If you’re someone who looks after and loves animals in any capacity, whether it’s companion animals, rescues, or you help with rehabilitation, I’d like to share with you my 8 tips for keeping an organised and clean home with animal companions. While this article will focus on companion animals, particularly cats, and draw from my own experience sharing houses with my feline friends (there’s been at least one cat in every house I’ve ever lived in), a lot of these tips can apply more broadly.
So here we go with my 8 tips to keep an organised and clean home with animal companions.
1) Be Realistic
My first tip is to be realistic about how clean and tidy and organised you can expect your home to be with companion animals. It depends on how many animals you’re caring for, what their requirements and needs are, and will be unique to the individual animal guardian.
For example, if you have 7 companion cats, a rescue dog, and some birds you’re rehabilitating, then I’d suggest you lower your expectations about how clean and organised you can keep your house. And definitely don’t compare your house to someone in a different situation to your own.
And let’s not forget human children; if you have kids, that adds another element to take into consideration.
When I lived next door to an older lady, every time I walked into her house it smelled so nice with essential oils, everything was so tidy and there was no fur anywhere! I did the comparison thing and thought, damn I wish my home was this nice!
But then I reminded myself that she’s a retired single lady living alone, and I’m a work from home cat mum to two wonderful cats with a live-in boyfriend, so yeah, maybe I could be a little more realistic about what level of order I could expect to keep my home in.
I like to remember that my house and home is for living in. It isn’t a show-home or for presentation purposes. Yes I’d like it to be clean and organised so we’re not living in disgusting conditions, but I also recognise that my house will probably never get to or stay at pristine show-home levels. And that’s okay.
I don’t want to spend my life cleaning just to get to and keep my house at someone else’s (unrealistic for me) standard of clean and tidy. I love and value my animals and would rather have them living with me and the house be a little untidy than have a home that looks (and smells) like a show home but with no animals around. I just want us all to be comfortable, happy and healthy in our house.
This leads into my next point:
2) Their Needs Come Before Aesthetic Appeal
It’s nice to have my home looking nice and clean, but cats have needs.
First, they generally like to play. This means toys lying around and cat trees abound.
Second, I want to encourage our senior cat Soph to keep hydrated so we also have multiple water bowls around the place.
Third, I want her to feel comfortable toileting so we don’t have her ‘doing business’ in places that we’d rather she didn’t. As Jackson Galaxy says, cats are doing us a favour by ‘doing business’ in the same place every time because it’s not in their “raw cat” nature to do this.
When it comes to arranging my home space, I figure that our senior cat Soph is here a lot more than I am. I feel like this is her space; she’s here all the time, whereas I’m not, so I feel the priority is that this house needs to accommodate her needs.
I’ve arranged the place so that Sophie is comfortable, and my partner and I are comfortable. With Sophie getting increasingly older with arthritis, lowered vision and rickety back legs, her being able to get onto and into her favourite spots is important. More important to consider than how our house looks with cat stairs or boxes to help her get up and down places.
It’s summer at the time of writing this, but in the winter when her arthritis will presumably get worse, I’m thinking of taking apart our bed frame and just sleeping on a mattress on the floor. It’ll save Sophie the discomfort of jumping and also protect her more from rolling off the bed (which has been happening with increasing frequency as her night vision dwindles).
I figure, if visitors to the house don’t know we have a cat, then the space isn’t Miss Soph friendly. Sophie’s needs come before the look of the house.
3) Get A Decent Vacuum Cleaner
Any cat or animal-with-fur guardian will know all about fur. Everywhere. My first practical suggestion is to buy a decent vacuum cleaner. I have a Miele Complete C3 Cat & Dog bagged vacuum cleaner that does a good job.
Sophie is terrified of the vacuum cleaner, so I work around her when I vacuum – I stay out of rooms that she’s sleeping in, I wait until she’s exploring outside, or I make sure there’s at least one “safe” room for her to hide in until I’m done.
It’s important as well that our vacuums and other cleaning appliances don’t die from fur poisoning, so remember to keep them maintained well and clean the cleaners regularly.
4) Clean Regularly
Similar to the last point is to clean regularly. Regularly will mean different things to different people so do what’s right for you and your household to keep an organised and clean home with animal companions.
As I said before, I don’t want to spend my whole life cleaning with no time for actually spending with my beloved animals, but I also care about the inhabitants of the house, their health and wellness, so keeping things hygienic is important.
You’ll know what works for you and how regularly you want or need to clean, and hiring a professional cleaner is something I’ve not tried before but definitely considered. Like I keep saying, and this ties into my whole philosophy, do what’s right for you and the beings in your household.
