Keeping your home clean with cats & co.

Do you have loving four-legged friends at home or are you planning to bring new members into your home and don't want hygiene and cleanliness in your household to suffer as a result? Here are some important points and helpful tips to help you keep your home clean, even with pets.

Keep floors clean and clean them regularly

Whether smooth floors (tiles, parquet, laminate or plastic flooring) or carpets - if you have pets, the floor can quickly become full of hair and other residues, such as food or dirt brought in from outside. It is therefore important to clean the floor regularly. Of course, this primarily depends on your pet's coat type. If your pet has a short, close-lying coat, you will need to clean less often than if it has a long-haired coat.

You will also have to mop much more frequently if your pet is not house-trained. Your pet's droppings should be removed immediately, especially from wooden floors, as this can damage the floor and the penetration of odors into the wood can lead to permanent odor nuisance. Baking soda also works wonders on a dirty carpet. Sprinkle some on the dirty area and then vacuum it up again after a short time.

Finally, most pets will also learn not to scatter food all over the house if you get them used to a fixed place to eat. This and other tips for avoiding dirt are explained in more detail below.

First of all, you should ask yourself which type of cabinet you have: a hinge-door cabinet, a cabinet with front connection or a drawer cabinet. Then measure the width (30, 40, 50, 60 cm etc.) of your cupboard in which the waste separation system or built-in waste garbage can is to be installed. Make sure you take exact measurements so that the bin you have purchased will actually fit in. Measure the height, width and depth inside the cupboard very precisely so that the installation is successful. Also think about which waste (residual waste, organic waste, paper, yellow bag waste) you want to separate in your kitchen to determine the number of inner bins. Then it's best to go to your kitchen studio and ask for advice, as installation can be very complicated under certain circumstances. There are various waste separation systems that you can choose from:

Feeding area and kitchen: animals should always eat in the same place

If possible, your dog's or cat's feeding place should always be in the same place. This helps the animal to develop a feeding routine. Secondly, young dogs in particular have the habit of taking their food out of the bowl and carrying it to another place to eat it there. If you always feed your pet at the same feeding place, this can help to establish a routine in their eating behavior and prevent this habit. Our recommendation: the kitchen. As you also regularly prepare and eat food there, your pet will learn more quickly that this is the place to eat. You also have everything in one place and don't have to carry the bowl halfway across the house to wash it out. What's more, you clean the kitchen more often anyway - you can combine this with cleaning the feeding area. The more often you mop the floor in your kitchen, the more hygienically your pet will eat.

The HAILO pet station makes feeding your cat or dog even more convenient, as it is built directly into the base cabinet and disappears there again after eating. The raised and removable bowls and the washable surface with rim ensure less spills when eating or drinking water and easy cleaning. With the additionally available FlexiKit, you can store all important pet utensils directly above the feeding station on the shelf in your base cabinet.

Taboo zones in the home: Hygienically clean without hair falling out

Daily vacuuming, dusting or removing food scraps can be extremely time-consuming and annoying in certain rooms. You can therefore consider introducing so-called no-go areas so that rooms with carpets, for example, are spared long pet hair. You can also do the same for individual pieces of furniture, such as the sofa, bed, dining table or chairs, to prevent soiling in certain areas. Unfortunately, this requires a lot of training and clear instructions, as some pets, especially some dog breeds, are always testing the limits of their owners.

Dog on the sofa? Pay attention to consistency

Should pets be in bed or on the couch? That's your decision, of course. But think carefully about whether you allow this, because once a dog has got used to the viewpoint on the sofa, it is usually difficult to banish it from its favorite spot again. It's the same with the bed: do you want your faithful companion to sleep next to you and also lie there during the day? Or is the cleanliness of your own retreat more important to you?

If you allow it, we recommend at least placing a bedspread on the furniture. Of course, the latter goes hand in hand with more frequent washing, but the bed and co. will then remain free of animal hair and other dirt.

Ventilate regularly

Air the room regularly. You will soon become so accustomed to the smell of your pet that you will no longer notice it. However, your guests will notice your pet's own smell. Frequent and extensive airing is usually enough to prevent this smell from penetrating furniture or making it smell unpleasant in general.

Rainy days and walks: cleaning the pet

Whether it's raining, snowing or storming, most dogs and cats often don't care. The urge to go outside is simply too great. As a result, their fur and paws can get very dirty after a long walk in the rain outside the house or in the garden. Have towels and a brush ready at the front door of your house to clean your pet before he visits your carpet. If it has been a particularly muddy walk, the animal should be washed with a damp cloth (or clean water if necessary). You should also use no more than lukewarm water for this. This also applies to cats, of course. If she wants to go back into the warmth after her walk, she should also have her paws cleaned so that the dirt does not end up on your clothes and you can keep your home clean without a lot of daily cleaning. You can also use a larger towel to dry the fur so that it is less smelly and does not shed water droplets.

Fur care and waste management

If you comb or brush your pet's fur regularly, your home will stay free of dirt and hair for longer. Any hair that your pet loses during grooming can no longer be spread around the home. In addition, grooming is particularly necessary for pets with a long coat in spring and should be carried out for animal health reasons. Always brush your pet in the direction of growth. This prevents irritation and your pet will prefer to be brushed. Incidentally, people allergic to animal hair are often not allergic to every type of animal hair.

Find out: allergy sufferers often cannot tolerate hair from cats, but can tolerate hair from dogs. However, this varies from breed to breed, animal to animal and person to person.

Hygiene in and around the litter tray

Fur is not the only waste product from your pet. Hygiene in and around the litter tray is also important. If you clean the litter tray regularly, you will avoid unpleasant odors and cat litter all over your home. In general, you should teach your cats to go to the litter tray at an early age. Because even if your cat usually does its business outside, you can be sure that your home will remain clean if you are not at home for a day. If you want a clean home, the litter tray should be cleaned at least every other day - this also applies to the litter tray in rodent cages and bird aviaries. If several cats use one litter tray, it is advisable to clean it more frequently, as this will also prevent the transmission of diseases between the animals.

Tip: Utilization prevents damage

Not everyone can be with their four-legged friend around the clock. Most dirt is created by animals that are left alone. For this reason, pets should be given plenty of exercise before they are left alone. Bored or stressed animals often cause damage to furniture, eat things or even lose hair due to stress.

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