Animal musings and a question

[Scarlett]

I now know for a fact two dogs and a cat in 2000 sf is too much for me.  Dss20 will eventually be taking one with him…..so I am just trying to get through to that point.  
 

I am not dealing with the animal hair very well.  For those of you with many animals tell me what your cleaning routine is to keep the hair up and animal blankets clean.  Right now a big sweep/vacuum once a week and running the vacuum robot several times a week is not enough.  
 

I am beginning to think we need a more specific hard surface vacuum that can easily be used once a day. 

Also the water bowl.  Ugh….this new dog is the messiest drinker and it causes big problems.  I am leaning heavily toward keeping the water bowl outside…….they have a pet door for when we are home and when we aren’t they are in the crate….so I can’t see how it would hurt to keep their water outside…..obviously not in weather that would freeze the water but that is not much of the time here.  

[Carrie12345]

There are water bowls made to stop/reduce water splashing and slobbering.

I am a daily vacuum or sweep person (for main areas, not individual rooms even without shedding pets now. But, when we had shedding pets, it was still a struggle with daily cleans. I mean, their fur does not take a break until the next day. 😉 

[Pawz4me]

Well, I only have two small, non-shedding dogs and I sweep or vacuum every day. Clean floors are my thing, and between the humans dropping crumbs and what nots and the dogs bringing in leaves and twigs on their feet, sweeping or vacuuming at least once a day is a must. When we had shedding dogs I did the kitchen/main living area every day with a corded stick vac, plus I used a lot of Swiffer coths. For bedding when we had shedding pets I used sticky rollers (Evercare is my favorite).

You might want to look at a different type of water bowl. Some dogs have lots of loose jowls (especially the pointers and retrievers) and those lip folds are like huge reservoirs that drip as the dog walks away from the bowl. And some are just enthusiastic, messy drinkers. We've always kept a towel close to the water bowl for quick wipe ups. Unless they stay outside a whole lot I'd be very hesitant to not have some water inside. But keeping a bowl both inside and outside might cut down a lot on their inside drinking.

You also might want to consider a food change or adding in a skin/coat supplement. Those things aren't always helpful, but for some dogs they do make a difference. Also . . brush, brush, brush. Outside of course. 😉 Lots of people swear by Furminators, and they do work. I don't recommend them because they cut the dog's fur. That blade is pretty much the same thing as the business end of a clipper blade. But most people care a lot more about cutting down on shedding than on how their dog's coat looks (and that's okay--not everybody has to be me 😉 ). My preferred brush for shorter haired shedding dogs is the Zoom Groom. They work greater as a shampoo brush, too.

[mommyoffive]

Yep, I vacuum everyday.  Lots of times multiple times a day.  I got rid of dog blankets, they just collected to much fur and were just a huge problem.  

Yes to brushing your dog outside.  

[Scarlett]

Ok, well, that is basically the conclusion I came too….daily vacuuming.  Now any ideas how to fit that into my schedule of all of us   Working full time?   

[Pawz4me]

Can you keep them confined to one room or area during the day? If you limit the area you need to vacuum, and you do it daily it can be a fairly quick thing.

[hippymamato3]

We have 2 roomba vacuums on each floor. This eliminates almost all of the hair on the floor. We wash blankets as needed on couches, and make sure to only use throw sizes blankets so it's not too annoying to wash. Otherwise, we chose them as family members and just adjust as needed. Our house is very clean despite having 4 dogs. 

[Scarlett]

33 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

Can you keep them confined to one room or area during the day? If you limit the area you need to vacuum, and you do it daily it can be a fairly quick thing.

I think dss20s dog is smellier than ours.  We have started keeping her out of our bedroom because there is carpet in there and it was starting to smell.  So that leaves dss’s room where she sleeps and a room I avoid if I can anyway….and the guest room with carpet which we keep closed from all animals.  That leaves the dogs in common areas only….all hard floor and leather furniture.  
 

