The Pet Parent’s Guide to Keeping the House Clean
We may love having pets, but we still have to clean up after them at home.
Pets are a joy to have in any household. They’re loyal companions that bring warmth and laughter into our lives. Plus, they make good friends with our kids!
Our pets are cute and loving creatures, but we still have to clean up after them. If left unattended, the house will start to smell. Worse, bacteria can build up and infect the whole family. And that also makes our pets more vulnerable to infection, which means more trips to the vet.
Here are some pet parent hacks to keep the home clean for everyone—including our furbabies!
1. Lining pooper scooper with a paper bag.
While dogs often do their business in a newspaper or outside, cats have a litter box. Yes, the litter is what hides the scent, but it’s not good to leave it unclean, as this can make pets open to urinary tract infection (UTI) or kidney problems.
Make it a habit to immediately wipe up any stray urine and pick up any poop. Use toilet paper to do so, so that you can easily flush it down the toilet (without causing it to clog), and make sure to clean the poop scooper, since those can get dirty, too!
To minimize washing the poop scooper after every use, you can line it with old paper bags and discard it after it gets dirty.
2. Keep pets in playpen fences that are easy to clean to minimize accidents.
Although pets need the workout, we also don’t want them scratching the wooden or carpeted floors with their little claws, or worse—peeing on them. What some parents do is use their baby’s old playpens as makeshift cages to block pets from certain areas.
Parents can also wrap some parts of it with nets so they don’t just squeeze through the holes.
3. Put placemats under their food bowls to catch messes.
Some pets can be messy eaters—leaving all sorts of food trails on the floor. This makes bug invasions another problem to deal with! Using a placemat helps contain the mess in one area, plus, it’s easy to just scrub and clean after.
Some pet parents even buy placemats with high borders to make sure that the mess stays inside.
4. Use plastic containers filled with water to keep ants and bugs away!
Food doesn’t just attract our pets—it attracts bugs, too! Instead of spraying insecticide around the area, which is unsafe for our pets and kids, surrounding the pet bowl with water (kind of like a moat!) will catch the bugs and prevent them from climbing up toward the food.
Some vets even recommend “elevating” the food bowls so that our pets won’t have a hard time eating. This also makes it less prone to bug infestations and likewise easier to place on a plastic container filled with water.
5. Invest in a robot vacuum cleaner.
The fun part about having a robot vacuum cleaner is that they’re quiet and we can schedule it to sweep up the place before it retreats to its charging dock. These vacuums are great at sweeping up all the lint, dust, and stray fur into a ball and all we have to do is pop it out in a trashcan!
Some robots are easier to clean than others but one of the things we might need on hand is a screwdriver to take off the brushes to unwind all our falling hair. Also, make sure to check the area first before running the vacuum. If there is poop or pee that’s in the way, they might end up making more of a mess instead of actually cleaning anything.
6. Keep a plastic box that contains all our pet’s stuff.
Plastic storage boxes are easy to buy and find in any local department store. Some even come with their own separators and compartments to ensure everything stays organized inside. We usually prefer buying the transparent ones—that way we can see everything inside.
But if we have multiple pets, either we start labeling or buying in different transparent colors so we can identify which pet uses which item.
Pets are our babies too, and they need a lot of love and care in a clean home!
Keeping the house clean isn’t just for our benefit but for our pets, too! Just think—most pets get sick because they ate something poisonous to them or because they’re in a dirty environment. And trust us when we say that veterinarian expenses are not cheap!
A clean and clutter-free home also means more space for them to exercise and play, allowing them to express the unconditional love they are capable of giving.
More about pets and the home?
Is Your Kid Asking For A Pet? These Are The Best Pets To Start With
Cat-ifying Your Home: Things Your New Feline Furbaby Needs
Here’s How To Move Your Furbaby To Your New Home
