It’s hard enough to stay motivated to clean your home every week, and it’s even harder to keep your house clean with pets running around. 66% of Americans have pets at home. That’s over 85 million homes with furry friends. Which means cleaning is a constant activity for most families, which can be tiring.
Not only this, but some pet owners haven’t properly researched the right products they should be using when cleaning up messes, which can cause even more harm than good. Thankfully, for all owners who have experienced the agonizing challenge of keeping your house clean with pets, these are some helpful tips on how to do so in a healthy, safe way.
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10. Have Checkups Often
Just like us, our animals deserve to get checkups. Infections, allergies, or unseen ailments can happen overnight, and sometimes it can be hard to tell if an animal is just acting funny or if something is truly bothering them. That’s why checkups are crucial when owning a small furry friend. This prevents sudden infections or sicknesses that will ultimately help them feel a lot more comfortable.
As everyone is aware, any type of sickness can cause an unclean environment, whether the animal is having a hard time keeping food in their stomach, or suddenly has an accident on the floor from not feeling okay. This is a great way to keep your animal healthy and keep your house clean with pets.
9. Schedule Regular Grooming
Grooming is a great treat for both the animal and the owner. Grooming can be as simple as a bath to a full deshedding process. To prevent an animals’ undercoat from eventually falling on top of your furniture or floors, take your animals to regularly grooming appointments.
This is perfect for double coated dogs like Labrador Retrievers, German Shepherd, Border Collies, and cats like the American Shorthair, Norwegian Forest, and Himalayan Cats.
8. Have a Proper Food and Water Bowl
Dog owners everywhere have witnessed how slobbery and messy they can be after gulping down some water, a trail of backwash following them as they leave a room. It’s important to have the proper set up when it comes to their food and water to make sure you don’t have to mop or clean every day in that area.
A raised platform for their food and water not only helps them eat and drink better without hurting their necks, but having a mat underneath these bowls can make it a lot easier to prevent a bunch of water from sitting on your floors. Some owners have even trained their dogs to set their mouth on top of a cloth after drinking water to prevent the trail of drool.
7. Keep Pet Beds Clean
Each pet has their own little bed, whether it’s a cushion on the floor in the living room or a fancy cot in the bedroom. Making sure this area is clean every week is ideal.
Whether you need to wash blankets or cushions and stuffed animals, keeping their space clean is a great way to keep the house clean smelling as well as make them feel more at home and comfortable. Each animal has their own unique smell when they get too dirty, and this is a great way to prevent that from happening.
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6. Clean Paws
This is a great tip to keep a house clean with pets as well as help allergic animals feel a bit better at the end of being outside. Paws can track a lot of dirt and grime, making the floors and furniture disgusting.
Wiping paws after being outside is a great way to not only stop them from licking their bodies and paws so much, but also prevent you from having to clean the floors or vacuum again. Keeping a rag or towel near the doors is an easy and fast way to keep the house clean.
5. Pet Potty Training
Potty training is one of the best things pet owners can do to make their lives easier. It should take place within the first 90 days and if successful, should prevent indoor accidents.
If small pets must be left alone for long periods, a potty-training pad is recommended.
If an accident does occur on a floor or carpet, it should be immediately cleaned up using the proper cleaning solution. Carpet cleaning is most effective when an enzyme cleaner is used.
4. Proper Cleaning
Dogs and cats tend to shed, keeping their owners busy with sweeping and vacuuming.
Hard floors should be swept or vacuumed daily and mopped as needed. Vacuuming frequency depends on the number of pets. The recommendation is once per week for each large pet or human.
Therefore, carpets in a three-person one-dog household should be vacuumed every other day. A deep carpet cleaning should be performed when carpets appear dingy, or vacuuming does not remove debris.
3. Cover Your Furniture
Some pets, especially cats, find a piece of furniture and call it home. To avoid having to vacuum this item every day, place a towel or blanket over it. This protects the upholstery and keeps the pet cozy.
Remove this covering weekly, wash it, and replace it. If pets sleep on the bed at night, keep the bedroom door closed during the day or put a cover over the bedding and wash it weekly.
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2. Pet-Friendly Cleaning Products
Use pet-friendly house cleaning products when dusting, wiping, and mopping surfaces. Otherwise, pets may lick or breathe the substance and become ill. If you must use cleaning products that contain bleach, prevent pets from accessing the area during cleaning, and wipe the surfaces with water after applying the bleach cleaner.
Candles are also known to be toxic to your pets, so make sure that you purchase pet-friendly candles to keep your home smelling nice, and your animals happy. Natural waxes made from soy, beeswax, coconut, rapeseed and sunflower seed are some great bases for candles, and some great essential oil fragrances that are safe include lavender, chamomile, ginger and more.
1. Be Prepared
You should research about the breed as soon as you can, as some breeds require special treatment over others. Whether it be from more shedding from a fuller coat, to being energetic or allergy prone, there are animals that might need some special products.
Boxers and Golden Retrievers are common breeds that are predisposed to developing allergies. Siberian and Maine Coon cat breeds are known to shed the most. Being prepared for your specific breed is a great way to make sure your house is suitable and ready for a clean house.