So I think I can fit in a quick vacuum of the common area every morning…….dss leaves for work earlier than us now and I also have more energy in the morning….now to find a good cordless that might make that easier.  

[Scarlett]

38 minutes ago, hippymamato3 said:

We have 2 roomba vacuums on each floor. This eliminates almost all of the hair on the floor. We wash blankets as needed on couches, and make sure to only use throw sizes blankets so it's not too annoying to wash. Otherwise, we chose them as family members and just adjust as needed. Our house is very clean despite having 4 dogs. 

Ours gets hung up on so many things that it is often more trouble than it’s worth.  But it picks up so much even after I JUST cleaned that I think we need to keep using it.  

[Tanaqui]

How often do you comb them? I have one cat with a double coat. I don't know how a short-haired cat can be such a hassle, but when the weather's changing I often comb her *every day*, and never fail to get enough hair to totally ruin my outfit. (I've been known to strip naked to comb her, though if I'm combing her on my porch I just wear an apron over my clothes instead.)

Likewise - do you wash that smelly dog weekly? That can help a *lot*.

[annandatje]

Instead of moving bowl outside, you could keep it indoors and put it inside a cookie sheet or cake pan.

Edited November 6, 2021 by annandatje

[Scarlett]

24 minutes ago, annandatje said:

Instead of moving bowl outside, you could keep it indoors and put it inside a cookie sheet or cake pan.

The mess extends much further that.  I honestly have never seen anything like it.  My little pointer wasn’t bad at all so I know it is this new dog of dss’s.  

[Scarlett]

35 minutes ago, Tanaqui said:

How often do you comb them? I have one cat with a double coat. I don't know how a short-haired cat can be such a hassle, but when the weather's changing I often comb her *every day*, and never fail to get enough hair to totally ruin my outfit. (I've been known to strip naked to comb her, though if I'm combing her on my porch I just wear an apron over my clothes instead.)

Likewise - do you wash that smelly dog weekly? That can help a *lot*.

We are terrible at combing.  I bathe my dog every couple of weeks but dss doesn’t bathe his.  That is probably the issue.  

[annandatje]

Just now, Scarlett said:

The mess extends much further that.  I honestly have never seen anything like it.  My little pointer wasn’t bad at all so I know it is this new dog of dss’s.  

I can relate.  Our maniac cat has destroyed a houseful of furniture, stair rails, some areas of wall.  He has cat towers, condos, scratching posts, and other cat entertainment products.  He is the only pet left in household so he gets all the attention.

[Selkie]

We have an LL Bean Waterhog doormat under the big water bowl in our kitchen. They do sometimes dribble water beyond that, but I just wipe it up.

[Lecka]

Brushing does help.  
 

Giving a bath, brushing before and after, goes a long way.

 

Neither of our dogs are considered long-haired, but one accounts for 90% of the contents of the vacuum cleaner.  

[Scarlett]

15 minutes ago, Selkie said:

We have an LL Bean Waterhog doormat under the big water bowl in our kitchen. They do sometimes dribble water beyond that, but I just wipe it up.

When you say you just wipe it up do you mean you stalk them amd when they get water you clean up after them?  Because other than that they just dribble and then walk through it and make a huge mess.  

[Scarlett]

2 minutes ago, Lecka said:

Brushing does help.  
 

Giving a bath, brushing before and after, goes a long way.

 

Neither of our dogs are considered long-haired, but one accounts for 90% of the contents of the vacuum cleaner.  

Definitely going to talk to ds about regular baths for his dog.  

Oddly it seems like I am vacuuming up a lot of cat hair lately.  She isn’t even long hair 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Scarlett]

1 hour ago, annandatje said:

I can relate.  Our maniac cat has destroyed a houseful of furniture, stair rails, some areas of wall.  He has cat towers, condos, scratching posts, and other cat entertainment products.  He is the only pet left in household so he gets all the attention.

