House Cleaning with Pets

Tips & Hints for House Cleaning with Pets

This article has been stolen by cafemom.com and placed on their one of their private forums.

There are now over 40 million homes owning 68-70 million dogs, and unknown numbers of cats. This means there are a lot of pet owners faced with the challenge of keeping their houses clean. Cats barf hairballs, dogs guzzle water and turn around to regurgitate it. That doesn't even take into consideration the numerous oops-a-daisies left on carpets and floors. Yes, definitely keeping pet owning homes clean can be a challenge; but it does not have to be insurmountable with a little information. Contrary to many other websites I do not recommend limiting your pets access to only a few, or even a single room in your home. There can be no greater joy nor better friend to a child, or even the adults in a family then the dog. And while I am not a cat person I have seen the joy that lights the faces of those that own and love cats when watching their cat saunter through a room. Why deprive not only your family, but the animal too, of the companionship that dates back historically 10,000 years. Instead arm yourself with the knowledge, tools and supplies that will make living with your pet and keeping a clean home easier and less labor intensive. Potty training 101. The more effort you put into potty training in the first 90 days the easier your pets lifetime will be on both of you. Having always owned large dogs, I've never owned one that wasn't 100% potty trained. I currently own two 65 lb girls, one came to me as a 6 mo old foster, from the rescue I work with, and the second one, 2 yrs later, at 8 weeks of age. First trip out in the morning was between 4:30/5 am and the last trip out at night was at 10:30/11 pm. Trips out after every single meal, and about every hour in between, with my refusal to return indoors, until I *SAW* they'd accomplished their business. I froze for both those winters LOL. But this method worked on both the older girl and the puppy. Today they absolutely will not have an accident indoors unless there is some medical problem, because my objective was to totally avoid having even one accident indoors.

No matter how well trained accidents will happen. Be prepared in advance: Dog Poop & Urine Removal

Vacuuming should be done at the rate of once a week for each individual or large pet in the family. 3 people plus 1 average dog (50 lbs+) equals vacuuming every other day. Week-ends when everyone is at home vacuum once a day. This is not deep cleaning type vacuuming, just all open spaces in the busy rooms and bedrooms where a pet is allowed open access.

Flat floors should be vacuumed or dust mopped daily. Using one of the wide dustmops takes almost no time since they cover so much area so quickly.

Pets all have a favorite place to rest and if that area is on a piece of furniture then there should be a covering, such as a towel, placed in that spot. Remove and wash at least once a week.

If your pet sleeps on the bed, mine do, I do recommend keeping bedroom doors closed to limit access during the day, this will reduce the need to vacuum frequently. With dogs I am able to use simple baby gates that are leaned against the door. I place an old queen/king sheet over the bedding, especially my comforter and duvet cover. I change/wash this cover weekly, when changing sheets, and freshen the duvet and cover with Febreze. If your pet is smaller and has a definite location on the bed a towel, rug or small blanket might work.

At the door your pet uses, most often, keep old towels and teach them to wait to have their feet dried to remove morning dew, rain and even mud. In the winter consider keeping a small pail handy that can be filled with water to remove salt from their feet if they walk on salt treated roads and walks.

Never use ammonia based products for pet cleanup as they smell like urine

Is minor to major destructive behavior your problem causing you to have to clean up destroyed belongings frequently? Consider crate training your dog for those times that you must be away from home. Good article on Crate Training .

In your most lived in room provide a *bed* for your pet. I recommend a blanket or rug instead of the traditional big stuffed dog beds sold in numerous places. The blanket or rug can be washed frequently to remove odor, the fancy dog bed rarely, if at all.

If your pet has longer fur purchase a small plastic garden rake and quickly rake your carpet before using a vacuum. This *raking* will reduce maintenance on your vacuum's power head and roller bar because less long fur will wrap around it causing belt breakage.

If you are combating fur build up on your upholstery, buy a squeegee with a rubber edge and *squeegee* your furniture. The fur will literally roll off the material. BTW this works great on auto upholstery too! I like one that is about 15-18 inches wide for faster removal. This is absolutely the best method I have ever found to remove fur from upholstery! It even pulls ultra short fur that weaves into the fabric, like Dobermans and Dachshunds have, out of tweed type materials.

If you know you have old *pet accidents* and want to take steps to eliminate them purchase an ultra-violet light, turn your lights off, and shine the light systematically over all the carpet areas. Stains will quite literally jump out at you. Mark in some manner, chalk would be a good marker, so you can locate once the lights come back on. Now you can treat with Petastic according to the directions and the stains will be gone. You might have to treat more aggressively with the same product to remove the smell. DO NOT STEAM CLEAN until you are confident the stain and odor are gone or you will set the stain and nothing will remove it.

Keeping a house clean when you have pets isn't harder, it just has different requirements. A little pre-planning and training on your part will help ensure you have taken the necessary steps to maintain a clean house.

Happy Pet Owning Future!