Does cat hair annoy you? No, is my answer and I’ll tell you why. I am used it. It never really bothered me but I am completely used to it, now. I treat it the same way I treat dust – ignore it.
I am joking. I don’t ignore it neither am I concerned by it.That is the key to dealing with cat hair: get used to it and treat it as a part of life, a very minor, almost insignificant part.
The places where cat hair usually finds itself are:
- on the bed
- along skirting boards and in nooks and crannies where breezes make the hair strands settle
- on chairs and sofas
Hoovering obviously deals with 2 and 3 while I have special brush that is extremely effective for picking up cat hair from the bed. I use the brush as it is quiet so I can do it, if needs be, while Charlie, my cat, is still on the bed. He gets a brush sometimes too.
Some cats like to be hoovered!
A lot of people don’t adopt a cat because of the hair they produce. They don’t like it flying around the home. I can see that but it is a shame because humans produce a lot of stuff that flies around the home too. What about human skin cells? We have about 1.6 trillion skin cells and we shed about 1 million every day. They all end up around the house, on shelves and near skirting boards and on picture frames. I think we contribute nicely to the things that need to be hoovered up.
Humans should get over the idea that a home is like a picture perfect possession and start treating it as a home.
The problem is about attitude. A lot of people seek “the dream” that they are fed by media 24/7. Included in that mythical dream is a wonderful, permanent show home. It has to be perfect all the time as if no one lives in it. It is a measure of their success. You’ve “made it” when you have the perfect show home with two kids, a dog and a gorgeous fluffy, white, Persian cat, with a large 4×4 people carrier parked outside next to the permanently lush, green, beautifully manicured front lawn adjacent to the pink roses.
Please get over it and start seeing a home as a home with all the usually defects. Defects including cat hair add character to a home. It is lived in and a cat adds soul to the home.
You’ll find that people who are considering adopting a cat search the internet for “cat shedding” or “Non-shedding cat breeds“. They are looking for a cat that does not shed hair. All cats shed hair unless there is almost no hair – one of the hairless cats – and even then there is some downy hair. The Devon Rex is meant to be the cat breed with the lowest levels of shedding but that is anecdotal.
Shedding takes place due to increased levels of ambient light in the summer months not due to increased heat. Steps can be taken to minimise hair shedding. What about regular grooming? That is good for your cat and good for you if you are ambivalent about cat hair around the home.
Do single coated cats shed less hair than double coated cats and do short haired cats shed less hair than long haired cats? I don’t think it is worth asking those questions and in any case the difference won’t be significant.
The bottom line is to accept cat hair without question and groom your cat routinely. You can forget about anything else to do with cat hair. And remember the human skin cells.
Hi Caroline. Yes the topic wandered off a bit. , but changing clothes also solves the cat hair problem.
Hi Caroline. I can assure you if you put those hosed-down rugs through a washing machine the water will turn black and smell pretty bad- assuming they don’t turn to rags. The same with mopping the floor. While still wet wipe a paper towel over the floor and see just how dirty it still is. Traditional cleaning methods are usually quite inadequate, hence the need for disinfectants.
Whether summer or winter I wear one set of clothes in the house and a different set to go to town. Cat smells gets everywhere even in the hair so before I go out I have a really thorough shower from top to bottom and a complete change of clothes. Even so I have to be careful. I remember once going shopping and had not noticed one of my toms had peed on my trouser leg. Other people did notice!! Through painful experience I find that phenol disinfectants like Dettol are the best for knocking out tom cat smells.
Do you wear black? I do. just to be rebellious. (No wonder they want me working from home.) Actually i do have two friends who are allergic to cat dander. maybe it isn’t an enzyme in their saliva, but possibly because they became allergic to some other allergen, and blamed [as did the medical field] on cats? I don’t know..??
Whoa, watch the context there, you! lol
Harvey, I have a few Persian rugs, but I have to take them outside and hit’em with the hose, always waiting for it to turn cold first, of course. And the cats love those rugs as much i do! Drying them is problematic, as they should be kept out of the sun. They are almost as dense as me. 😉
And the large intake vents for the air-conditioning/furnace unit need to be wiped regularly or you lose efficiency. Funny, in my friend’s house who lets me reside because of my cats, I sometimes get absentminded and use the Firminator. 😉 Sometimes, I use my own hairbrush on Luck and Shrimp as I was just brushing my hair and they look at me… 😉