Welcoming a pet into your home brings joy and companionship, but it also introduces additional house-cleaning challenges. From pet hair to lingering odours, keeping your home spotless while sharing it with a furry friend can seem daunting. Here are some essential tips for pet owners to maintain a clean, pet-friendly home.
Regular Grooming
Regular grooming is crucial for keeping your home clean. Grooming your pet frequently reduces the amount of loose hair around your home, especially during the spring and summer months when pets shed their winter coats. Daily brushing and regular bathing will help keep your home free of hair and dust. Additionally, trimming your pet's nails can protect your floors and doors from scratches.
Invest in a good vacuum cleaner
A high-quality vacuum cleaner designed to cope with pet hair is an essential tool for any pet owner. Pets shed hair and dander daily, which can accumulate on floors and carpets, making your home look unclean. A vacuum with powerful suction can effectively remove pet hair and dirt.
What to look out for in a Pet Vacuum Cleaner
A high-quality filter is essential. The notorious 'pet smell' in homes originates from dander—tiny particles of skin, saliva, sweat, and other proteins that can be as small as two microns (two-thousandths of a millimetre). These particles can linger in the air for extended periods before embedding themselves in the fibres of your carpets and upholstery. It's crucial to ensure that once you vacuum up the dander, it stays contained.
Consider models with HEPA filters - a high-efficiency particulate absorbing filter, which traps pet allergens and dust, helping you breathe cleaner air. These filters can trap 99.95 percent of particles as small as 0.3 microns in size, including pet hair, dander, dust mites and even pollen and many microorganisms, making them indispensable for those with allergies or respiratory issues.
Pet vacuum cleaners come in all different shapes and sizes, from drop upright vacuums for a deep clean to handheld pet vacuums for a quick spot clean. For homes with carpeted floors, a vacuum cleaner with a beater bar or brush roll is ideal for removing stubborn pet hair and dirt. For hard floors, opt for a vacuum with a hard floor setting or a canister vacuum.
Keep hard floors free of muddy paws
Pets often track mud and dirt into the house, especially after outdoor adventures. To keep your hard floors clean, consider using a steam mop. Steam mops are effective at removing pet messes and stains, leaving your floors spotless and sanitised.
How to remove pet odours
Even the most adorable dogs can develop that “wet dog smell” occasionally. While we love our furry or feathered companions, sometimes their odours make us want to keep them at a bit of a distance. Whether your dog got caught in the rain or your cat just used the litter box, pet odours are an inevitable part of pet ownership.
Removing pet odours with an air purifier
Since pets are constantly moving around, these odours travel with them throughout the house. An air purifier can help eliminate these unpleasant smells from a room, rather than just masking them with a more pleasant scent.
An air purifier with a HEPA filter can help eliminate pet odours from the air, making your home smell fresher. Air purifiers can trap airborne particles, including pet dander and hair, reducing the unpleasant smells associated with pets.
Removing Pet Odours with a Carpet Cleaner or Steam Cleaner
Carpet cleaners and steam cleaners are excellent for removing pet stains and odours from your carpets and upholstery and steam cleaning technology can address not only the odour but also the potential stain left behind from pet messes including urine. Look for a pet-friendly carpet cleaner and steam cleaner that can deep clean and neutralise odours, leaving your carpets looking and smelling fresh.
Cover Furniture
Protecting your furniture from pet hair and damage is easy with washable covers. Tossing a cosy blanket over your bed or favourite chair allows both you and your pets to relax, while also prolonging the life of your furniture. Opt for 100 percent cotton or an acrylic-cotton blend; both fabrics are durable and machine washable.
Always have emergency cleaning products on hand
Accidents happen, so it's wise to have emergency cleaning products readily available. Fill a squirt bottle with half water, half white vinegar, and a drop of dish soap. This pet-safe cleaning solution is effective on everything from floors and walls to furniture. Additionally, always use pet-friendly detergents to ensure the safety of your furry friends.
Keeping a clean home as a pet owner doesn't have to be overwhelming. With regular grooming, the right cleaning tools, and some strategic planning, you can enjoy a tidy, fresh-smelling, and pet-friendly home.
