As a pet owner, life at home can get pretty messy. This could extend outdoors whenever you bring your fur baby outside for a walk at the park. This explains the responsibility expected of people who intend to adopt dogs or cats. Can you keep up with your pet’s daily needs?
This might be a tough question to answer, especially when you have kids to care for or work to attend to. Still, having existing priorities shouldn’t dissuade you when there are tricks you can follow to keep your home and your pet clean. Be it washing food bowls or getting rid of the urine stench, here are some pet tips to note.
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Tracing Stinks And Stains
Unless your pet has been potty-trained, there’s a high chance it will pee or poop anywhere in your house. There might also be instances wherein your pet inadvertently trots indoors after staying outside, leaving footprints and stains on your floor. These situations could cause your home to stink up due to urine, poop, or dirt from outdoors.
It could be hard to clean this up, especially if the stench is located somewhere inconspicuous. To trace these seemingly invisible stains, you can use a blacklight to illuminate urine marks on walls or corners. Pet owners who don’t have keen senses will find this especially useful.
Washing And Drying Carpets
Carpets can be the first indoor piece that gets dirty due to daily foot traffic. They become even dirtier if you have a pet or two running around the house. Dust, soil, or mud from outdoors are the common factors that make carpets hard to clean. If these are left on the carpet, they could get spread to other parts of the house.
Having mud or poop on the carpet could happen a lot if you spend lots of time outside with your pets or if they don’t have potty training. You can let the stains dry first to make them easier to remove. Use a vacuum or a brush to clean the particles, then treat the stain with laundry detergent, dish soap, and warm water. This should eliminate the smell left behind.
Getting Grime Off Toys And Bowl
Objects that get into a lot of contact with pets are bound to be dirty, such as toys or food bowls. Watch out for grime, which is dirt that has clung onto an object’s surface. This is tougher to clean than average dirt, so it matters to spot if your pet toys and bowls already show signs of it.
Grime can be prevented through regular washing. For removal, use a cold wash cycle for cloth-type toys, but put them inside a pillowcase first. For chew toys and food bowls that have become unpleasantly sticky, put them under a dishwashing cycle. If this appliance is unavailable, you can use hot, soapy water and rinse the objects manually.
Removing Pet Hair From Furniture Or Beds
Many pet owners let their dogs or cats sit on their sofas, while some are fine with the pets sleeping with them in bed. While this is endearing, this also means pet hair gets left on furniture or your bedsheets. This isn’t really ideal, especially for residents who might develop allergies to fur.
To remove pet hair from your furniture or beds, a rubber squeegee can do the trick. Find a rug that you can rub the squeegee with. The resulting friction can attract fur from the fabric and gather them into collectible piles. If you have the time to, you can also vacuum them off these surfaces. Look for models specifically made to vacuum pet hair.
Catching Hair While Bathing Pets
Bathing pets is essential to maintaining their hygiene, but you might find it cumbersome to unclog drains filled with pet hair or clean the fur from the bathroom floor. This problem might occur more frequently for owners of hairy pet breeds. Whether you bathe pets indoors or outside, placing a hair catcher can make this task easier.
There are bath mats with holes that can drain water but catch wet fur from your pet. These mats are made of materials that won’t absorb water, which helps them dry up faster after you’re done using them in the bath. These shower mats can also help your pets stay stable and not slip around if ever they get restless.
Masking Scratches On Wood
Wooden doors or furniture can make your home look messy if your pets continuously scratch or gnaw at then. If you have a dog or cat that tends to get overly playful with these objects at home, you can mask or make the scratches fade using varnish or gel stain.
These products can leave a finish on wooden surfaces, making the scratch marks less obvious. When looking for gel stains or varnish, just make sure that they match the existing finish of your wooden doors or furniture. Lay a plastic cover over these wooden surfaces to ensure your pets won’t dent them anymore.
Creating Tip-Proof Pet Bowls
Having pet bowls that won’t get tipped easily by your cat or dog can help keep your home clean. This can save you the hassle of having to wipe sweep liquids or food that got spilled from their respective bowls. If you’re the owner of energetic breeds who get extra jumpy during feeding time, these bowls become especially helpful.
To come up with tip-proof pet bowls, prepare a cutting tool, an existing container, and a peg. Cut a hole in the middle of the bowl, pan, or container, then lay it on the ground. Drive the peg through the hole and ensure it stays there. For water containers, find those that already have raised holes in the middle. You can also just fasten the peg at the side of the water bowls.
Tricks For Owners, New And Old
Sure, an old dog can’t learn new tricks, but as a smart pet owner, you can definitely use the modern tips above to keep your house clean. Talk with other pet parents or animal experts to make sure you’re on the right track. By reading this, though, we can tell that you already are. Learn more about how to teach your dog adeptly in the development stages at dogs-info.net.