5) Opt For Natural Non-Harmful Scents (or open windows for fresh air)
As well as the fur, there’s the animal smell.
I remember someone coming around to my house and he said, “Mmm, fresh morning cat!” and I thought… What…? Maybe because I’ve been around cats all my life, and at the time lived with two mostly indoor cats, I’ve become immune to eau de morning cat. He then went on to say, as a cat person himself, that he recognises the smell of a fellow cat person’s house.
Back then, I was a little embarrassed, so I got some air fresheners and things, which probably had a lot of chemicals and crap in them that I’ve since ditched entirely.
I’ve developed an attitude of not worrying about other people’s opinions about certain aspects of the way I live, and I decided that I could live with the cat smell. No one else has seemed bothered by it (or has told me if they’re bothered by it).
If the smell of animals is something that bothers you or others in your household, then I would highly recommend using natural non-harmful scents.
When weather permits, I also open up the windows to get good airflow happening and prefer this to having any synthetic scents in my house.
House plants can also help to keep the air fresh, but make sure you check to see if they’re toxic to animals (especially cats and dogs prone to chewing things) before bringing any into your home. We keep African violets, Boston ferns, and money plants on windowsills. Sophie doesn’t seem interested in them. If she was, I’d keep them higher up out of reach.
As well as opening windows for fresh air flow, I find that keeping things clean, changing the litter regularly, washing bedding semi-regularly, and just doing common sense things that keep my house clean, is usually enough for it not to be overpowered by the cat smell.
Once again, do what’s right for you and your animal companions.
Visitors are just that, visitors, so don’t let them dictate how or if you freshen up your home.
6) Declutter Toys Regularly
We’ve covered cleaning, so now here’s an organisational tip: declutter toys regularly.
Go through your animal’s toys and firstly throw out any that are gnarly beyond repair that aren’t being used anymore, even if they have sentimental value. You can always take a picture to remember the object and evoke the nice memories associated with it, without having it clogging up your space.
Absolutely do not throw out a toy that your animals love, even if you really want to or it’s bulky or it doesn’t “fit the aesthetic”. The only exception to this is if it’s dirty and can’t be washed, or mouldy or unsafe with bits that could be ingested, then obviously throw it out.
If there are any toys that they just don’t play with that are in good condition still or you have multiple of the same thing that you really don’t want or need, consider donating them to an animal shelter or charity.
With human kids, you can put their toys away in a container and then get them out when they want to play with them. With animal companions, and I’m thinking particularly of Miss Soph here, she plays spontaneously so having them out readily available is the way we roll here.
As long as the toys aren’t a tripping hazard, having fabric mice out and other toys that she can safely play with whenever the rhythm moves her is absolutely fine with us.
Like I said before, if people don’t walk into the house and know we have a cat here, then it’s not cat friendly.
Keep things safe for your animals, and keep them active with the toys they love.
7) Covers That Are Easy to Wash
Back to cleaning! I’d recommend covering couches and bedding and those sorts of fabric furniture items in an easy to wash cover. Sometimes we’ll cover our couch in towels, or a big sheet, or a blanket, depending on the season. And also depending on whether Miss Soph is going through an episode of incontinence (in these cases we may put down a towel and then a sheet).
As well as being easy to wash, they should be comfortable for your furry companion! (And for you of course.)
8) Brushings (outside)
Maintaining a regular outside brushing schedule to remove excess fur can also help tackle the fur issue. For Sophie, we typically brush her outside, and this is what she’s come to expect. It’s a nice routine, and in the spring when birds are making their nests and she’s shedding like crazy, we leave her fur out for collection.
She loves her brushings, but I know that a lot of cats don’t, so if this isn’t an option for you, no need to worry, there’s plenty of other ways you can deal with fur and keep your cat decently groomed if you do a bit of research.
Final Thoughts
These are just my 8 recommendations on how to keep an organised and clean home with animal companions, from the point of view of a cat lady who shares her home with a senior cat and a live-in boyfriend.
I’ll say it again: If people don’t walk in and know that a cat lives here, then it’s not Miss Soph friendly. Having realistic expectations and putting my animals and their needs and preferences first has been the most important thing for me over the years when keeping an organised and clean home with animal companions.
Do you have any more suggestions or things I may have missed?
I’ve never looked after a dog or lived with a dog, so I’m asking any dog people out there, how do you keep things clean and tidy with your doggy companion?
I’d love to hear your quiet thoughts! You can comment below or send me an email at [email protected].
Much love from me to you and all your animal companions,
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