Between shedding hair and the general destruction an excitable pet can cause, it can often seem like the choice is between having a pet and a clean house! It doesn’t have to be this way. There is plenty you can do to have a pet and a clean house! Keeping clean with a pet is actually quite simple, as long as you stay on top of the mess.
Each pet is going to make a different type of mess! Some dogs will shed a lot of hair and others will track mucky paw prints all over the house from getting into mischief on their walks. Each person is going to have different concerns for having a pet and a clean house. While the smell of a pet in a house is often a problem, you can even hide most of the smell of pets with air purifiers.
Keeping Clean with a Pet – Dog Hair
A big obstacle to keeping a pet and a clean house is the hair they lose! While pets aren’t consistently leaving behind a trail of hair, if not taken care of the pet fur can quickly pick up! Unless they’re loosing their hair at an alarming rate, our pets frequently shed a lot of their coats. After a week of neglecting the dog hair, it can build up to such a degree that you might be stuck living with all of this hair!
Dealing with General Pet Hair
The easiest way to deal with general pet hair is to use the right equipment. A pet specific vacuum cleaner comes with the attachments and heads that allow to pull hair out of the deepest carpets. While this is really helpful stripping away the food that has built up, you will still need to vacuum quite often.
Dealing with shed hair is a lot easier if you have laminate or wood flooring. Flat flooring lets you simply sweep the pet hair into a pile and dispose of it that way. Carpets make cleaning up the hair quite a bit harder but it can still be done.
Dealing with Dog Hair
If you want a dog but are put off by the task of regular hovering, you can avoid the problem entirely. There are many breeds of dog that don’t shed any hair at all. These long haired breeds will grow their hair long and only lose a minimal amount of it. Breeds like Yorkshire Terriers will grow their hair similar to ours and leave minimal mess. Other breeds aren’t so lucky. Some breeds will shed a lot of hair. Short-haired dogs will require quite a bit of clean up.
If you want to get a dog but are particularly concerned with keeping a pet and a clean house, then going for a long haired breed might be the better choice for you. They avoid the fuss entirely. While you will have more grooming commitments, most dogs only really need haircuts as often as you do. You can even make this a group outing, having your own hair cut while your dog is at their groomers.
Dealing with Cat Hair
Cats can shed just as much as dogs. Similarly, to them though, it will depend on which breed you go for. Pure breed cats will give you more control over their shedding amounts. If you’re going to bring home a pure breed, you can pick which breed you want based on their hair. Pure Breeds that don’t shed much hair include the Cornish Rex and Devon Rex. These cats make a great choice if you’re looking for a pet that minimises the mess from hair.
Keeping a Pet and a Clean House – Preventing Mucky Paw prints
Paw prints are a concern for most owners as you can’t always bank on the weather being perfect. If your dog or cat ends up with mud on their paws, it can get messy. It is hard to explain to an excitable dog that they’ve got dirt on their paws. They are completely unaware why you’re upset about the mud tracked all over your house and furniture. When it comes to mucky paw prints, there are a few things you can do.
Dog Shoes to prevent Muddy Paws
A good solution to dirty paws is to give your dog some doggy shoes to wear in bad weather. These are small shoes that your dog can wear on top of their own paws. It might take some time to get your dog used to the shoes, but if you persevere you will able to have your dog wearing cute shoes instead of getting a mess all over.
Cleaning Your Dog’s Feet
A simpler alternative to muddy paws for keeping a pet and clean house, is just to clean your dogs paws yourself! You should train your dog to sit when they come back after a walk. Make this a normal part of your routine. This way they will wait, either to get their paws cleaned or for the all clear that their paws are fine!
Keeping a Pet and a Clean House When Toilet Training
A big part of having a pet and a clean house with a cat around is keeping their litter box contained! Even with dogs, toilet training can be a messy time.
Litter Box
A cat’s litter box should be scooped whenever they leave a big mess, and the litter entirely needs changing at least twice a week. Using a covered litter box minimises the smell from the box and should make things easier to clean. They are a really big help if you’re trying to minimise the smell of a litter box.
Toilet Training
Keeping tidy during toilet training can be difficult. The best advice to reduce mess during this period, is just to try and make the process as quick as possible! There isn’t much you can do beyond teaching your dog where it is right and wrong to go. Using a lot of newspaper makes things a bit easier, but puppy pads have much better absorption that should help minimise the smell. You need to switch the pad around pretty frequently to cut down on the smell.
What Do You Need to Keep a Pet and a Clean house?
If you want to keep a pet and a clean house, then there a few things you should get. This will help you to keep your house in order, although there is going to be a bit of a cost!
The Furminator
The Furminator is a great tool if you want to minimise hair loss from your pet. It is a type of brush you can use to cut down on shedding from your pets. With a quick groom, you can remove most of the hair on your pet that is going to fall out. It doesn’t yank out their normal fur, but any loose strands will be dealt with. This will treat the problem at the source and really cut down on your time cleaning up pet hair.
Lint Roller
A lint roller is a really basic thing, but it is a really good tool. You can use it to roll pet hair off of your clothes or furniture. While special vacuum cleaners all work fine, you can’t really beat a lint roller. These are available pretty inexpensively. If you’re using it to lift off pet hair, you’re going to run through the sheets of the roller pretty quickly. You can get replacement sheets rather than replacing the entire thing to cut down on the costs, it is also a bit more environmentally friendly!
Pet Vacuum Cleaner
Pet vacuum cleaners like the Dyson DC40 Animal Lightweight come with attachments that are specifically designed to lift hair out of deep carpets. It can be much much more effective than using a normal vacuum cleaner to try and clean up pet hair.
This one is something of an investment. They cost a fair amount more than a standard vacuum cleaner. However, as a piece of equipment it is unlikely to need replacing. It will have a long shelf life and can be repaired rather than replaced in the future.
Covered Litter Box
A covered litter box can really cut down on the odours produced by your cat’s litter. While no box is going to completely eliminate the smell until you clean the litter out, this box comes the closest to managing it. There a lot of different choices available to you with litter boxes, but you can prioritize smell reduction!
Puppy Pads
When puppy training your dog, puppy pads are a much better thing to put down than newspaper. They help to eliminate the smells of the toilet training and soak it up better to prevent any damage to your house. They aren’t as cheap as newspaper, but they will last longer. If you have a smaller dog, they can usually be cut into more than one piece to avoid wasting too much of it.
Air Purifiers
Air purifiers can help eliminate any odour of pets from your air. While you can rarely eliminate the smell of pets entirely, an air purifier with a HEPA filter will do its best to cover up the smell.
Outside of this, you can also use scented candles to give your home a bit of a nicer pet-free smell.
Sofa and Furniture Covers
Even if your pet stays away from the furniture with dirty paws, sharp claws are always a concern. If your dog is overdue a trip to the groomers then their nails are likely to pull threads and scratch up sofas and other furniture. There are some convenient pet covers that can prevent this problem! They might hide the natural look of your sofa, but they can be easily removed if you need your home presentable for having company over.
Yes, You Can Have a Pet and a Clean House
If you want to keep a pet and a clean house, it is possible to do so, it just takes a bit more work. Between the products available and some good sense tips like cleaning up a dog’s paws, it is possible to get your house looking in a good state despite the presence of your pet! After all, a little extra cleaning isn’t much of a sacrifice to spend more time with your furry friends.
