Pets and Carpet Selection Tips

When you are selecting a carpet to purchase, the first thing and probably the most important characteristic you want to consider is the color. Why is this? Because when your pets have accidents on the carpet, you don’t want it to stain as easily or show a stain. But color applies to more than just the control of stains.

Take a look at the color of your pet and at how much your pet sheds hair. If your pet has dark hair then you would want a darker shade of carpet so that the shed hair will blend in until you are able to vacuum.

One advantage of carpet with pets is that it keeps hairballs from forming in the corners of a room as is the case with hard surface floors. That’s not to say that the dander and hair is not there but you can at least wait a day or so before vacuuming.

Remember that some dogs like to dig and some cats like to knead carpeted surfaces with their claws. So if your pet likes to do these activities, make sure you buy a carpet without large loops because their claws can get caught in them. Also consider that trying to keep a cat from scratching is trying to quench a part of its very wiring by nature. A cat is going to scratch.

So, you might want to consider buying a scratching post for your cat right along with your purchase. Hopefully by doing this, your cat will never scratch the carpet to begin with. Keep in mind also that when cats continually scratch carpet, the carpet becomes frayed and then cats have been known to eat the fragments. An example of a carpet that can tear and fray easily from pets is Berber carpet. Eating these fragments could be very toxic for your pet.

Some carpet manufacturers have resistant backings that can keep fluids such as pet urine from damaging the floor underneath but there is not much protection against pet urine on the surface. If you have a dog who has a problem with accidents in the house, they actually have training pads that can be laid out in a utility room in hopes that a dog will use that instead. Pet urine can either react immediately with carpet or show up after several months so the more you can keep a pet from urinating on the carpet the better.

In reality, no matter what type of carpet you buy, your pets are more than likely going to “test” it by doing their business on it. Just be prepared to quickly clean it up when it happens because the longer the urine stays on the carpet, the more likely it is to react with the dyes in it and cause discoloration.

Next article: Selecting Carpets For Rooms With Different Usages and Traffic