Entries Tagged as 'Fur'

Keeping Fur Off The Furniture

August 19th, 2008 17 Comments

Dear Home Ec 101,

My cats seem to drop enough fur to make a few new cats on my furniture every day. It’s ridiculous. How can I both prevent this and keep my furniture fur-free?

Thanks,

Fuzz Butt

Ivy says:

There are several things you can do to help keep the pet hair at bay. Of course, being a cat lover, you know that there’s no way to keep it away completely, since cats have a tendency to drop more fur than one would think is possible every day, but you can at least keep it to a minimum with some of these ideas.

First, prevention is key. I have found that brewer’s yeast supplements help some with shedding. It’s also a natural flea preventative, or so I hear. You can find these supplements at just about any pet supply store, they aren’t terribly expensive.

Brushing your cat daily is also very, very important. Cats like to groom themselves, but they don’t do a good enough job of getting all the loose hair off their bodies. (Thankfully. Can you imagine what they’d hoark up if they did?) So you need to pick up the slack by giving them a thorough brushing every day. I’ve experimented with different sorts of brushes over the years, but the kind that works the best for me is a wire brush. I’ve heard people have had great results with the Furminator, but I haven’t tried one yet.

As far as keeping it off the furniture, I’ve tried lots of different products, but the best thing, really, is to vacuum, vacuum, vacuum. If I don’t have time to do a thorough vacuuming, or I’ve got a chair that is particularly covered in hair, running a slightly damp paper towel over the area works well, too.

Good luck with getting everything de-furred!

Submit your questions to helpme@home-ec101.com!

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The Great Pet Hair War

August 13th, 2007 7 Comments

Dear Home-Ec 101,

We have two dogs and two cats, all dark-haired. Our
house is COVERED in pet hair-hardwood floors, carpeted
floors, tiled floors and counters. Even the back of
our television collects HUGE fur-balls.

Help! How do I keep this under control without having
to spend 2 hours a day sweeping, vacuuming, dusting,
and washing? Our animals are taking over.

Before you give me the old, “brush them daily” crap,
it doesn’t work. It helps, but it just adds an hour
to the 2 hour clean up routine.

Thank you!!

Lost in a sea of pet hair

WinkIvy says:

I wish there was a simple way to keep the cat and dog hair away. I’ve tried miracling it away, I’ve tried waving my magic wand, I’ve even tried to entice the cleaning fairy to come clean it up, but it was all for naught. I’ve even tried teaching the dog to vacuum. Let’s just say that didn’t work out.

No, the only way you are going to get the car and dog hair to go away is to work at it every day.

Brushing your animals daily really does help. I know you have said it doesn’t work, but it does, I promise! You have to keep at it and brush those suckas every single day without fail.

I have found adding brewer’s yeast to their diet helps with the shedding, but you still have to brush them every day. Every day! Brewer’s yeast doesn’t totally stop the shedding, but it really seems to slow it down. During the natural times of the year that they shed more, the brewer’s yeast seems especially work well.

You’ll need to vacuum daily to keep the fur at bay as well. Do an extremely thorough job of vacuuming once a week- move the furniture and get under there, vacuum under cushions, the entire nine yards. This makes the job easier throughout the week.

Hardwood floors especially seem to collect the fur. I find a stick vac to be the best way to deal with pet hair on hardwoods. Make sure you clean the stick vac filter after each use so the vacuum doesn’t lose suction.

I have 2 cats and a dog, myself, so I truly do feel your pain. There just isn’t a fast or easy way to deal with the fur, beyond getting hairless animals, and then they would be no fun to pet.

Send your domestic questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

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Buried in dog hair no more!

March 4th, 2007 3 Comments

Dear Home-Ec 101,

How do you control the dog hair in the house and keep the little ones from turning into little puppies themselves? Vacuuming does not seem to be enough.

Signed,

Buried in dog hair

finger-up.JPGIvy says:

I have 2 cats and a dog, so I feel your pain. We’ve had times where we brushed so much hair off our cats, we could have made a new cat. We seriously considered knitting a cat hair sweater, but were all too busy.

Fortunately, we discovered methods to lessen the cat and dog hair in the house, and none too soon- all that hair kept clogging our vacuum. It really irks me to have to take a vacuum apart. With the new method, we only clog our vacuum every once in awhile.

The key to controlling the shedding is to groom, groom, groom! Use a good brush specifically designed to control shedding, and brush your dog every single day. Heather always brushes her dog outside, but I live in a colder climate than she does, and I can say brushing your dog in the bathroom is a good alternative to brushing outside when it is too cold.

The other key to controlling shedding is to use Brewer’s Yeast in their diet.

brewers-yeast.jpg
I like the Drs. Foster & Smith brand. You can get it in powder form, which is good for those of us who have animals that absolutely do not trust us to not poison them with pills.

The grooming and Brewer’s Yeast combo will make the shedding quite minimal, as long as you keep up with it. (Sometimes I forget, and that’s when the vacuum clogging occurs!)

Submit your household questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.

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