How to Get Rid of that Cat Smell in Your Home

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If you have pets, you probably know what it’s like to deal with pet odors in your home. If you have cats, or you’ve been around someone else that does, you’re probably familiar with that smell that can only be described as the “cat smell.” The question is, is it possible to have cats without having your home smell like this?

The good news is that you don’t have to give up the pleasure of having animals just to keep your house smelling good. Even if you have more than one cat, you can still keep the house smelling its best so that any visitors would be completely unaware that you even have cats unless they see them with their own eyes. It all comes down to knowing how to clean your house properly and taking the time to do it on a regular basis.

The first thing you want to do is make sure that you always maintain a clean litter box. If the litter box isn’t cleaned on a daily basis, you’re going to run into problems. That doesn’t mean you need to change the litter every day. In fact, changing the litter about once a week will get the job done if you only have a couple of cats.

However, you need to be scooping the litter box at least once a day. It also helps if you use baking soda in the litter box to get rid of any odor. By the same token, don’t leave the clumps from said litter box in the garbage. Instead, take the garbage out daily in order to avoid stinking up the house anyway.

This will go a long way towards making sure your house doesn’t smell like you’re running a shelter for cats. That being said, it’s certainly not the only thing you need to be paying attention to. It’s also important to routinely clean the areas where your cats sleep. Wash pillows, blankets and cat beds on a regular schedule. Just as you change the sheets on your own bed every few days, you should be washing the bedding for your cats weekly if it all possible. If you’re running a few days behind, it’s not the end of the world, but things could start to get smelly inside your house unless you get to it every 10 days or so.

It’s also important for you to clean your house thoroughly. This involves getting a really good vacuum cleaner that’s designed for cleaning up animal hair and dander. Make no mistake about it, an economy version of a vacuum cleaner from the local discount store or flea market is not going to get the job done here. Instead, go ahead and invest in a vacuum cleaner that’s designed to deal with pet hair.

You’ll be a lot happier in the long run even though you’re spending more on your initial purchase. Otherwise, you’re likely to be spending almost all of your free time vacuuming and you might not see much of a reward for your efforts. Don’t just focus on the carpet. About once a week, vacuum all of the drapes and upholstery, being sure to get every soft surface in the house.

If you really want to make sure your house stays clean, you might consider vacuuming the carpet at least every other day. It’s also a good idea to throw some baking soda on the carpet and then vacuum it, as it takes up much of the odor and makes your house smell fresh.

If you’re still smelling something in your house, you can make sure that you’re paying attention to other details that need to be addressed anyway, such as changing your air conditioner filter on a routine basis. This should be done every 30 days whether you have pets or not. You might even decide to invest in an air purifier.

One thing you don’t want to do is pump a lot of chemicals into the air with floral sprays and such. This might make your home smell good for just a few minutes, but it doesn’t really do anything to deal with the problem. However, you can spray Lysol and similar products that are designed to kill bacteria. This will not only make your home smell fresher, but it also gets rid of the root cause of the problem. If you’re really pressed for time, do this a couple of times a week.

On the other hand, some people prefer to do it daily as part of their tidy up routine. You don’t need to completely soak every square inch of the house in spray in order to make it work. A little goes a long way. However, it is important that you get the carpet and other soft surfaces like couches and chairs, along with bedding.

This might sound like a lot of work, but most of it is exactly the same thing you would do in order to keep a clean house even if you didn’t have pets. As far as most people are concerned, a little extra effort is well worth the trade-off of having the friendship of a pet.