Before you become a pet owner it is likely you will have thought about where the pet lives in your home. You will no doubt have bought a few accessories and treats to welcome and entertain the pet. But have you considered what really makes a pet friendly home? Here are some essential pointers to help you keep your pet safe and happy.

Three important factors to consider to create a pet friendly home

No matter what type of pet you have, it’s important that your home is a safe place for them. This article will focus on dogs and cats, since they are the typical pets that roam throughout the home, while other pets have their homes in cages or tanks.

Eliminate carpet flooring

If you’re a dog owner, then you know that they shed— a lot. Almost all dogs shed, some breeds more than others, and some cats shed a lot too. If you have carpet in your home, it’s likely that some pet hair has gotten trapped in the carpet. You can always try and do a deep clean of your carpet, but it’s best to get rid of carpeted flooring altogether. Fortunately, there are different types of floorings that are pet-friendly, with the two most popular being hardwood and laminate.

Hardwood floors: Pros & cons

Hardwood floors are generally more expensive, but they last for years. They are also pretty sound absorbent. Unfortunately, hardwood floors do tend to scratch easier than laminate flooring, meaning that your furry friend could unintentionally ruin the floors. But the floors are easier to replace than laminate flooring! So do weight this point before you commit to that investment when you are creating your pet friendly home.

Laminate floors: pros & cons

Laminate floors are more ideal for pet owners since they don’t get scratched as much as hardwood floors. It’s also cheaper than hardwood floors, plus, laminate flooring is pretty easy to clean. Although it’s super durable, it’s very hard to repair laminate floors when they do wear down.

Always go with whatever type of flooring you think will work the best for you and your pet. Now, some people are pretty handy with repairs around the home but sometimes in doing handy work around the house, there’s the potential of running into bigger issues that you were unaware of. This is especially the case with flooring installations.

Unless you’re working to become a professional contractor specializing in flooring, the risk is much higher than the reward and it’s going to be much safer to have your pet-friendly flooring installed by a licensed professional.

Kitchen and food

Just like with children, you’ll want to keep harmful chemicals out of reach of your pets. But did you know that there are some foods that you should keep out of their reach as well? Dogs and cats don’t know what foods are harmful to them, and many of the same things are harmful to both dogs and cats.

Foods toxic for both dogs and cats

• Chocolate and coffee (and other caffeinated drinks)
• Onions and garlic
• Grapes and raisins
• Alcohol and raw dough

Other foods toxic to dogs

• Avocados
• Macadamia nuts

Other foods toxic to cats

• Raw eggs
• Raw meat & bones

This also means that lids to trash cans should be secure, to ensure that your pet won’t roam through the garbage and accidentally ingest something toxic.

Backyard and garden space

A big backyard is probably every dog’s dream, and help to make a pet friendly home. Dogs are high-energy pets, so they need more space to move around and play. However, not everyone with a pet has a backyard. If you live in an apartment, there may not be enough space for your dog to roam around outside.

Living in an apartment doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have a pet (unless your building states otherwise). This just means that dog owners will have to take their dogs on more frequent walks.

Fencing

And lastly but certainly not least, consider a fence for your backyard, if you don’t already have one.  This is vital for a pet friendly home. Dogs love to run around, but you don’t want your dog to wander away from home. The most common type of fence choice for outdoor pets is a wooden fence. This is a good choice if your dog tends to growl or bark at everything (or every person) that passes by. Wooden fences are also pretty tall, so it’s not likely that your dog will jump over one.

There are even choices for dog owners between in ground and wireless fences. Wireless fences are connected to transmitters, so when your dog gets too close to the boundary, their collar signals a sound prompting them to stay in the yard. They are generally safe, but some pet owners are against this because they can cause discomfort to dogs. As a dog owner, you should choose whichever works best for your dog.

Live in pet sitter

If you have pets and especially dogs and cats it is often considered better for them to stay in their own home. You can invite a live in dog sitter or a live in cat sitter to stay while you are away. They will look after your pet just as you request. And the best thing is that the live in pet sitter doesn’t have to cost you anything. That’s right! If you join a pet and housesitting website as a pet owner you can meet checked petsitters on line.

Knowing you have chosen your petsitter and that they are staying with your pet dogs can help you relax. It can help if you know what to look for in an ideal petsitter. Some of the main characteristics of great live in petsitters include:

• Flexible
• Calm
• Trustworthy
• Experienced
• Reliable
• Loves animals, especially dogs!

Most importantly your pet will be relaxed in their home environment, in your very own pet friendly home.

A final word on the pet friendly home

No matter what type of pet you own, it’s important to know how to make your home comfortable, and more importantly, safe, for them.

FURTHER READING FOR PET OWNERS AND PET SITTERS

At Housesitmatch.com we like to offer our readers supplementary articles on topics related to the ones they have just read. We hope you find these articles of use.

Renting a pet friendly apartment – The ultimate guide

Live with cats? How to cat proof your home

Why keep pets at home with petsitters

Beginners guide to petsitting