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Most cat owners knows the struggle and frustration of dealing with cat hair; sometimes it is so embedded into your furniture, clothes, and carpet that you need to use tweezers or similar tools to pick it out.
It almost amazes you how cat hair manages to find its way into the strangest of places such as your hair, nose, and food.
Most people are able to deal with all the hair until the point when it just gets to be too much.
There comes a point in all cat owners’ relationships with their cat that they decide they can’t take all the hair anymore and something has to be done to control it.
Though there is no way to completely rid your home of cat hair, there are a few ways to reduce the amount for the good of your health, hygiene, and social responsibilities.
The following are a few methods:
1. Prevent cat hair from becoming loose
It is important to brush your cat’s hair regularly; whether it is daily or every couple of weeks, create a schedule and stick to it.
Removing excess hair right away means that you cat will have less hair to shed on their own, and thus there will be less hair that becomes scattered around your house or that gets coughed up as a hairball.
Another plus to regular grooming is that your cat will enjoy it as they are natural groomers.
Just remember to utilize a brush that is not too scratchy and to use gentle pressure while brushing.
For this, we recommend a curry brush with soft rubber bristle; the rubber naturally attracts loose hair without excess pulling.
2. Feed your cat a high quality diet
Your cat’s skin and coat, as with humans, is directly affected by what it is their diet.
Feeding your cat a great quality diet helps prevent dryness of the skin and therefore reduces excess shedding.
The only way to see if a change in diet will work is to try it and see how the fur feels after some time.
Ideally, your cat’s hair should become softer and sleeker, with a visible reduction in shedding.
As stated above, there is no way to completely stop shedding, but the majority of hair should come off during brushing and not at other times, since the hair will become much stronger over time.
3. Use a vacuum cleaner, dust rag, and broom
It is advised to regularly clean your floors in order to avoid hair accumulation.
This can happen rapidly, and it might amaze you to see how much your cat can shed in a week without actually becoming bald.
When using a vacuum, remember to utilize the hose attachment to remove hair from hidden or hard to reach places such as the edge of carpets, under or behind furniture, corners, and crevices such as those between radiator coils.
4. Put your laundry in the dryer
If the care instructions on your selected garment allows it, always put your laundry in the dryer instead of handling it.
Wet hair tends to clump and stick to fabrics, but the hot and dry air flow that your dryer uses will remove the hair without a problem.
Better yet, try using a fabric softener sheet during the drying process as its purpose is to break the static bond between the hair and fabrics.
The bottom line is that you will definitely remove a lot more hair from your ‘clean’ clothes and sheets using your dryer than you will if you simply hang them up to dry.
5. Try spot removal
You can remove shed hair from yourself and your home on the spot if you are between laundry or cleaning days using a special tool, or even a household item that’s function can also be applied.
Using a sticky lint roller is the most efficient and fabric friendly, but masking tape wrapped around your hand works just as well and might actually be more cost effective in the long run.
Similarly, running a damp rubber gloves across a surface you would like to rid of cat hair also releases a ton of fur.
Just be sure to use a reusable glove or it becomes wasteful very quickly.
Another environmentally friendly option is to use a lint brush, but it is important to note that they can be a little too harsh on delicate fabrics so these should be reserved for heavy duty upholstery such as couch fabric or tree skirts.
Why do cats shed?
Shedding, to humans, can seem like an inconvenient bodily function but it is actually an evolutionary factor that is central to a wild felines survival.
Outdoor and feral cats tend to shed small amount throughout the year in order to remove dead and irritating hair and skin cells that could become a nuisance.
Twice a year around the summer and the winter, however, they shed incredible amounts of hair in order to prepare to the coming warm or cold months.
Shedding, therefore, is crucial for outdoor and feral cats to survive the temperature changes and is completely natural.
Though we have taken our cats indoors (which keeps them and the native bird species safe), they are still ‘programmed’ to do as they would in the wild.
An outdoor cat’s shed cycle is directly related to how much sunlight their exposed to, so an indoor cat’s constant exposure to light means constant shedding instead of seasonally.
Natural cat hair removal
1.
OMop
The OMop is similar to a Swiffer, but not as wasteful and actually environmentally safe.
The sweeper is biodegradable and corn-based which can be composted or thrown away without adding unnecessarily to our landfills.
If you would like to go a step further, OMop also offers a nontoxic microfiber mopping pad which can easily be washed and reused multiple times.
Both sweepers are made to capture hair on contact for an easy cleaning process.
2. Baking soda
Baking soda can be used in many areas of your household, and can definitely be applied to cat hair.
Sprinkling some baking soda lightly over your rugs or carpets prior to vacuuming (For cat hair vucuums click here) loosens up the hair that became embedded since the powder works to disrupt the static charge between the hair and the fabric.
Another great benefit to baking soda is that it will remove odors if you allow it to set for about 15 minutes.
3. A pet sponge
You can also use a pet sponge to help remove hair accumulation just as you would use a lint roller to remove hair from furniture and clothing.
Pet sponges are made from natural rubbers that work like rubbing a rubber glove over the hair-covered surface.
These can be washed and reused, making them a great environmentally friendly cleaning option.
4. The feline fantasy brush
This self grooming tool is basically a brush shaped into an arch attached to a carpet-covered base.
This tool takes advantages of your cat’s natural instinct to rub up against things.
You can even make the brush more attractive to your cat by throwing a handful of catnip onto the carpeted surface.
You will be able to clean this brush with ease using a vacuum with a hose attachment.
Breeds that shed less
Wanting to get a breed of cat that does not shed as much as others is very understandable and you should not feel guilty for this desire.
While there is no such thing as a non-shedding cat, there are some breeds that shed quite a bit less than others.
Cats with short hair, for example, generally shed less than those with long hair.
Another option to consider is the color of your cat’s fur.
Dark colored cat hair might not show as much as light colored cat hair, and though this doesn’t necessarily have to do with the amount of hair that is shed, it could mean that you could go a little bit longer between cleaning and laundry days.
There are some breeds of cats, as stated above, that have incredibly short, curly, or sparse fur; this means that they are practically shed-less.
Or, as shed-less as you can get.
These breeds include the Cornish Rex, the Devon Rex, the Sphynx, and the Peterbald.
Check out the range of recommend cat hair removal products we have reviewed here
