TSD Cleaning Articles

Cats and Dogs: Natural Cleaning Products that make your home clean and Keep Your Pets Healthy

In the winter especially, keeping a clean home is necessary for everyone. When the cold weather hits more people tend to get sick due to the cold weather. Viruses lurk through the home, so you want to make sure your home is as clean as can be through the usage of natural cleaning products.

Most people have cats and dogs in the house and keeping the house in spic and span shape is even harder in the wintertime because you cannot let your pets play in the backyard and they spend most of their time inside the home. Not only are you trying to keep the house clean and your family healthy, but you want to make sure you keep your pets healthy too. In addition, you do not want you family getting sick because the pets are sick. Remember, pets are like humans they get sick and spread illness too.

Using natural cleaning products is healthier for your body and costs less too. Did you know, our homes are full of household cleaning supplies, which can be harmful to our cats and dogs? Products like chemical cleaners, disinfectants, and insect repellants are harmful to your pets and family members. These cleaners affect anyone in the home.

Below, I have composed helpful tips to help protect your love ones, and pets from exposure to toxic substances. You will also be keeping your homes free from dirt and germs. Below are a number of safe products you can use to keep your home clean, free-from viruses and the same time help keep your love ones and pets healthy too.

Vinegar has a multitude of uses both inside and outside the home. Here are just a few:

• Windows: Mix 1/8 cup vinegar with a pint of water for a great window and glass. Use it in a spray bottle and use newspapers to wipe and polish.
• Floors: Mix 1/2 cup of white vinegar in a gallon of warm water. Use to damp mop vinyl, ceramic tile, or laminate floors.
• Cat or dog urine odor in carpet: you can use a black light to locate the stain. Use a 1:1 ratio of vinegar to water. Soak stain well, and then blot with (recycled) paper towels or an old towel until all liquid is absorbed. Repeat if you have too.
• Stains on Clothing: Gently rub the stain with full-strength vinegar. Allow to sit for a few minutes, and then clean. It is a helpful with fruit, jelly, mustard, coffee or tea stains.
• Clogged kitchen and bathroom drains: Pour 1/2 to 1 cup baking soda into the drain, followed by one cup of hot vinegar. Let it sit for several hours, then use hot water. This tip is also useful as a monthly preventive maintenance, using 1/2 cup baking soda.
• Wood Cutting Boards: Spray or wipe with full-strength vinegar. It also will remove any lingering onion odors.
• Ant Control: Spray straight vinegar (or a 1:1 vinegar-water solution) around baseboards and other areas where ants enter the house.
• Weed Control: Spray full-strength on resistant weeds. This is particularly helpful if you have indoor/outdoor cats and dogs who venture outside occasionally to much on grass. You can use this to kill grass and weeds in cracks in your driveway or sidewalk.
• Baking Soda: It seems to be a toss-up between baking soda and vinegar as the most valuable common household product with a multitude of uses. It is used together for great results.
• Soap Scum in Bathroom: Sprinkle baking soda in sink, tub, or shower, then scrub with a sponge or a nylon scrubber.
  For great results, pour a cup of vinegar down the drain before rinsing the soda, a great way to keep your drains clean, fresh smelling, and running free.
• Shower Curtains: Clean and deodorize by scrubbing with a paste of baking soda and water.
• Microwave Cleaning: Sprinkle baking soda on spills and gently rub with your nylon scrubber. Pour a little baking soda on a sponge to clean food splatters on the sides and ceiling. Wipe clean with damp sponge.
• General Surface Cleaning: Sprinkle baking soda on a sponge and wipe surfaces down; rinse and dry. It works well on counter tops, stovetops, inside refrigerator, sinks, and laundry appliances. You can soak the used sponge in a little more backing soda and warm water to keep it smelling fresh.
• Cockroaches: Mix baking soda and powdered sugar in a 1:1 ratio. Spread in areas where cockroaches are likely to hide you can use this under sink and in cabinets, drawers, and along baseboards.
• Bleach (Non-Chlorine) Household bleach, diluted with warm water in a 1:20 ration is a splendid disinfectant. It is used in shelters and vet clinics, and can be used at home to clean almost every washable surface, including countertops, floors, as well as litter boxes and plastic automatic water servers and food dishes. Rinse the latter two well with water, and let other surfaces dry before cats walk on them.
• Lemons: Add a fresh, clean scent wherever they are used. Here are just a few ideas for using lemons in a less traditional way than lemonade:

1. Make a furniture polish of lemon juice and olive oil in a 1:2 ratio. Use a soft cloth to apply, and then polish to a shine with a clean soft cloth.

2. Recycle squeezed lemons by grinding them up in the garbage disposal.

3. Lemon peels are a good deterrent to keep cats and dogs out of your potted plants, as they generally do not like the smell.

People are constantly getting sick in the winter. Now scientific research is telling us that many of the cleaning products we use can wear down our immune systems and make us sick. So it would make more sense to try to clean our home to prevent sickness with the usage of natural cleaning products?