The Grime That Pets Add To The Sofa
Your furry friend is part of family. Cats and dogs brighten up our homes, and they have the freedom to go about just anywhere, from sitting and rolling over on the carpet, having a nap on the sofa, to occasionally hopping onto the bed. But as every pet lover will attest to, having one or a few of the furry guys around means more will be needed in the cleaning. Let’s focus on their contribution to the grime that is building up on your elegant sofa.
- Fur
Different breeds of cats and dogs have various rates of shedding. This occurs naturally, and also during those situations where they shake themselves vigorously, leading to more fur being dropped than usual. The fur clings onto the upholstery and can be frustrating to remove. You also don’t want the fur clinging onto your clothes – or that of the guests that you have invited over to your home.
- Dander
Just like humans, pets also produce dead skin. These particles get strewn all over the upholstery and are food for hundreds of thousands of dust mites calling your sofa their home. The mites are too small or the eyes to see, yet their impact will definitely be felt, especially with the increased allergic reactions due to the feel waste that they leave behind. The dander also causes there to be an increase in microbial action on the upholstery, with more germs crawling around. The dander itself is an allergen, triggering reactions once inhaled. Sections where the pet enjoys napping on – such as the sofa arm, can get so concentrated with dander, that simply lying on them triggers a more severe reaction than going right ahead to bury your face in the fur of your pet.
- Pests
When coming back from their outdoor escapades, the pets can carry pests like fleas and mites on their bodies. These can then get transferred onto the furnishings. With a pest infestation, all the household members are at risk. These tiny creatures will hop onto the bodies of the family members resting on the sofa, suckle to their fill, and head back to the crevices of the furniture where they can hide. Some of the pests also transmit diseases, increasing the risk involved. A deep sofa cleaning that kills and flushes them out of the unit is needed.
- Pathogens
A soiled sofa is bound to be a germ haven, and with pets around the population of these pathogens will be higher. From those that are transferred onto the upholstery simply from the grime that your furry friend tracks onto the household, to those like the Parvo virus that are spread by sick pets – these all need to be got rid of, to protect both the humans and pets alike.
- Urine stains
These can be frustrating. Pee accidents on the sofa produce such a pungent stench that you can barely stand being in the room itself. What’s more, the corrosive nature of the stain can ruin the upholstery material. Why does the cat or dog pee on the furniture? It can be due to a myriad of reasons, mainly health and behavioural issues. Anything from the pet having separation anxiety, cases of the young puppies not having grasped their training, all through to the old pets that are losing control of their bladders, plus cases of infections that affect the urinary tract – all these can end up with urine accidents on the furniture. Getting rid of them is an urgent concern given that the longer that they are allowed to remain on the upholstery, the deeper they soak, and the more difficult they will be to remove. Note that the sofa cleaning here needs to be thorough to ensure that there won’t be salt crystals remaining in the unit. This is because when these crystals get in the furniture, then there will be more odours produced. Speaking of which, urine stains are some of these substances where the odour actually gets worse over time. Extra care should be taken to ensure that the products used to treat the affected furniture are safe for the upholstery. Definitely, you will also need to get to the bottom of why the pet is peeing on the furnishing and upholstery, especially if it has been happening multiple times. A visit to the vet should help clear things up, as well as provide you with measures that you can take to prevent such accidents in future.
Getting professional help for the pet stain removal on your furniture will ensure that the right solutions and systems are used, protecting your unit while getting rid of the stains. Let’s delve into how you also benefit from professional services for the rest of the sofa cleaning process:
- Save your time
Sofa cleaning is one of those chores that can end up taking an entire day, especially for the units that are caked in grime and soiling. Spending hours scrubbing at stubborn stains that refuse to budge, dealing with odours emanating from the furniture, and working with low-capacity machinery that leaves behind residue in the sofa can be exasperating. On the other hand, the professionals already have industrial-grade sofa cleaning systems that they use when providing the service, which allows them to cut down the amount of time taken, reducing the disruption to your day-to-day life at home.
These can be costly. From working with a chemical that is incompatible to the particular upholstery, which ends up causing the stains to stick more strongly to the material, or outrightly corrode the fibres of the unit, using too much water that the fabric shrinks or it causes the dyes to leach out – these are not outcomes you want for your sofa. There are even some kinds of upholstery where using water itself is problematic, such as when one is working on leather units. Water here causes the bonds of the treatment oils that had been applied on the sofa to break down. The natural and synthetic types of upholstery each have their cleaning requirements, and it is imperative that the individual carrying out the task understands the different factors involved. Chances of damage are high with a DIY project, but with the sofa cleaning professionals who have already worked on numerous kinds of upholsteries and stain problems over the years, your unit will be in safe hands.
