The coming of spring brings many rites, traditions and ailments. Sure, Easter, flowers and birds are nice, but black flies, mosquitoes and ticks...not so much.
Along with the bugs, mud and sniffles (my aforementioned cold from yesterday’s post) comes the Annual Shedding Ritual.
How many pets do we have?
A dozen.
The dogs get away with very little shedding since the three terriers have hair rather than fur, but the shepherd loses her nice woolly undercoat in tufts. That pretty much takes all summer, it seems. DP hangs out bundles of shepherd fur from old onion bags so the birds can line their nests with it.
The cats, well now there's the rub.
I don't notice so much as a change of "hey, they are starting to shed" by looking at the cats. It comes about more like a discovery of finding myself not doing anything else except picking up fur. Gradually, I'm running late everyday for work because my normal chores are taking longer. Making the bed takes about 20 minutes if I want to slip into a fur free zone later that night. Cooking requires major cleaning before the meal preparation; laundry requires precleaning, too.
After feeling frustrated that I’m somehow no longer able to keep up and that we have (God forbid) too many pets! I remember. Oh, yeah, it must be spring.
What do I do?
You've seen my vacuum, you've seen my chemical cleaning arsenal, now it's time for me to reveal my fur removing paraphernalia:
My first line of defense for the worst fur coverings is the small hand brush. Brushing fabric like curtains, dog beds or blankets in tight circles picks up quite a bit of fur and it's a surprisingly useful tool.
The rubber brush is good for gathering the fur into one spot and then picking it up with something else - also for the worst cases.
The old fashion lint brush with the velvet-like surface is great for smooth surfaces like sheets or bedspreads, but the sticky lint roller becomes an extension of my arm this time of year (note there are two). DP is always teasing me about finding discarded used sticky tape sheets (a used one is shown down in front in the picture) all over the house (sometimes I need a new sticky surface, but the old sheet may not be completely full and could be used more).
The packing tape comes in handy as a back-up if I'm low on replacement sticky rolls or if I'm going to do a big job.
Swiffers (not shown) also do a good job picking up fur from smooth surfaces and I've taken to using them seasonally despite their "disposableness." Spring demands we take desperate measures.
What do you use to remove fur?
Let me add: a slightly damp hand in the direction of the fabric grain for clothes I have on, cheapie rubber gloves from the dollar store, something called pet hair magnet ( looks like a squeegee and takes of hair well when it it brand new and a pet hair removal sponge that also works well when it's brand new. I know you are a chemical fee home but for draperies and really tenacious hair on anything, I use Static Guard Spray. Spray it on, wait a bit and the hair will be easier to remove. I also have that Pledge hair remover roller that also does well when it's new. New being the operative word for most of the items. But mostly I face the fact that if I want or have lots of pets there will always be hair.
ReplyDelete( When I was young, my gran had an Electrolux vacuum that had as special tool to vacuum dogs! Her corgi loved it so much, the dog would roll on it's back and wait when ever the machine was turned on. )
Actually to say that I tease my partner about leaving used sticky tapes all over the house is an understatement. Those things are EVERYWHERE! The other night we heard a bit of a ruckus going on on the other side of the room to look over and see that Wizard (one of our long-ish haired older cats) had been snagged unsuspectingly by a used sticky tape while innocently walking across the bureau. After a bit of panicky fussing, biting, pulling at it, shaking his paw, etc...he finally dislodged the unwelcomed cling-on and sprang off the bureau in a huff. I looked at Lisa and said, "There are you happy?!" All in good fun though. :-)
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