At Direct Vacuums, we’re passionate about helping you keep your home clean without breaking the bank. Check out our extensive range of new and refurbished vacuum cleaners from top brands such as VAX, Daewoo, Russell Hobbs and Hoover which offer excellent vacuuming performance and reliability time & time again.
Pet Owner Essentials for a Cleaner Home
Vytronix PET01 Bagless Cylinder Pet Vacuum Cleaner 3L Powerful Cyclonic HEPA
Our Price: £64.99
- Essential Addition: The AA Rated Vytronix® Animal Bagless Pet Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner is ideal for busy households.
- Large Capacity: Features a 3-litre dust container.
- Powerful Suction: Picks up invisible dust and dirt particles effectively.
- Multi-Cyclonic Technology: Eliminates particles from the air flow to prevent re-circulation.
- HEPA Filtration: Traps micro-sized particles and allergens, great for allergy sufferers.
- Pet Hair Attachment: Removes stubborn pet hair from stairs and upholstery.
- Portable & Flexible: Lightweight (6kg), with an 80 cm telescopic extension tube, 1.5m hose, and 6m power cord.
- Easy to Use: On/off foot pedal, rocker pedal for switching modes, and hassle-free emptying with a 3L dust container.
- Versatile Cleaning: Reaches tight corners, under furniture, and high areas without over-stretching.
Vax CLSV-B4KP ONEPWR Blade 4 18V Cordless Upright Stick Vacuum Cleaner Pet
RRP: £259.99 Our Price: £199.99 (Save £140)
- Powerful Cleaning Performance: Combines the efficiency of corded vacuums with cordless freedom.
- No Loss of Suction: Brushless motor and Direct Helix technology ensure powerful cleaning.
- Boost Mode: Extra power for tackling the messiest rooms.
- Pet Hair Tool: Motorised tool for removing pet hair and stubborn dirt.
- Onboard Tools: Lightweight detachable handheld for stairs, upholstery, and car interiors.
- DustVault Technology: Captures up to 99.8% of particles down to 0.3 microns.
- Lightweight: Only 3.1kg, easy to use and manoeuvre.
DH Lifelabs CAHP-20WC01 Air Purifier HEPA Eliminates 99.97% Bacteria White
RRP: £199.99 Our Price: £129.99 (Save £70)
- Eliminates 99.97% OF BACTERIA & VIRUSES: Dual PlasmaShield™ Technology and H13 True HEPA Filter for the ultimate air purification.
- H13 True hepa filter captures allergens: 3-Stage H13 True HEPA Filter has a pre-Filter, HEPA filter, and activated carbon filter for 3 layers of air purification protection.
- Clean air coverage: Purify medium rooms up to 217 sq ft. Perfect for bedrooms, home offices, nurseries, and more.
- Purifies the air 4.8x per hour: Refresh your air multiple times per hour throughout the day to keep unwanted germs and pollutants out.
- Plasmashield technology: This proprietary technology generates ions both inside the unit to eliminate trapped pathogens, and throughout the space, to purify the surrounding air.
- Active purification: Designed with a 360° delivery system that propels positive and negative ions throughout the room to actively kill germs.
- Natural deodorizer: Reduces odours caused by ammonia, formaldehyde, hydrogen sulphide, and VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds).
Vax W86-DP-B Dual Power Base Upright Carpet Washer Cleaner
RRP: £229.99 Our Price: £79.99 (Save £150)
- Lightweight: clean your carpets thoroughly with ease. move the machine from room to room and up and down stairs comfortably guaranteeing a quicker and more convenient clean throughout your home.
- Dual rotating brush bars: assist in removing stubborn, deep-down dirt from your carpets. It also features a 30cm wide cleaning head that enables you to clean larger areas quickly.
- Twin tank technology: separates clean water from dirty water for more effective cleaning, ensuring the two don’t mix.
- Easy filling and emptying: The cleaning solution can be measured in our easy and convenient screw cap, ensuring the consistency of both solution and water is correct.