When you have cats or dogs, you will need to deal with the fur and the pawprints around your home. They might bring a whole load of love into your home, but they come with much dirt and debris. There is an art to having pets and a clean home simultaneously, and here we offer some of the best hints and tips to achieve this magic.
Get an outside tap
Washing your dogs down before they get in the house will save you a tonne of cleaning. While using pet shampoo too often is a bad idea for dogs, there is nothing wrong with dousing them down with plain water. You can then towel them down and let them dry completely in the kitchen or laundry room. Any dirt removed outside is grime you don’t have to deal with indoors. It might also be an idea to invest in a groomer to do a de-shedding or trimming to keep the hair under control.
Wooden floors
Removing carpets is one of the greatest shortcuts to keeping a pet household clean. Your carpet will be responsible for much of the pet odor that hangs in your home. Switching to wooden floors or tiles allows you to keep on top of the smell and quickly brush up hair and other debris.
Indoor-outdoor rugs
The problem with a wooden floor is the cold on your feet. Therefore, the other indispensable addition to a pet home is the indoor-outdoor rug.
An indoor-outdoor rug is a rug that offers you the look and style of an indoor rug but with the durability of one that you would use outdoors. These rugs come in various designs, sizes, and styles and have come a long way over the years. Opting for an indoor-outdoor carpet is no longer a compromise to the type of your home.
Placing a small rug at each door, like an indoor doormat, will catch some of the dirt and water your pet drags in. It is also a good idea to put one of these rugs underneath a dining table or other places where dogs and cats might lounge.
The best bit about indoor-outdoor rugs is that nothing soaks in. Therefore, you can wipe them clean with a damp rag.
Shaving cream and baby wipes
You have likely spent a fortune on cleaning products that promise to destroy pets' dirt and stains. There is really no need to invest masses in specialty products. Shaving cream can remove the toughest pet stains, even dog vomit and cat urine. You need the foam and not the cream and all you need to do is let the foam sit for a minute or two and then wipe it away with warm water. Trust us, this works!
Equally, considering they are meant for baby bottoms, baby wipes have miracle properties that can clean most things to a shine. If you are trying to get in nooks and crannies where pet grime goes to create the worst smells, put a baby wipe on the end of a skewer and get the dirt right up.
Baking soda and white vinegar
Clean your sofa using things out of your food cupboard. Again, as with shaving foam and baby wipes, baking soda and white vinegar will be much more effective than anything expensive you can buy.
If you make a paste with some water and baking soda, you can then paint this onto stains. Then, add a small amount of white vinegar to warm water, wipe away the paste and see a clean spot emerge.
If you have a generally smelly piece of upholstery, try sprinkling baking soda over the whole thing and leave it for a while. Then, grab the hoover, pick up the baking soda, and take much of the grime and odor.
React quickly to accidents
Having an emergency bottle of cleaner available to hand when an accident helps significantly. An enzyme-based cleaner applied quickly will minimize the smells in your home.
Clean your pets’ things
One of the mistakes often made by pet owners is that they spend much time cleaning human things and leaving the pet things to fester. Your dog and cat beds will be a haven for trapped smells. Equally, the food bowls and toys etc., that scatter your home are going to be carriers of dirt and attractors of flies. Therefore, keeping these items as clean as you keep your own will help a lot!
Summary
Simple purchases like baking soda and baby wipes can revolutionize your home when you have pets. Having an animal is a beautiful addition to any family, and you can have this comfort and a clean house; you don’t have to choose.
