Pet hair can be a constant challenge or a seasonal issue, but once they start shedding, the cleanup can be frustrating. If your regular vacuuming habits aren’t keeping up, you may need to use other methods. To reduce your labor and keep your pet comfortable, check out the tips below.
1. Rubber Gloves
If your pet gets on the furniture and shares some hair with the next person who sits there, put on a pair of rubber gloves, and rub-down the furniture. You’ll pull the hair off in clumps. At that point, you can easily ball it up and toss it.
Rubber gloves can also help when you’re brushing or petting your pet. Go over their who body with the gloves on, to pull away loose hair as you handle the animal. Many pets with an undercoat will drop the undercoat when the temperature goes up. If you notice that your pet is developing clumps or bumps of hair, they may be itching or chewing as the undercoat releases. Combing away these clumps and removing as much loose hair as possible will reduce the amount you have to vacuum up.
2. Turn off the Fans
If your pet sheds a lot in the summer months, having fans on won’t help you stay on top of the hair, particularly if you have solid surface flooring in your home. Pick a morning when the AC isn’t running yet and turn off the fans for 30 minutes to let the hair settle, then go around the room with a broom along the baseboards. Sweep a stretch and bag it, then sweep the next stretch. You want to clump up the hair in small batches, not push it around the house.
3. Get Good Tools
If you’ve ever killed a vacuum cleaner with pet hair, you know that investing in a good vacuum cleaner is critical. Sometimes, the best vacuum for pet hair is the one that’s the easiest to use. If you need to constantly be cleaning the sweeper bar because it’s completely wrapped in pet hair, you won’t use it much. Get a machine that’s designed for your flooring type and releases the pet hair it picks up easily. Then use it regularly to stay on top of pet hair before it gets too deep.
4. Watch Their Diet
Make sure your dog is getting enough oil in their diet to protect their skin from dryness, especially once you turn on the furnace. Dry skin can lead to more scratching, which can lead to more shedding. Additionally, some pets can suffer from stress as the days get shorter, and this can increase the risk of an allergic reaction to their food. If you notice that your pet is suffering from itchy skin, check their food ingredients for a possible allergen, such as
- wheat
- soy
- dairy
If your dog is generally healthy on their normal food, try giving them a small dose of an anti-allergy medication after checking with your vet to confirm the dosage. A skin reaction can be a one-time exposure or an indication that your pet is struggling with an underlying health issue.
5. Use Static to Your Advantage
Pet hair often clings to furniture in the winter months because of static, so put static on your team. If you have a fluffy duster often used for ceiling fans, rinse it, let it dry completely, and rough it up until it’s a little crackly with static. Go around your home along baseboards, especially if you have solid surface flooring, to collect loose pet hair. Once you’ve gathered everything that’s airborne or at least fluffy, then go around with the vacuum or the broom.
Draw dust, debris, and pet hair to you with the broom, then bag it up in small batches. If you try to sweep it into one big pile, air currents will capture the airborne or fluffy waste and carry it into another corner. Once you’ve got it picked up, damp mop to capture and remove any remaining hair.
A big part of managing pet hair is staying on top of it. If you have a robot vacuum, check the capture reservoir repeatedly as it trundles around the house. Stay on top of brushing and combing, and be ready to vacuum and wipe down furniture on a regular schedule.