Cleaning with animals: How to work your way around the smallest members of the family

About 85 million families in the US count a pet as one of the members of their family according to the National Pet Owners Survey. For the large majority or households that means a cat or a dog. These furry little members of the family might not contribute to the upkeep of the household in the traditional way, but their presence is always felt and appreciated by everyone else. For the smallest family members, they do tend to make a horrendous amount of mess. They’re also quite sensitive, so we have to be careful about what cleaning products to use around them. At the end of the day, are they worth all the hassle? Yes, is the answer.

Choosing animal friendly cleaning products

The first thing a TIDY app pro cleaner is aware of when cleaning in a household with pets is the products they can and cannot use. Their little noses and eyes are quite a lot more sensitive than ours, and a lot closer to the floor. This means any chemicals that can hurt or irritate them should be avoided. For most cleaning products this just means avoiding the stronger chemicals, but each cleaner will be aware of what products in their collection can and can’t be used around pets.

The same goes for home cleaning, as products will list their ingredients, and most will have a warning if they shouldn’t be used around pets or children. It’s also good to use natural or homemade products where possible, as these will be even kinder to their skin and eyes.

Keep them out of harm’s way

This might be a little bit of an obvious one but it’s absolutely worth repeating. When you’re cleaning, make sure your pets are a safe distance from you and whatever products you are using. It’s for their own good, so if they’re whining and scratching at the door you have to stay strong. Just being in the same room as something as strong as bleach being used can irritate the eyes and nose of smaller pets. The smaller the pet, the higher the risk too, as you only need a small amount of chemical to upset a very small tummy.

Cleaning up their messes

Pets make a mess, that’s one of the inescapable facts of life. It usually falls to the adults of the household to clean up those messes in a way that keeps both them and the rest of the household safe. For the bigger pets, this is fairly simple.

Litter and floor pads can be thrown away and any other affected areas can be given a quick spritz of cleaner and a wipe. Any other heavy-duty stains might just need a deeper clean, but in the grand scheme of things it isn’t too difficult.

Anything that lives in a cage poses a different challenge. You need to find a way of cleaning that won’t affect them too much, and you need a place for them to stay while you clean.

A couple of tips for you:

1.     Always research what your particular pet needs - a guinea pig clean is going to be different to a dog of course.

2.     Make sure you have what you need to start, new shavings or food or whatever your pet would need when they get back in their home.

3.     Decide a place where your pet can stay while you clean beforehand too, whether it's a bathtub or sink or just the top of their cage on a table.

4.     The cleaning itself might be simple, but it’s the care you put into it that makes their day so much easier. Just be careful when moving them back and forth, take care to use soft products and pay attention if they have any specific needs.

For a service that knows exactly how to work with the furriest members of the family, you can download the TIDY app at: linktr.ee/tidyapp