Ha…..our cat has a tower and she is really pretty low maintenance other than howling for food nearly 24/7.  She is getting fat again and I think something is wrong with her ‘full’ meter.  
 

My mom has a maniac cat who not only destroys furniture in spite of many scratching posts and such but she is psycho.  She will scratch or bite the crap out of mm if she just moves wrong…and this seconds after appearing to want affection or pets.  If that cat dies I would give my kitty to mom because mine is very sweet.  And needs a place where the dogs don’t get on her last nerve.  She isn’t afraid of the dogs…just HIGHLY annoyed.  

[annandatje]

9 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

 

My mom has a maniac cat who not only destroys furniture in spite of many scratching posts and such but she is psycho.  She will scratch or bite the crap out of mm if she just moves wrong…and this seconds after appearing to want affection or pets.  If that cat dies I would give my kitty to mom because mine is very sweet.  And needs a place where the dogs don’t get on her last nerve.  She isn’t afraid of the dogs…just HIGHLY annoyed.  

Hm.  I think our cats may have been littermates.  Our old guy is 21 almost 22 and has been a healthy animal until he recently developed a chronic cough.  He has lung damage, is on palliative care and responding well.  We hope he has a couple more years or even more left in him.  Yes, he has costs us thousands of dollars but we love him.

[Pawz4me]

1 hour ago, Scarlett said:

When you say you just wipe it up do you mean you stalk them amd when they get water you clean up after them?  Because other than that they just dribble and then walk through it and make a huge mess.  

That's pretty much what we do. If one of us is handy when we hear a dog drinking then we go grab the towel, wipe their chin when they're through and then wipe up any stray drips. If none of us is around, or if we're busy with something, then we swipe up the drips whenever we get a chance. Just a few minutes ago I was sitting here and heard Avatar Dog getting a drink. He drips from his hairy little chin. I was too lazy to get up right at that moment, but a few minutes later I got up, grabbed the towel and swiped the floor. The dog towel has a loop and we keep it hanging over a doorknob near their water bowl, so it's always handy to grab. I've also been known to keep the (dry) mop propped in a corner and use it to swipe up. It's easier and more efficient than using a towel.

[Scarlett]

3 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

That's pretty much what we do. If one of us is handy when we hear a dog drinking then we go grab the towel, wipe their chin when they're through and then wipe up any stray drips. If none of us is around, or if we're busy with something, then we swipe up the drips whenever we get a chance. Just a few minutes ago I was sitting here and heard Avatar Dog getting a drink. He drips from his hairy little chin. I was too lazy to get up right at that moment, but a few minutes later I got up, grabbed the towel and swiped the floor. The dog towel has a loop and we keep it hanging over a doorknob near their water bowl, so it's always handy to grab. I've also been known to keep the (dry) mop propped in a corner and use it to swipe up. It's easier and more efficient than using a towel.

That sounds exhausting.  Lol

[Selkie]

1 hour ago, Scarlett said:

When you say you just wipe it up do you mean you stalk them amd when they get water you clean up after them?  Because other than that they just dribble and then walk through it and make a huge mess.  

Lol, no. That would practically be a full-time job in our house! I don't mind if there is water on the floor for a short time before I see it. When I wipe it up, there is the added benefit of it being like a quick mopping job for that part of the floor.

[Pawz4me]

10 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

That sounds exhausting.  Lol

It's not really. There are just two of them, and they do most of their drinking after their morning walk or around their dinner time. We usually go many hours w/o either of them drinking. Even when we had multiple large dogs it just wasn't a big deal.

Or possibly we're just so used to it we don't really think about it. 😉 

Edited November 6, 2021 by Pawz4me

[Katy]

Both dogs and cats shed Spring and Fall.  It will probably get better in a few weeks.

