Controlling Pet Hair in Your Home
If your pet has long hair, a heavy coat, or if it is the time of year when they are shedding it is important to get them groomed regularly. Grooming helps remove loose hair before it has a chance to drop all over your home and it helps your pet feel better and cooler during hotter months.
To keep shedding under control, keep your pet on a steady diet of healthy food since this can have a big impact on the condition of their coats. Also, try to avoid switching brands of pet food frequently since this can cause additional shedding.
Hair on hard surfaces can be tricky to pick up since it tends to just blow around if you try to dry dust it or sweep it. For pet hair on hard surfaces try dampening a cloth or using pre-dampened disposable wipes to wipe up the pet hair. The moisture helps the hair to stick to the cloth and will make getting it up off the surface a whole lot easier.
For pet hair on soft surfaces like upholstery or carpet, use a vacuum with a brush attachment on the wand. If the hair is really matted into the surface of the fabric you may have better luck if you use a stiff brush to loosen it from the fabric first and then tackle it with the vacuum after it has been loosened.
There are a variety of tools that you can buy at most pet stores and department stores designed for removing pet hair from furniture, drapes, bedding, and upholstery. Depending upon what you have to clean you can choose from tools that are similar to lint rollers that the hair just sticks to, or you can get a specially designed brush with stiff bristles that will help pull the hair up from the fabric.
For clothing, pick up a cheap lint roller. Or, as an alterative, wrap a piece of masking tape around your fingers with the sticky side out and pat it onto your clothing to remove any pet hair. You may have to replace the tape quite a few times to do a full outfit, but it works to remove pet hair in a pinch.
To clean up pet hair on hard floors, avoid sweeping them since this can just stir the pet hair up into the air only to have it resettle again. Instead, vacuum your hard floors to get the majority of the pet hair up off the floor. Then, go back over the floor with a plain damp mop or with a tool like a Swiffer Wet Jet to pick up the remainder of the hair.
In the kitchen, be sure to clean under your appliances at least every few months to pick up any pet hair that has accumulated there. Excess pet hair can block vents and shorten the lifespan of your appliances.
You may also find that you need to replace the filters in your furnace and your air conditioner more frequently than people without pets since pet hair in the air can get sucked into your ventilation system and clog the filters.
Besides being unsightly, pet hair and dander can be irritating even to people without allergies so it is important to keep the hair problem under control in your home. Hopefully these tips will help to make your job a little easier!
