You love your beautiful, well-kept home, but you’d also love to have a pet. Is it possible to enjoy a clean house and a furry friend or two at the same time? The truth is that pets don’t make nearly as much mess as you might have expected, even if they’re allowed to go outdoors and indoors at will. However, you might want to be careful about the breeds you choose as well as providing good house training.
1. Pet Odors
If your pets are clean and well-groomed, you shouldn’t have too many problems with odors, but you may need professional pet odor removal to remove smells if your pets did their “business” on your carpets. Kittens are usually very easy to housetrain, but if you don’t neuter male cats, they will start marking out territory when they reach maturity. Puppies are big culprits when it comes to puddles on carpets. Once you have them housetrained, get rid of smells by giving carpets a deep-clean.
3. Pet Hair
Pets and hair go together. Limit your issues by selecting short-haired cats, and dog breeds that don’t have a seasonal undercoat that comes off like a blizzard of fur twice a year. Cats usually groom themselves well enough for you to leave them to their own toilette, but giving dogs periodic baths and a good brushing once or twice a week helps to remove loose hair they’d otherwise shed on your carpets. No matter how well you take care of your pets, there’ll still be some shedding, so invest in a strong vacuum cleaner that’s designed to cope with pet hair.
4. Scratching Posts for Cats, Pedicures for Dogs
Cats need to sharpen their claws, and they use scent glands on their paw pads to park out territory in the process. Provide a good scratching post for cats, and if they still target your furniture, try covering their favorite furnishings with loose throws to deter clawing. Dogs’ claws can become long and sharp, catching in fabrics and causing wear. Have their nails clipped whenever their claws start growing long. They’ll be more comfortable, you stand less chance of getting scratched, and your rugs and carpets will last longer.
5. Mats for Wiping Paws
While you might not get as far as training your pets to wipe their paws on entering the house, you can use mats placed outside and just inside doors to catch the worst of the sand and mud they’d otherwise track in. Kitchen doors are best as access points since kitchen floors are easier to clean than carpets, and kitchen floors are frequently cleaned as a matter of routine.
How House Proud Can You Be With Pets?
If you’re a bit of a “neat freak” you may need to loosen up a bit before you’ll be comfortable keeping pets. However, if you sweep or vacuum daily, you’ll barely notice the difference on most days. Cats are clean creatures by nature, and dogs, though having an unfortunate affinity for smells we would shrink from, won’t make a mess of your house as long as they have low-maintenance coats and are well-trained and well-groomed. In short, it’s possible to have both a clean house and some furry friends living in it. And while you love your clean house, you’re sure to end up loving your pets even more.