pets fur and should therefore be avoided in homes with pets.

The ideal bed for your pet should be the one which is easy to clean and disinfect regularly. Quilted fabrics despite their elegance and comfort look should be avoided since they are tedious to clean. Ensure that the pet beds are machine washable to avoid odour collecting there. The beds should be washed at least once in a month if not weekly. Failure to clean makes the beds home to fleas and mites that in turn bite your pet.

5. Odour Removal: Critical for all households

There are numerous and great ways of preventing and eliminating bad odours from your house. Odour-eliminating refreshing sprays are mostly used since they fill your home with delicious smell making it difficult to even notice pet smells. Deodorising involves spraying the entire area with homemade deodoriser or a store-bought deodoriser. Air freshener plugins allows you to control the scent being released it makes the entire house smell good eliminating the pet odour.

Scented oil or wax burner helps the house smell amazing. This involves using a light bulb that heats the wax. It is flame-less making it safe to use even if you are not at home. Scented candles where used should be placed high enough where the children or the pet cannot reach it.

6. Designated Feeding Area: Consistency is key

Consider a designated outer room like a utility area when feeding your pet . This area should have a sink where the pets dishes are cleaned plus any spoon and knives used to give food . This area should also serve as the storage area for the pets food.

Use clean hot water and dish-washing liquid to clean the food and water dishes. Rinse the bowls thoroughly before drying with paper towel. Avoid feeding the pets on a carpet since it is hard to clean. Limit the number of feeding times, this often dictated by your working schedule. Train your pet to feed the right way so that you can clean the dishes before you leave for work.

Having a pet can be messy at times, however by following some of our simple and effective tips, you’ll slowly notice that it’s quite easy to maintain a pet-friendly clean home.

Karen Saunders

1 COMMENT

  1. […] Keeping your home clean when living with pets doesn’t have to be hard. On top of regular cleaning, ensuring you keep up to date with pet vaccinations and other preventative treatments can help to avoid any infestations of parasites such as fleas, ticks and worms that might hop aboard your new pet and make their way into the home.  For those with less time to remember there are products available now such as Bravecto for dogs, that will give your pet cover for up to 3 months for flea and tick prevention. Staying on top of these treatments will help to keep your home parasite free and safe for the whole family. […]

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