Care Tips

It's wonderful to have pets in the home, but they have one disadvantage: hair! If you’ve lived in a house with a Siberian husky or a glorious, furry Maine Coon cat, you’ll know exactly how difficult it can be. These tips will help you reduce problems caused by pet hair in your home and maintain a cleaner environment—and your sanity!

Prevention is Best

Keeping fur-babies well-groomed has multiple advantages, besides reducing the number of hair-bunnies. A quick, one-minute brushing every day outside in the yard or garage will remove lose hairs and cut down indoor dusting and sweeping. Cats won’t develop quite as many hairballs, either.

Place throw rugs strategically around the home in each entry way, to collect the worst of the pet hair. This prevents it spreading throughout your house. Rubber-backed rugs are inexpensive to buy, easy to launder and cheap to replace when they reach expiry date.

Dust, sweep and vacuum frequently to keep floating hair under control. It’s not fun, but it saves you finding time for a marathon cleaning exercise every week.

If your pets insist on keeping you company on the sofa, cover furniture with washable slip covers. Remove them when you’re expecting company and your days of apologizing to your visitors are over.

Dressing your pet in trendy t-shirts and other gear has the dual effect of making him look cute and keeping hair in one place. Shake clothing outside when you take it off, to avoid clogging up the washer or drain.

Keeping It Clean

Yup, we don’t mean only your home here. A weekly bath and brush for dogs and a monthly trip to the groomer for cats helps reduce fur bombs, as well as pet dander created by shedding old, dead skin cells. This is the true allergen for most people, rather than pet hair, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, although it often isn’t identified as the culprit because it’s practically invisible.

Clean your dog’s paws after every walk, using a washable microfiber hand mitt to remove dirt and dust without it flying around.

Purrfect Products

Some products are great for controlling pet hair around the home, and here are some of our favorites:

• Dusting cloths are great for easy pickup of hair, dust and allergens.  They use static to trap hair and keep dust particles from flying up and resettling around your home. These cloths come in dry and wet varieties, depending on the surface you want to clean.
• Rubber gloves have a hidden talent we’re sure you didn’t know about: cleaning up hairy furniture. Put on industrial-grade dish gloves and rub your hands over chairs or carpets to create static. It loosens hair and makes it easy to vacuum, or you can pick it up while you’re at it.
• Grooming gloves are used on your pet, not her surroundings, but the principle is the same. Your dog or cat will love the touch of a deshedding glove that feels like a hand massage. Loose hairs stick to the glove and are easy to peel off and discard after grooming. 
  
  Regular grooming and pet hair cleanup will keep your home clean and your pet feeling cool & comfortable.