Nine Carpet Care Ideas For Pet Owners

Not All Pets Make Messes But…

Animals – we love them! Quite a lot of people have a pet of some kind, whether it’s just a goldfish in a little bowl to an entire menagerie of cats, dogs, hamsters and pot-bellied pigs. However, there are times when, as much as we love them, they drive us mad, especially when it comes to caring for our carpets and ensuring that the carpet looks nice and welcoming.

Obviously, some animals aren’t a problem for carpets. Goldfish can’t do much to your carpet, if anything. The only way a goldfish will harm the carpet is if something happens to its bowl and it spills onto the floor; even then, it’s not so much the goldfish that does the damage but the water (pick up the goldfish first and return it to water, then blot up the spill with a bunch of old towels). Cold-blooded pets of the reptilian or fish kind are safe for carpets. Feathered friends aren’t too bad but it’s the mammals that are the hardest on carpets.

How Pets Get Carpets Dirty

It’s the hair that’s the real nuisance – that thing that makes mammals unique (that and feeding their young on milk). About the only mammals that don’t have hair are dolphins and whales, and you probably don’t have those in your living room. However, cats and dogs are beautifully soft and fluffy… and their hair gets all over the carpets. Even the best behaved cat or dog that knows how to use the litter box or do their business outside, and who never gets paws muddy will shed hair – with the exception of hairless dogs and cats (they exist but they’re certainly not everybody’s cup of tea). There seems to be a natural affinity between those hairs and carpets, as you probably already know.

However, that’s not the only way that pets mess carpets. There’s that inevitable stage when they’re learning where to go and where not to go. If you have pet mice, which don’t have sphincters on their bladders, they’ll never get the hang of housetraining no matter how hard you try. All pet owners have had to cope with the scenario involving a dark puddle on the carpet and either (a) a puppy looking up with an “I tried but…” expression on its face or (b) a kitten looking blasé about the whole thing.

Then there’s the muddy paws, the birds or mice brought in half dead and bleeding, the bitches on heat with discharge, and the cats who prefer carpets to the scratching post. As if that wasn’t enough, fleas are attracted to warm-blooded mammals and your pets can bring them inside to make a home in your carpets. It’s just as well we love our pets so much…

Tips To Care For Your Carpet

Nobody wants to be that person with the house that reeks of cat or dog hair (or worse) who seems to have just given up on trying to care for the carpets. If you love animals and taking care of your carpet is just too much, then opting out of carpets altogether and just having a few strategically placed rugs might be a better option. For the rest of us who want the cosy comfort of both pets and a carpet, there are some things you can do to stop your home descending into Crazy Cat Lady/Gent territory.

Vacuum frequently

This is your first line of defence against fleas as well as the best way of getting up those darn hairs. How often you vacuum is really up to you, but it should be done once a week at the very minimum. It really depends on whether you have cats or dogs, and how long their hair is. A sleek-coated bull terrier doesn’t shed as much hair on the carpet as, say, a rough collie, so the owner of the bull terrier will have to vacuum less often than the collie owner (the bull terrier will also make the job fun by trying to catch the vacuum cleaner head). Some people get a special vacuum cleaner that’s designed to pick up pet hair, but an ordinary one applied frequently will do the job.

Deal with accidents swiftly

If the smell of a little accident gets trapped in the carpet, this will tell your pet that this spot is OK to use as a toilet. Scrape up solids, blot up pee and apply disinfectant and gentle agitation to the area to deal with the worst of things, then apply baking soda to the spot for half an hour, which will absorb the smell. You will also need to call in someone to deep clean your carpets a bit more often than you would otherwise.

Have pet-free rooms

It’s next to impossible to do this with cats, who go where they please. However, you can train dogs not to go into certain rooms – your bedroom is usually a good choice. If they pop one toe over the threshold, snarl “No!” at them and they’ll soon get the message. This means that there will be one room that doesn’t have pet hair all over the carpets.

Feed pets off carpeted areas

All pets will spill, spray and slobber when eating, which means that some of what’s in their food and water bowls will end up on the floor. Having a mat down as a protector that’s easy to clean is definitely wise, but you’ll save yourself a world of grief if you feed animals off carpeted areas.

Confine on-heat bitches

If you haven’t had your bitch spayed, she will produce discharge during That Time. It’s messy and there’s nothing you can do about it, except to get her fixed. Keep her in the non-carpeted areas of the house until the discharge stops. Provide a cosy mat, bed or blanket for her that’s easier to clean.

Keep Up Flea Treatments

As well as vacuuming frequently, the other way to stop your carpets becoming infested with fleas is to treat your pets with fleabane or flea repellent. Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium L.) is a time-honoured natural flea repellent that can be grown easily in a pot or in the garden. Pop a sprig in your pet’s bed, or crush some leaves and rub them on your pet (cats will protest but persevere).

Litter Trays and Carpets Don’t Mix

The best place for a litter tray, if you have to use one, is in the laundry, on the back doorstep, on a balcony or porch or in some other non-carpeted area that isn’t the kitchen. We’ve all seen that overenthusiastic cat who gets it all down the edge or who tries to bury the evidence but kicks the litter out.

Give Dogs Their Own Mat or Bed

This is harder to do if your dog doesn’t spend any time outside. However, if your dog spends a lot of the day outside in the garden but only some of the time inside, you can teach your dog that their special place (which is the only spot they can lie down on) is something easier to wash. This means that the majority of hair and skin particles is confined to one spot, and you can wash whatever it is if it starts smelling a bit doggy.

Choose cut pile carpet

Loop pile carpet seems to be irresistible to cats, who will do that claw-sharpening thing in the carpets as well as on the side of the sofa (they never seem to prefer proper scratching posts, do they?). However, cut pile carpet doesn’t offer the same sort of texture and Kitty will be less likely to get her claws stuck in. Declawing cats is illegal and cruel – upgrading the carpet is a much nicer option. Maybe keep the old loop pile carpet to make a scratching post…

Here is a lovely video, made by Amy from Showme Suburban, to give you some more tips how to keep your carpet clean when you have pets.