Whether it means fishing winter muck out of the gutters or just finally hefting your Christmas decorations into the garage, spring cleaning is a great way to revitalize your home, syncing your inside world with the freshness of the outside. But did you know that pets need to be spring cleaned too?
Referred to as “blowing the coat,” many pets undergo an intense but completely normal shed as the days grow longer and warmer. Here are some ways to facilitate the process until it’s finally over—and keep your home hair-free in the interim.
1. Shedding is natural, but patchy and excessive hair loss is not. If your pet is scratching or biting aggressively at her coat, get her to a vet to determine the real problem. It could be allergies, stress, fleas, or any other number of things.
2. Grooming should be a year-round occurrence, not just a one-time event to tack onto the spring cleaning list. According to TerrificPets.com, a lack of grooming can lead to mats, which are painful and may cause infection.
3. My Pet Naturally Clean suggests either brushing your pet until the winter coat is completely effaced or bathing first, brushing after, and bathing once more to coax out a stubborn undercoat. Take care not to over-bathe—this can irritate your pet’s skin.
4. Omega 3 & 6 fatty acids can be supplemented into your pet’s diet to create a healthy coat and speed up the shed, suggests TerrificPets.com. A combination of a bristle brush and a slick brush will make quick work of a short-haired dog’s—or cat’s!—coat; use a shedding rake for long-haired dogs.
5. Finally, if your furniture and carpet are to withstand this flurry of fur, you can use a “damp sponge” or “high-density foam” to pick hair up off surfaces. My Pet Naturally Clean praises these mechanisms for being reusable and more effective than costly alternatives.
Cleaning hair off each individual surface can be tedious work, and you no doubt have plenty of other chores on your to-do list. That’s why you should utilize pet accessories like the Microfiber Pet Furniture Cover to keep sofas, chairs, and loveseats hair-and-hassle-free. Pet covers are washable, freeing you to do other things…like finally taking down those Christmas lights.
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