Pet Hair

[rainysparadigm]

Hi,

I'm having an annoying problem with laundry - cat hair. Our last washer wasn't doing as great of a job as it should be (hail Shout), and now we have replaced it with a great energy star. It is awesome except ...most of our bath towels are somehow extremely loaded with cat hair. I have washed them on the hardest, longest cycle; line dried them, shaken them out. I even used carpet powder with pet hair release several times, letting it sit for an hour and then shaking it out. It's ridiculous. Anyone know a great way to unload all this hair and tips on how to keep them cat hair free? We line dry only.

If anyone has other tips for keeping homes relatively pet hair free, that would be great. Lint rollers only go so far lol Examples of things we're doing:

We stopped letting the cats sleep with us. I think we miss it more than them! lol But it makes an immense difference on how often the sheets need washed lol

We are going to cover the couches so it'll be easier to keep those clean.

We use pet hair release baking soda carpet powder, and vacccuum as often as possible. While doing that, I also put extra effort into cleaning their lounging areas like the scratch post.

We brush them, but not as often as we should. They dont really prefer it lol

We are looking into good air purifier that has a lint catcher. If anyone has experience with brands, etc I would also like feedback on that.

Thanks!

[hermione]

I think brushing is the main thing. If they don't like brushing, you can try one of those grooming gloves that help pick up hair. Or just wetting your hands and petting them to shed as much loose hair as possible.

You could also try t-shirts, but depending on the cat(s), that may not be possible. We had a cat before that would let us do anything and put anything on him, but I know most cats aren't as laid back. But clothing could help keep some of the hair in instead of dropping it all over the house.

Also, this might not be doable depending on your situation or personal preference, but switching from carpet to wood/tile flooring - anything that's not carpet - would make it easier. We have 2 border collies with medium/long hair and they shed a lot. We've been gradually replacing our carpet with homemade wood flooring over the past year and it's a lot easier to vacuum hair off the wood floor than carpeted areas.

[lucille]

Bathing them will cut down on the hair also, if you can do it or take them to a groomer who can. Periodically running the towels through a dryer might help pull more of the hair out.

We are in the process of getting all of the carpet out of our house. Carpet is one of the worst when it comes to hair because it gets trapped inside as does pet and people dander. I have notice that our leather sofa does a much better job than the velvet one we used to have as far as being a hair magnet.

[dapooh1]

I have read that drier sheets are supposed to be helpful for getting cat hair off of the couch etc. since the sheets break up the static cling effect that holds the hair on. Has anyone tried this trick?

[lpkitten]

i've always thought i should stop vacuuming the carpet and just vacuum the cat directly! they should invent a pet brush vacuum attachment (actually i think they have but I don't know how effective it is)!

[Megan]

Originally Posted by lpkitten

i've always thought i should stop vacuuming the carpet and just vacuum the cat directly! they should invent a pet brush vacuum attachment (actually i think they have but I don't know how effective it is)!

They do have one! It works relatively well, according to my mother, who currently has three Newfoundlands in her house (so she knows pet hair). Of course, if the giant beast of a dog is afraid of the vacuum, it turns out to be pretty useless!

i agree with the brushing idea. That's about all you can do. Or just learn to live with it.

[Milehimama]

My thought would be to not allow your clothes to touch the floor. Put them directly in hampers, etc., because that is where the hair is being picked up, most likely!

[rainysparadigm]

Clothes always go in the hamper and are not a problem. Towels over the shower or on the towel rack where kittens are not free to roam, but the towels seem to manage to trap the hair regardless. The problem is the littlest kitten was short hair when we brought him home and then poof...afro kitty. This is his first summer - and it gets hot here, so he's shedding like crazy. We do brush him as much as he lets us but that with the other animals and then the washer going on the fritz, it just started to get where friends with pet allergies aren't sufficient with benadryl anymore. And the towels...what the heck.

Anyway! We saw an idea about the carpet and thought we would try it out. We bought a sponge mop, just a very basic one from the grocery store, and barely wet the sponge, wringing it out so theres no extra water. Then starting in the corner, began running the mop gently over the carpet. Amazing. It pulled out hair even though it was freshly powdered and vaccuumed. We have only lived here 6 months and vaccuum several times a week, always with arm and hammer pet release carpet powder. So this is definetly worth it for anyone else pondering over their hair trap carpet

We rent, so pulling the carpet isnt an option. If it was, I would be all for it and is defintely the plan when the time comes.

LOL I love the vac attachment idea, the visual it conjures is hilarious. The cats hide when I even touch the vac, so dont think I would get far with them lol

[purplefdu]

I've learned that when the dogs are shedding just expect to be covered in hair to a degree. Its simply not possible to escape completely. We have carpet in most of the house (and rent) and the powders don't really do much when my eldest is shedding. We do have a fur rake we use to pre-rake the carpet before vacuuming which works wonders, but still need to vacuum every couple days at times. And our dogs aren't allowed on the bed, furniture, etc. Its one of the sacrifices of being a pet owner, lol.

[rainysparadigm]

I've always had pets - always. Growing up, we always had cats, dogs, hamsters, birds, fish, you name it. As an adult, I've been at least as obsessive with keeping a mini zoo and have always had 2-4 cats at any given time. So I'm pretty much accustom to pet hair and I've never had a problem with it. I am beginning to think the carpet in this house is the culprit. I have never seen so much hair caught in carpet in my life. Maybe because it's new? I have no idea. Either way, it was the towels that was irritating me the most so finally I just gave in and ran them through the dryer. Theyre perfect again.

Can't be green all the time! lol