Anya Hawkins's blog : The Best Ways To Remove Pet Smells From Your Home

Spring cleaning is called this because spring is the perfect time to make a start on all the deep cleaning tasks you usually end up putting off for most of the year. These can be occasional tasks that only happen once per year, or maybe jobs that you tend to do on a quarterly or biannually.

It is a good idea to plan these tasks alongside your daily or weekly cleaning tasks in order to give yourself a sparklingly clean environment to enjoy in the spring. After all, spring is a time for freshness and new beginnings, so why not start with your home? It might seem like a lot of work, but we promise it will be worth it, especially if you have pets that leave their characteristic odours in the home.

Pet smells are something that no pet owner wants in their home, but they are inevitable. Every pet will have an odour, though fish are one pet option that is known to be low-odour. It is mainly cats, dogs and small mammals that will leave odours in the home, as can indoor birds - especially if they are able to make a mess on your floors.

Luckily, there are expertly made products on the market that are specifically designed to tackle the distinct and sometimes unpleasant odours associated with pet ownership. Cats and dogs are the main contenders, with cat litter tray smells and that instantly recognisable ‘doggy’ smell chief among our concerns as pet owners.

Removing those stubborn pet smells from the home

If you have a dog or cat, you’ll know that their bed can harbour some of the strongest pongs in the home. Make sure you clean their bed regularly in the washing machine. If it has a zip off cover, remove this and launder it with pet safe detergent and air out the inner part outdoors if it cannot be washed. Before popping it into the washing machine, remove as much excess hair from the material as possible because this can clog your machine.

Homes that are carpeted are more likely to suffer from pet smells because the carpet fibres harbour hair, dirt, debris and oils from your pet’s coat that cannot be removed by vacuuming alone. Choose a reputable pet odour eliminator to help you, and these can either be in the form of a carpet shampoo or a spray-on spot cleaner for those extra stubborn areas such as near the litter tray or where they eat.

If you have hard flooring rather than carpets then one of the best tools you can use to keep them pet odour free is to use a steam mop. These do a fantastic job of sterilising your floors, even without the use of additional chemicals, but to really lift away those stubborn pet smells and stains you should again reach for a suitable animal odour eliminator.

A great way of eliminating pet odours from the home is to minimise how ingrained they are allowed to become in the first place. For example, quick but regular cleaning will help you to keep on top of the smells before a serious issue can develop, and so can covering up the places your pet likes to nap with something that can be washed - such as covering their favourite spot on the couch with a washable blanket or sheet.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, you can help reduce a lot of the odours associated with pet ownership by simply letting the fresh air in. This does not mean you have to have a window open all year round, it just means that your home will benefit from an airing out once a day or a couple of times per week. This is especially important in rooms that you or your pets sleep in, as well as any of the rooms that house things like litter boxes for your cats.

These are just some of the basic ways you can prevent unpleasant pet odours in the home. There are other things you might like to try such as keeping scented reed diffusers in your living spaces, or making use of plug-in air odour neutralisers designed for stubborn animal smells.