I'd definitely consider a Dyson for daily small-area vacuuming.  We have the V11 Animal, and if I forget and leave it on the max setting it pulls carpet up off the floor.  It works great on hard floors too.  I use it on the medium suction for most of the floor, and max when doing vents, trim, and the stairs.  The only irritating thing is you need to dump the dust canister at half full for it to maintain the strong suction.  Oh, and if you leave it on Max it will NOT clean the whole house, the battery dies after 2 rooms and one floor of stairs.

[ktgrok]

8 hours ago, Scarlett said:

 

Also the water bowl.  Ugh….this new dog is the messiest drinker and it causes big problems.  I am leaning heavily toward keeping the water bowl outside…….they have a pet door for when we are home and when we aren’t they are in the crate….so I can’t see how it would hurt to keep their water outside…..obviously not in weather that would freeze the water but that is not much of the time here.  

Well, we ended up with tadpoles in ours..so I wouldn't do that. 

7 hours ago, Scarlett said:

Ok, well, that is basically the conclusion I came too….daily vacuuming.  Now any ideas how to fit that into my schedule of all of us   Working full time?   

Run roomba daily, or vacuum daily - I just got the Shark Vertex Liftaway Cordless and love it so far. 

[Scarlett]

27 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

Well, we ended up with tadpoles in ours..so I wouldn't do that. 

Run roomba daily, or vacuum daily - I just got the Shark Vertex Liftaway Cordless and love it so far. 

Wait what? Tadpoles?  

[ktgrok]

22 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

Wait what? Tadpoles?  

Yup. We don't know if a frog got in the house and laid eggs in the water bowl or if the dog had gotten frog eggs in her face fur and then they ended up in the bowl when she was drinking (she'd been to a pond recently). But yeah....mind you it was a big bowl with an attached 2 gallon resivoir so we only clean/fill it every 2-3 days, if you wash and fill it daily that shouldn't happen. 

[Murphy101]

I love love love my featherweight vacuum. It’s gets a lot off my hard floors and I empty it for every room. I’ve never had anyone comment on anything pet related in my house beyond “wait how many do you have bc I just saw one go by..” so I guess once a week is enough to keep the worst noticeable at bay.   Also I suspect I’m not as… determined… as you. It’s pet fur and that’s life with pets so I just clean the floors once a week and call it good enough. The dogs have been trained to only lay on their blankets on the sofa, so once or twice a week I switch their little blanket out to wash. (I have 4, 2 for each sofa, so wash a set and immediately put clean ones on.)  but one of the dogs is a poodle that doesn’t shed and can’t get on the sofa anymore. The other mutt makes up for both the poodle and 2 cats. Lol

idk. Buy clothes and furniture that match you pets?

Honestly the biggest complaint in my house is the hair that us 3 girls and one long-haired young man shed.  It gets everywhere. Even though we wear messy buns and pony tails 90% of the time.

[Murphy101]

9 hours ago, annandatje said:

Instead of moving bowl outside, you could keep it indoors and put it inside a cookie sheet or cake pan.

We have our 4 gallon water bowl over a 2x3 rubber boot mat with a one inch lip around it like a few cookie tray.  It’s in the half bath off the laundry with the reservoir on one short side so the bowl ends up in the middle of the tray. It doesn’t get every dribble but it gets the worst of it. Once a week the bowl and jug get cleaned and filled and the tray cleaned and the floor in the bathroom cleaned while the tray is out of the way.  We also have a rubber back runner rug directly outside that bathroom bc that’s the garage entrance and washer/dryer area.  So any remaining dribbles end up on it and I can just throw it in the washer and dryer when we mop the kitchen/dining that connects to this area.  Good enough for the English mastiff and our dogs so far.  However if any critter leaves even one itty bitty food crumb or spec of dirt in that water bowl the husbands newest kitty loses her grilled mind and will completely fill that tray with water in her attempt to get it out of her cup.  So now the rule is the dogs have to have their faces napkined after their meals. Which seems ridiculous but less bothersome than cleaning all that water every day.

