Many people have a pet of one sort or another. Dogs are often referred to as man’s best friend and cats are good for therapy, but both of our furry friends are prone to leaving the house in a bit of a state – the smell and the tufts of hair that get left on sofas, chairs and scraped into carpet are enough to drive a sane person barmy.
The following is a few tips on reducing the mess, dealing with the smell and keeping your home (or someone else’s if you’re in the cleaning business) clean and tidy.
The Smell
Dealing with the smell is one of the first important steps of dealing with animals in the home. The smell of their food can be the first source of smell and if not dealt with properly, left over cat or dog food can soon fester and result in some thoroughly unpleasant stinks. Be sure to clean out the bowls regularly – removing any unwanted food and washed bowls with pet friendly cleaning chemicals to get rid of potential build-up of grime and mess that could lead to maggots or worse.
With cats, a common problem is from smells of used litter trays, but this can be countered by cleaning them out regularly (as often as they’re used) and regularly washing them out. A simple way would be to use washing up liquid to clean out empty trays and remove ugly stains and smells. You can also try purchasing fragranced litter that actively combats the smells.
Wet dog is often a big problem in British homes. The wet weather and the need to walk your favourite pet lead to wet dog hair being left around the home. Some air fresheners mask the smell, while others deal with it more effectively by combatting the germs that cause the problem. If animal smell is a regular problem in the house, you might find it preferable to use automated air fresheners and sprays to regularly freshen the rooms that suffer the most.
Keeping fabrics clean can help with the smell more than anything else. With animals jumping on your sofa and chairs or just making themselves at home on the carpet, you’ll find smells soaked into the material and air fresheners might not be enough to deal with them. Fabric fresheners and fabric cleaners will help remove the source of the smells and bring freshness back to your rooms. Similarly, you can use something like Shake and Vac to get the smell out of carpets.
For problem smells like urine and sick that might have been left on carpets, rugs or floors, you can buy specialist chemicals that will not only get rid of the smell, but ‘mark’ the territory to discourage animals from going there again.
The Hair and Fur
One of the worst problems with pets is the amount of fur and hair they leave on everything. Removing cat hair from fabric sofas can be a problem. But you might find you have success with a sticky roller or a slightly damp cloth. Some people say rubber gloves are just as effective – wiped over the surface, the rubber helps collect the fur and hair into a ball to make it easier to pick off.
There are a range of vacuum cleaners out there designed to cope specifically with pet hair. These are more powerful than your average vacuum cleaner and are able to suck pet hair out of even deep fibres. Some even have special built in filters to deal with the odours too.
These are just a few tips and tricks. Have you got any of your own?