The Pet Owner’s Guide to Cleaning

If you are a pet owner, you are already all too familiar with the difficulties posed by getting rid of all the hair, paw prints and food stains our beloved companions produce. And no matter how much we love our pups and felines, they do make keeping the house spotless a tad more difficult.

Let’s take a look at some tips that will help you cut down on the amount of time you spend with the vacuum cleaner and mop in hand.

Tackle the Hair Regularly

Your best bet is to adopt a regular hair exterminating schedule. It will keep it from piling up and you will end up spending less time getting rid of it overall. Plus, your home will look neat practically all the time, as opposed to getting a bit out of hand if you only clean pet hair once or twice a week.

Get yourself a powerful handheld vacuum cleaner that has a pet hair extension, and run over all the areas your pet frequents every day: their bed, around their bowls, their spot on the couch, around the front door.

Clean More Often

Not only should you get rid of the pet hair, you should also add a daily cleaning burst into your schedule. It should include:

 Washing their bowls and around the bowls

Wiping the area around your front door if you have a dog or a cat that goes outside

Tidying away toys

Cleaning around the litter box

Wiping all the surfaces and getting rid of any dust or paw prints 

It will only take you 15-ish minutes, but it can significantly improve the cleanliness of your home and help you feel more accomplished.

Use one of our Multipurpose Surface Spray Cleaners. Our citrus scent can even help you keep the cat away from your kitchen counters, as cats dislike the smell of citruses. If you don’t wish to annoy your cat, you can try our rose scent.

Have More Throws

Both cats and dogs will shed all over your blankets and throws. To stay on top of the hair, aim to have several of them on rotation, so that you have one available while the other is in the wash. If you buy them in similar colours (or several pieces of the exact same blanket), you can wash them together.

Some dogs shed more than others, so depending on your dog’s fur, you may want to switch your throws around every couple of days, or every couple of weeks. Cats tend to shed more in spring and fall, when they switch coats, so this is when you will want to up your cleaning efforts.

Provide Regular Baths

If you have a dog, make sure to give them regular baths. This will eliminate a lot of the dust and mud that would otherwise end up all over your sofa, bed and carpet, and keep your entire family healthy.

Our Dashing Hound Dog Shampoo will keep their coat shiny and healthy, and it smells great too.

Make sure that your pup’s coat is completely dry after their bath. If they don’t like the hair dryer, rub them dry with a towel, and get them in front of a safe heat source.

Neutralise Odours

Pets also happen to come with some not-so-pleasant odours, which you will want to neutralise from time to time. Our Ultra Eco Odour Remover does not mask foul smells, rather it tackles them at a molecular level. You’ll love it if you have a pet!

Note that healthy, clean pets don’t smell all that bad. If they’ve been out playing in the rain or happen to have rolled around in something smelly, give them a bath before you let them run around the house.

Be Prepared for Accidents

Cats and dogs can at times have accidents in the home. If you don’t get home on time to take them out or if your pet is ill, you may end up having to clean pee, poop or vomit from the couch or carpet.

Getting cat pee out of the sofa is fairly easy with some baking soda and vinegar. You can use the same concoction on your carpets as well. Our Cleaning Vinegar is extra strong, so have some available in case accidents do happen.

Marvelspets.com recommends these methods …

Use Vinegar

You can also try using vinegar to get rid of the cat pee from the couch. While it will smell just as strong, it will kill all the bacteria in the pee that cause that smell.

Mix one part water with one part vinegar in a cup or bowl and pour it into a spray bottle. Spray the entire stain and let it dry. Repeat until the smell is completely gone.

Use Baking Soda

Baking soda will also neutralise the smell of cat pee. All you have to do is pour a very generous amount over the stain and let it sit. The longer the better. Use a vacuum to get rid of it and repeat the process until the smell is gone.

Make sure your cat is nowhere around when you do this, as they should not be inhaling any of the baking soda. Be very thorough when vacuuming to get rid of the smallest bits.

Use Baking Soda and Vinegar

You can also combine these two methods: spray the water/vinegar mixture on the stain and let it sit. Use a rag or a towel to absorb any of the moisture and pour baking soda over it. Let it sit for as long as possible and vacuum.

Wrapping It Up

The key to keeping your home clean when living with pets is consistency. As long as you do a little bit here and a little bit there every day, especially around the most frequented areas of the home, you’ll save yourself a lot of time and effort.

Author: Julia is the proud mum of two girls, two Labradors and one cat of unknown origin. She is also a runner, a writer, and a huge Agatha Christie fan. You can take a look at more of her work on everything pooch at DogsPlanet.