Eta: I love my bona mop!  I keep it filled with vinegar and the reusable pads right next to it. Any mess and it’s cleaned in just a few seconds. If it’s just water, I’d just put the mop back and if it’s actually dirty, toss the pad in the washer. 

Edited November 7, 2021 by Murphy101

[rebcoola]

We have friends that have water outside plus the little crate water bottles it works. 

For keeping clean I run roomba Once at night while we are sleeping, Once during the day.

[Idalou]

16 hours ago, Selkie said:

We have an LL Bean Waterhog doormat under the big water bowl in our kitchen. They do sometimes dribble water beyond that, but I just wipe it up.

 I saw one of these advertised and almost got it last year. Then my husband said those are just called utility mats at other stores. I ended up getting a near exact one, also made in the USA, at Lowe's for half the price. I use ours in the mudroom, though, not for a dog. LLBean has better colors, too.

Edited November 7, 2021 by Idalou

[Scarlett]

12 hours ago, Murphy101 said:

I love love love my featherweight vacuum. It’s gets a lot off my hard floors and I empty it for every room. I’ve never had anyone comment on anything pet related in my house beyond “wait how many do you have bc I just saw one go by..” so I guess once a week is enough to keep the worst noticeable at bay.   Also I suspect I’m not as… determined… as you. It’s pet fur and that’s life with pets so I just clean the floors once a week and call it good enough. The dogs have been trained to only lay on their blankets on the sofa, so once or twice a week I switch their little blanket out to wash. (I have 4, 2 for each sofa, so wash a set and immediately put clean ones on.)  but one of the dogs is a poodle that doesn’t shed and can’t get on the sofa anymore. The other mutt makes up for both the poodle and 2 cats. Lol

idk. Buy clothes and furniture that match you pets?

Honestly the biggest complaint in my house is the hair that us 3 girls and one long-haired young man shed.  It gets everywhere. Even though we wear messy buns and pony tails 90% of the time.

Which model do you have?

[Tap]

When we adopted out goldendoodle she was sooo messy about eating and drinking. I got her this bowl and it made a huge difference!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00425BX2S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Over time, she settled down and now can eat/drink without mess. Some research I did at the time, suggests that the excessive/messy drinking could have been a stress response. Once she no longer felt the need to defend her bowl (she came from a home with 3 dogs), she settled down pretty quickly. 

[Scarlett]

29 minutes ago, Tap said:

When we adopted out goldendoodle she was sooo messy about eating and drinking. I got her this bowl and it made a huge difference!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00425BX2S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Over time, she settled down and now can eat/drink without mess. Some research I did at the time, suggests that the excessive/messy drinking could have been a stress response. Once she no longer felt the need to defend her bowl (she came from a home with 3 dogs), she settled down pretty quickly. 

That could be the case with this dog. 

[goldberry]

I've been wanting a dog so badly, but DH feels very strongly we are not in a good position to have one because we are too busy and away from home.  This thread confirms that he is correct!  

[Murphy101]

9 hours ago, Scarlett said:

Which model do you have?

This one.  I’ve also bought it for my college girl and a son when they moved out. They love them too. 
 

[Scarlett]

20 hours ago, Murphy101 said:

This one.  I’ve also bought it for my college girl and a son when they moved out. They love them too. 
 

That is pretty cool.  Amazing price!  
 

I have a Bissell Pet something or another…I also have a Shark which I like but when I first moved here I thought I couldn’t use it on carpet……embarrassingly I discovered I was mistaken about that…anyway, after looking at cordless sticks…btw, Bissell has a feather weight cordless for only $115…..I decided to use what I have. After cleaning this weekend, I came home today and spent about 10 minutes vacuuming the floors.  I could not believe the hair I collected. 
 

I also noticed the new dog comes in from outside to drink water. So I grabbed a towel and wiped her face.  She was a little concerned about that but allowed it.  Lol

 

And then I saw a litter of German Shorthair Pointers for sale and I had to give myself a good talking to.  No more pets!