Spring Cleaning with Pets: The Guide

Many traditional, household cleaning products contain powerful ingredients that are great a removing dirt and stains, but can leave harmful gasses and residues on the surfaces you’ve cleaned. Our pets are often curious, and it’s fully expected that the second you clean an area, they often want to get their feet all over clean surfaces and sniff out any changes you’ve made.

When having furry paws running around your home, finding the right pet safe cleaning products is key to making sure you’re not worried about any harmful substances that have been left behind.  

There are a number of toxic cleaning products that owners should stay clear of and once you know what kind of ingredients you’re looking for, you can easily switch them out to something that’s more kind to your beloved fur babies.

Bleach is a strong chemical; it can be harmful to us if it makes contact with our skin for too long or if we use it in too high a concentrate. In a very similar way, our pets are at risk when we use it on surfaces.

We can just put shoes on and avoid contact while it dries, but if your pet’s fur and skin come into contact with a high amount of bleach, it can cause painful burns. If bleach gets on their coat it can remain against their skin for a long time and cause a lot of damage.

If your pets were to ingest bleach, they would likely require a trip to the vet as it can quite quickly cause some nasty injuries to their digestive system.

Air fresheners might make you feel like it’s a bit of a loophole to doing a full clean; you can get your house smelling pristine when you might not have time to scrub every corner. Air fresheners can be quite distressing for your pets. They might smell nice to us but remember, our pets have a much more sensitive sense of smell.

In some instances, air fresheners can cause breathing issues. In the short term, you might notice your pet coughing or sneezing around that area, but it can develop into infections or long term asthma that can impact their breathing in a much more severe way. Air fresheners you spray into the room should never be used when your pet is in that area, it can leave a residue on their coat and if licked off can become toxic to them.

You might not be pouring laundry detergent all over your floors or spraying it in the air, but it can be as harmful as products like bleach and air fresheners. If you’ve ever had a reaction to a laundry detergent, you might understand what your pet can go through if you use a detergent that irritates their skin. Washing their beds or blankets in a detergent that can irritate means it will just get worse every time they lie on them.

In some cases, it can even cause upper respiratory issues when they spend a long time in contact with a blanket covered in the residue from a detergent that is toxic to them – seek veterinary advice if you’re concerned about their respiratory issues!

You don’t have to panic, in fact, all of these risks can be entirely avoided just by using pet safe cleaning products that won’t harm your beloved family friends. You can still get the house smelling like daisies without the use of harsh and harmful cleaners, so both you and your four-legged friends can enjoy a nice, clean environment!

When you’re looking for a product to disinfect your home, pet safe disinfectants are great to have on hand. Not only can they clean surfaces you use, but they double to work as great cleaners for things like pet cages and litter trays, so you don’t have to have a multitude of cleaning products around the house!

Johnson’s Clean ‘n’ Safe Disinfectant contains zero harmful chemicals and is super easy to use. It’s a powerful cleaner that can be used on hard surfaces, carpets and pet cages or bedding, so it covers a lot of ground for one bottle while also being entirely safe for your pets. Killing the germs, whilst leaving a fresh fragrance behind!

Zoflora Fresh Home Coastal Breeze is a firm favourite for all the right reasons. It kills bacteria and leaves your home smelling fresh and can be diluted with water to different concentrates, depending on the level of grime the surface you’re cleaning is and not at all harmful to your fur babies.

Wipes are a game changer if you need a little help keeping your home clean in between full cleans. You can wipe off muddy paws or quickly wipe down a countertop with the knowledge that you’re not using any nasty or harmful chemicals that could negatively impact your pets.

Ultragrime XX Large Pet Wipes are a must-have multipurpose wipe for every pet owner. These highly absorbent wipes can be easily reused over and over again for more than 60 minutes – as their soft fabric isn’t subjective to easy wear and tear. They can also easily be used for carpets, wood, vinyl, and tiles – perfect and pet friendly!

If you still want all the benefits of an air freshener, just without the toxicity of many brands, products like Zoflora Disinfectant Mist, Mountain Air is a great non-toxic alternative that smells just as good without any of the harmful chemicals. Leaving behind floral and fruity notes whilst killing up to 99.9% of viruses and bacteria.

Cristalinas Pet Odour Eliminating Fresh Air Reed Diffuser is a great option to keep a room constantly smelling fresh without the risk of harming your pets if you have a cat that likes to knock things over as a pup with an inquisitive nose.

We have you covered for that big spring clean and for everything else dog and cat related, check out our wide range of products available to pamper your pets.