How do you keep your house clean?? W/multiple pets and/or longhaired dogs?

1. Vacum cleaner from somewhere like Sears with a maintenence warranty. A $100 dollar or under model will do but you want the warranty. They will unclog and repair whatever needs doing for free, even if a part needs replacing you pay for the part but the rest is free. Well worth it, fur backs up and blows out the sturdiest vacum.

2. They tell me the Furminator is amazing, haven't tried it yet, but must cut down on shed fur.

3. Less carpeting, more floor. Fur cements itself into carpeting in corners, on steps. Bare polished floor you can defur corners every other day or so fairly easy.

[jenv101]

I don't either. Lol. The only time our house is truly clean is if we are expecting company! Otherwise I pay my mom who does housecleaning to do the major stuff about every two weeks.

[Romy]

We've had our dyson with two borzois for 3 years now and had zero issues with it blowing out or breaking. You just have to make sure to clean the filters and crud traps regularly.

Next one I get will be Dyson, I've read those are really good.

[smkie]

Have dogs with no undercoat and short hair. VAcuum often and other than that don't worry about it. I do take them out and vigorously run my fingers through what they do have to make it "snow" if it is Victor. I can get rid of a great deal that way.
The car much to the annoyance of non pet people that ask for rides, is what it is.

[swabby]

Originally Posted by misfitz

This might belong under "fire hydrant" so sorry if you have to move it, mods. But I need HELP! I'm under siege! It's summer in Southern California, and everything is dry, dead and dusty.

My dog has a Sheltie-type coat and hairy little paws. Sienna is a magnet for dust, dirt, twigs, leaves, and other bits of the great outdoors that she ends up wearing inside. I'd almost like to shave her. (I wouldn't really) I do try to keep her paws trimmed at the least, but the hair grows back so fast it's ridiculous. It doesn't help that the park I walk her at every day has a dirt path. Gotta start walking on sidewalks...

I also have a cat. She doesn't go outside, but she probably should, because then at least SOME of the cat hair would be outside, too. (With my luck, Sienna would just track it back into the house...) Georgette, the kitty, has a coat like a Chinchilla and "shedding" doesn't even begin to describe what she does. "Molting" would be more accurate, or like collie people say, "blowing her coat."

And she's a virtuoso at tracking cat litter everywhere. I have her litter box inside a piece of furniture, with two rugs she has to cross to get out, and still I end up stepping on litter and litter dust all the time.

Fellow owners of dirty little animals what are your best tips and strategies for keeping the outdoors, well, outdoors? And fighting the fur?

Hysterical post! Especially about letting the cat's hair outside. If you aren't a writer...you should be!

[~Jessie~]

We sweep daily, and there is still constant hair! I vacuum the couches every ~2 weeks, wash the dog bedding/blankets once a week, and that generally helps to keep down the tumble weeds

My parents were here on Saturday and Sunday. We swept the entire house on Saturday morning. Ian was sweeping the downstairs on Sunday morning, and my dad was in disbelief over the large amount of fur Ian had swept into a pile! They only own one toy poodle so they're not used to so much fur!

[misfitz]

Originally Posted by Kaydee

1. Vacum cleaner from somewhere like Sears with a maintenence warranty. A $100 dollar or under model will do but you want the warranty. They will unclog and repair whatever needs doing for free, even if a part needs replacing you pay for the part but the rest is free. Well worth it, fur backs up and blows out the sturdiest vacum.

2. They tell me the Furminator is amazing, haven't tried it yet, but must cut down on shed fur.

3. Less carpeting, more floor. Fur cements itself into carpeting in corners, on steps. Bare polished floor you can defur corners every other day or so fairly easy.

Good ideas! I have hardwood floors, will never go back to carpeting! In my old house (with me, a roommate, 4 (!) cats and a dog, I used to vacuum the fur off of the tile floor.

I have a generic Furminator from Target, but I don't use it much. It makes a mess when brushing them! Like a snowstorm, LOL. I'm learning how to properly line-brush my dog, Sheltie style, so hopefully that helps!

I've also instituted a routine of wiping her paws with a microfiber dust mitt when she comes inside. And trying to walk less on the dirt path at the park (d'oh) and more on the sidewalks in the neighborhood.

Romy, ROFL at that picture! So true!!

Swabby, thanks! Maybe I should turn this into a blog post...

Yeah, I'm still in awe of the amount of fur my cat can produce. I secretly suspect her of being a new feline mutation, like cats are evolving to overcome S/N by reproducing with spores, like a mushroom LOL. (There's a low-budget horror movie in there somewhere.)

[Lyzelle]

The Furminator is only good on some fur types....on the majority, it just rips out the hair and causes even more issues. I've tried in on short hair, wire-ish terrier hair, double coat smooth, and double coated thick....terrible. Absolutely terrible. It actually caused more shedding, because it ripped out the top coat and all that was left was the undercoat!

I like using it on legs, and that is about it. Some people says it does okay for their dogs, but I haven't found a dog yet, personally, that the Furminator does well on. Completely waste of money.

LOVE rubber curry brushes though! Kong makes some, but you can get any as a farm supply store for cheaper in the horse section. And the dogs love it...really nice massage time for them! Little bit of conditioner or just spritz them down with water and it really loosens up the fur.

[Maliraptor]

We just buy a new house and move periodically. Oh wait- that is what I WISH we would do.