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Ten super-easy ways to remove cat hair with common items found at home
Hair, hair everywhere. The plight of every cat owner. Whether your fur baby has short hair or long, you’re bound to find them in anything, and everything. Luckily, you can also get rid of the same easily with a number of household items.
You may think of cat hair as a menace just because it quickly sticks to your clothes and furniture, but it can be a health hazard for your pet as well.
Veterinarian Dr Paola Cuevas told The Focus that ingestion of excessive hair while self-grooming can cause serious health issues like intestinal obstructions in your cat. So use the below tips to make sure your surroundings are always hair-free.
10 items found at home to easily remove cat hair
We understand rolling lints can be expensive. So use the below alternatives instead to get rid of your cat’s hair.
1. Pumice stone
Yes, pumice stones are one of the best options to remove cat hair from furniture and clothes, by simply rubbing it against them.
Commenting on this unpopular method, Dr Paola Cuevas told The Focus: “For hairs that have already made their way to your carpet, a great way to collect them is using a pumice stone works wonders in removing and collecting them. Just ensure you immediately add them to a collector bin or vacuum to avoid some flying elsewhere.”
2. Tennis Ball
Not only can you use a tennis ball to keep your fur baby distracted, but it can also effectively collect hair from any surface when it’s rolled over the area filled with short or long fur.
3. Cat brush
You can use the same brush used to groom your cat to remove its fur stuck on things.
The excessive hair will get collected in the brush, which can be easily removed and disposed of.
4. Scrub sponge
The rougher surface of a sponge scrub is a brilliant alternative to conventional hair removers, and the fur easily sticks to the surface of the item commonly used in cleaning.
5. Rubber gloves
Don’t want to get your hands dirty? Try wearing rubber gloves and sliding your hand on any surface with cat hair stuck to it. You can wet the gloves slightly for better results as the hair easily stickers to water.
6. Squeegee
A squeegee is yet another common cleaning item that can used to get rid of cat hair. Make sure you drag in a single direction so all the fur is collected to one side.
7. Sticky tape
Dr Paola Cuevas says: “The hair stuck to your clothes and bedding after some quality cuddle time can be removed with sticky tape, simply roll some of the tape around your hand keeping the sticky side facing outwards, and rub your hand over the fabric to collect the hair.”
8. DIY lint roller
Don’t worry about spending an extra buck on a commercial lint roller ever again. Our animal expert explains an easier way to do it at home for the same results.
You can simply wrap sticky tape around a paint roller with its sticky side facing outwards and use it the same way you would use a lint roller.
9. Balloon
Hair and ballon are one of the funniest combos and also a great way to remove cat hair from furniture and clothes.
Rubbing balloons and hair together causes an electrostatic attraction between the two, thus causing them to stick to each other.
Just make sure your cat is kept away from the balloon if you’re using this method.
10. Velcro hook
Velcro has two parts – a hook and a loop. You can use the former to collect all the fur from your furniture or clothes as it works similarly to a brush.
Experts tips for cleaning cat hair from your washer and dryer
Cat hair can find its way into your clothes, blankets, bedspread, and pillowcases regardless of how much effort you put into getting rid of it.
So, Dr Paola Cuevas told The Focus a couple of things you need to keep in mind as a cat owner while doing laundry to ensure your washing machine doesn’t suffer any damage from excess hair.
- Consider vacuuming any piece of clothes or bedding with excessive hair before you wash them.
- Before washing put on a damp rubber glove and run it over the clothes or bedding gather and discard as much hair as possible.
- Then pass some sticky tape to remove as much hair as possible from the clothes and beddings before you put them inside the machines.
- Remove the clothes or bedding and shake them well, consider repeating steps 1-3 to remove as much hair as possible before the wash.
- Passing the clothes by a 10-15 minute hot cycle in the drier machine before washing can help loosen the hair out of the fabric but it is important to add any static dryer sheet.
- Clean the dryers lint filter regularly.
- Toss the clothes or bedding into the washing machine, and add your regular detergent and a pet hair collector such as the FurZapper. This device collects hairs from your clothes during the wash preventing them from going into your washing machine filters and drains. So yes, it’s something you will need to invest in but it is worth it, especially because it is reusable.
- After use, remove and clean the lint filter.
- Then clean your washer by running a wash cycle without laundry. Add half a cup of baking soda into one cup of white vinegar, and two cups of hot water into the tub before running this cycle.
