Regardless of how much you love your pet, many people are always trying to find ways of getting rid of the smells that their pets produce. Below, you can learn more about the common reasons for pet odors, as well as the top ways to remove them.
Reasons for Pet Odors
Some of the main reasons why pets can cause odors are due to scent marking, sweat, and litter boxes. If you have pets, such as dogs, their paws often get sweaty and it can spread as they walk around the house.
Scent marking involves pets producing a smell to let other animals know that they’re in the area. This is the type of smell that furniture usually retains.
For pets that can freely walk in the house, their hair can become loose everywhere and spread the odor. Furthermore, urination on the floor and furniture can cause odors to linger if not dealt with quickly.
How to Get Rid of Pet Odor in Carpets & Furniture
Carpets and furniture, such as your couch, are among the main areas in your home that absorb pet odors. This can be due to their natural smells, as well as their fur shedding around the house.
Regularly vacuuming can remove the larger pet hairs. You may also want to consider an air purifier to filter the pet dander that vacuums can’t pick up to alleviate the smells even further.
An effective method to get rid of pet odors is to put your cushion covers, blankets, and so on, into the washing machine with your laundry detergent. You can mix in a quarter cup of apple cider vinegar too.
The combination of apple cider vinegar and your usual laundry detergent can remove stronger smells.
For carpets and furniture, sprinkle baking soda on the surface and grab a cleaning brush. Brush the baking soda into the carpet or furniture and leave it to absorb for around 8+ hours.
You can then vacuum the furniture and carpets to clean out the baking soda, along with any odors that it has managed to absorb.
While this can remove a lot of smells, it may not expel them completely. Air purifiers with activated carbon filters can be effective at removing the leftover odors that are microscopic in size.
Litter Boxes & Accidents
When pets use litter boxes or have an accident in the house, it can leave smells lingering in the air. After cleaning out litter boxes, you’ll want to keep the windows open for better ventilation.
If your pet has had an accident in the house, put some water onto the area and use a paper towel in a blotting motion. For pet urine on upholstery or carpets, an enzymatic cleaner can be effective at removing the smell and preventing a stain. However, test it out in a small quantity first to ensure that it doesn’t cause any damage to your carpets or upholstery.
Activated carbon air purifiers can be helpful with targeting airborne smells caused by litter boxes and accidents. They filter out the particles causing the odor and enable you to breathe fresher air.
Whether the odors are caused by pet hair, litter boxes, or just the natural smell that pets produce, the above methods are easy ways to keep your home smelling fresher.
Air purifiers can enhance the cleanliness of the air that you breathe too.
AirHonest’s 3 Best Air Purifiers For Getting Rid of Pet Odors:
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Winix 5500-2 | Levoit LV-PUR131 | Honeywell 50250-S |
True-HEPA filter | True-HEPA filter | True-HEPA filter |
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