Almost every family has pets. Some of them have parrots or golden fish. Others have exotic reptiles. Most often, people get dogs and cats as they give us a lot of kindness and sincerity.
However, pet owners face some unpleasant moments of having four-legged friends at home. For example, cats claw soft furnishings, and dogs chew more solid furniture items. All pets molt depending on the season, and the matter of cleanliness at home is acute. Let’s check some simple tricks to keep your furniture in order.
Pick Up the Right Furniture
First of all, you should choose furniture with awareness. Often, dogs chew hard objects like shoes, feet, and armrests of soft furniture. Therefore, it’s better to store your shoes in closed cabinets and closets and buy furniture either with metal legs or without them.
In general, specialists advise pet owners to pick up furniture covered with smooth fabric. For example, leather or suede will be a great choice. The smooth surface will not allow your pet to cling to fabric easily, so it might give up attempts to sharpen its claws.
Besides, consider a sofa with removable covers. If your pet molts too much, buy a sofa matching your pet’s hair. If it’s impossible, you will have to take care of regular cleaning. Modern vacuum cleaners have special brushes to remove the pet’s hair.
Get Special Pet Devices
The most popular devices to prevent furniture damage are stands and chewing toys. A scratching stand simulates the surface where cats usually polish their claws. You can put it down or hang it in a place where your pet likes playing. If your fluffy friend doesn’t pay much attention to a new item, you can spray a scratching post with catnip, and your cat will love a new toy as much as it likes the treats from this royal Canin kitten food review.
If you are a dog owner, then rubber chewing toys are more relevant for you. Moreover, you need to buy a special bone to sharpen its teeth.
Traditional Means of Protection
Citrus and mint. People like these flavors as they remind of freshness and purity, but cats hate these smells. Use citrus and mint essential oils to rub the furniture surface.
Medical alcohol. Neither animals nor people like this smell, but it is good to keep animals away from spoiling furniture. But think about if you are ready to smell it when you sit on the sofa.
Hot pepper. This is an effective method in case nothing mentioned above doesn’t help. Pepper provokes mucous irritation but doesn’t affect your pet’s health. But be careful as it affects the human mucous in the same way as it affects the mucous animal.
Pet Store Protective Sprays
The most effective way to protect furniture from animals is to treat it with various repellent agents. There are many substances that cats and dogs don’t like. So, all you need to do is to apply these substances to the furniture items. In pet stores, you can find a wide range of various sprays and fluids.
Before using, apply a small amount of the substance on a hidden piece of furniture to make sure it won’t stain a couch. Be careful with such sprays as they contain the chemicals causing allergies, both in people and pets.
Discipline Your Pet
As soon as you take a kitten or a puppy, you have to pay enough attention to raise it properly to avoid picking up protective sprays. The reason might also be that your pet can be spoiled with cheap puppy food and doing everything they please or bored without you, and then all its energy is misdirected.
Walk your pet more often, and take some time to play and exercise it. As a result, your pet will be tired and have no energy to spoil your furniture. Be careful with physical activities for your pet. Their intensity has to depend on your cat’s or dog’s breed.
Offer an alternative
Your fluffy friends adore hanging out in your living room or bedroom leaving all the furniture covered with their fur? Offer an alternative to your kitty or a doggy. No, this doesn’t mean you have to rush to the nearest store to purchase a new sofa for your four-legged friend. Buy a cozy and soft bed for pets to make them feel protected and safe in there.
You won’t get lost when picking the right one if you check a reliable platform with a plethora of pets’ accessories and the best budget puppy food. Making the right choice, you’ll not only make your pets happy but will save your furniture from being spoilt or damaged. In case your feline shows no interest in the purchased item, make it happy placing a favorite piece of cloth inside or a favorite toy.
Radical Way to Keep Your Furniture Safe
This method is too radical, and animal-right activists may protest against it. Indeed, it suggests a cardinal solution to protect the home interior — to cut the pet’s claws. This solution has several disadvantages.
First, cutting the claws can cause at least psychological harm to your pet. After all, claws are a part of the body, which means you will have to perform a small surgery that your pet can take extremely painful. In addition, sharpening the claws is a reflex, biologically programmed. And any action against nature, as a rule, turns against us.
Secondly, claw removal is a temporary measure. After a while, they will grow back, and you will have to repeat an unpleasant action. Are you ready for it?
Thirdly, claw cutting does not solve the problem with your pet’s teeth. You won’t see them, will you? So, pick up more humane methods.
Whatever method you pick, it will bring results if you treat your pet kindly and with much patience. Not everything new is accepted at once, it needs some time to get used to a new environment or rules. The main thing is that you love your pet and have a wish to do everything to guarantee your comfort, safety, and loving atmosphere.