Tips on cleaning your house if you have pets

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A four-legged pet in a city flat can not only be a joy, but also a headache for the owners, because of unpleasant odors and fur. Our team is here to teach you the main secrets of keeping your place clean, even if you have a pet.

Destroying the crime scene

The unpleasant smell in the flat has specific sources. Most often, they are known, but sometimes, especially if you have a carpet on the floor, it can be difficult to determine exactly where your four-legged friend left his mark. Many cats like to leave such surprises under sofas, in the corners, behind the furniture.

After the crime scene is discovered, move on to the attack. If you do not have a special product for removing stains of this origin, you can use ordinary vinegar. It must be mixed with warm water in a ratio of 1/1 and the resulting solution should be sprayed on the carpet abundantly. It is necessary to pour the solution both into the “epicenter” and around it, so that there is no smell left and the pet does not have a desire to return to the crime scene. 

Leave the vinegar to soak for 30 minutes and then thoroughly wipe the treated area with cold water. After that, put a dry rag or paper towels on the wet area. Since the sense of smell in cats is better developed than in humans, the pet will feel the smell of vinegar for a longer period of time, while you will not. This will prevent them from returning to that place in order to repeat their crime.

However, quite often, cats mark the walls, and you can’t wipe stains off the wallpaper. In this case, home service experts recommend spraying the vinegar solution. As a preventive measure, sprinkle the area with mustard powder or ground red pepper. Also, you can use odor eliminators to lessen the foul smell.

Dry smash

It is not always possible to wet carpets. Many housewives rightly fear that their favorite carpet may begin to shrink or darken because of wet processing. In such cases, baking soda will come to the rescue.

Rub a quarter cup of baking soda into the carpet and let it sit for 15 minutes. After the baking soda has absorbed the odor, vacuum the treated area thoroughly. This method can also be used to fix the effect obtained from the treatment of the carpet with vinegar, experts say.

First Aid

You are waiting for guests, but there is no time to search for and get rid of the pet smell, do not despair, take emergency measures. Ground coffee will help you with this – much more effective than any air freshener.

The recipe is simple: pour a glass of freshly ground coffee into a frying pan and heat over low heat. Do not let the coffee burn, otherwise the whole apartment will be in smoke. Just heat the ground coffee to the point where you feel a strong aroma (as when preparing a drink). After that, place the pan with coffee in the room where you want to eliminate the unpleasant smell. The effect will be noticeable after 10-15 minutes and will last for several hours.

Furniture without fur

Pets know a lot about a comfortable life. Sofas, armchairs and other upholstered furniture are favorite resting places for cats and dogs. Unfortunately, thanks to them, a lot of fur remains on the surfaces. You can, of course, shave your pet, but they are unlikely to forgive you. Therefore, it is better to use an ordinary rubber glove, to which dog and cat fur adheres perfectly due to electrostatics. 

Put the glove on your hand, run it over the surface of the furniture, then remove the adhering fur with water and continue until there is not a single hair left on the sofa. You can also use a balloon for this purpose. Moreover, do not forget to regularly wash and comb your furry household members.

On the other hand, you can, of course, opt for a dog or cat that has short fur (or no fur at all), so you wouldn’t have to spend so much time on cleaning. But if you already have a furry friend, but do not know anything about their genes and susceptibility to seasonal shedding, for example, you can always opt for a cat breed test

Floor cleaning

Most of the fur remains on the floor, even if you do house cleaning regularly. Start cleaning with a vacuum cleaner – this way you will get rid of the bulk of the fur. After that, some of its residues can be eliminated by wet cleaning. 

Do not be lazy, use a damp sponge for the floor and collect the remaining fur into small lumps. Pay special attention to the corners where the most dirt accumulates. Wet cleaning helps to remove static electricity, which means it will be easier to eliminate not only fur, but harmful dust also. That’s why you shouldn’t neglect cleaning the floor, even if it seems crystal clean to you.

Save the carpet from fur

Carpeting requires delicate handling. At the same time, it is most difficult to remove fur from them. In general, the use of such items in flats with animals is not recommended, since a lot of harmful microorganisms, mites and other uninvited guests accumulate in them. 

They can pose a threat to humans, and pets are also quite affected by them. If you categorically do not want to give up the carpets, be prepared for a long and painstaking cleaning – it will not be possible to remove it with a vacuum cleaner alone.

Mix 1 cup cold water and a small amount of laundry detergent. Spray the resulting solution on the surface of the carpet with a spray bottle. This solution will separate the hairs of the fur from the carpet, so the fur will be easier to remove with a vacuum cleaner. If you can’t clean the carpet at home, it’s better to send it to a team of specialists regularly, in which case it will retain its brightness and cleanliness and will serve you for many years, home service specialists point out.

Sofa covers and other furniture can also be professionally cleaned. In the end, you can resort to professional cleaning at home, during which specialists will get the fur and all the forgotten dog toys from under the bed and remove all dust and hairs from furniture and even lamps.

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