Mary Allen
Cat hair – it’s just everywhere! In your apartment, on the clothes, on the sofa, and the carpet. With our tips you can effectively remove cat hair.
A house is not a home without cat hair! Many a cat lover welcomes visitors with this saying. There are more decorative furnishing ideas than cat hair on the sofa, blanket, carpet or clothing. Unfortunately, it is difficult to get rid of the proof of your love for cats. Removing cat hair is an extremely difficult and time-consuming task. For better or for worse, the cat owner has to come to terms with the head of hair of his favorite. Or not?
As a family with 3 cats and a child, we have tried all sorts of products, tips and tricks over many years to reduce cat hair in the home and on our clothes to a minimum. After all, they are not only an optical problem, but also a hygienic one in large quantities. Not only for allergy sufferers.
We have shared our experiences with other cat friends in several videos on the subject of cat hair and also in various reviews of the magic bullets we found against cat hair. In this article you will find the quintessence of our experiences in the campaign against annoying hair. From unusual ideas to simple home remedies to professional products. We will show you which methods are effective, which products really work and which ones are no good at all.
Prevent cat hair
No matter how often you clean. There is simply no such thing as a house with a cat but without cat hair. Anyone who decides to live with a roommate simply has to live with this fact.
But what you don’t have to live with is a heavy load of cat hair on the sofa, blanket, carpet and clothing. Because the amount of hair that your cat distributes in the apartment can be controlled. And it’s quite simple: Regular brushing removes loose hair from the coat and binds it in the brush. So the hair ends up in the garbage and not in your home. Or in the cat’s stomach, where, in the worst case, they can lead to health problems and even life-threatening intestinal obstruction.
As so often in life, when it comes to cat hair, it is better to be safe than sorry. In addition, in most cases grooming does not take much longer than 10 minutes. Time that you are sure to be happy to devote to your cat and your bond. You can find out in detail how to brush properly and which brush is right for your cat in our article on proper grooming.
Note: More cat hair at times of shedding
The change of fur occurs in spring and autumn. Cats lose a lot of fur during this time. During this time, the cat should ideally be brushed daily. The brushed-out hair can 1.. not be distributed in the apartment and 2. the intestinal tract of your cat is also relieved.
Remove cat hair from clothing
As with the apartment, the cat lover also likes to use humor when it comes to clothing: you’re not properly dressed without cat hair! But behind the brisk saying is a good deal of resignation. Because with every physical contact – and neither you nor your cat want to do without it – tons of cat hair stick to the clothes. The ankles, thighs and chest often show exactly how you spent the time with your four-legged roommate. If you don’t want to come out as a proud cat owner at first glance, you have to find a way to remove cat hair from your clothing, at least as far as possible. A few tools will make your work easier.
Washing machine – remove cat hair with a special animal hair-washing program
Skeptical? That is understandable. After all, many of our favorite pieces come out of the machine with their hair after a normal wash cycle. The manufacturer Beko has thought about this. The result: Machines like the *Beko WML61433NPS1, where a pet hair removal program can be switched on in addition to the normal wash cycle. As the name suggests, animal hair should be reliably removed. In contrast to the normal wash cycle, a pre-wash and an extra rinse cycle ensure that the laundry is soaked and moved in up to 30% more water. This makes it easier to detach the animal hair, which is also supported by a specially adapted drum movement.
The “Pet Hair Removal” program ensures that more cat hair is removed from the clothes during the wash cycle. And that actually works really well. We don’t want to do without this extra program anymore.
It is particularly pleasing that Beko not only has the interests of animal lovers in mind, but also those of the environment (and your wallet). The brand is characterized by great efficiency and good value for money. In other words: electricity and water consumption are kept within reasonable limits, and the purchase price is often in the cheaper market segment. Anyone who does not yet have a washing machine with a Pet Hair Removal program but would like to get an impression of the effectiveness can select an extra rinse cycle manually in addition to a prewash in many commercially available models. In this case, washing cycles in which the laundry stands in a relatively large amount of water for a long time are particularly good. In the long run, however, buying a washing machine with its own program for removing pet hair should be more energy and cost-efficient.
If you still have a relatively new machine without Pet Hair Removal, you can use washing balls such as the washing balls from Cherioll until the right time for a new purchase. The microfibers on the surface literally grab and hold pet hair on the garments. The laundry comes out of the machine with significantly less cat hair. After washing, the hair can be pulled off the balls and disposed of in the garbage, the balls themselves are reusable.
Often underestimated – tumble dryer
A tumble dryer is a household appliance that many families can no longer imagine life without. No matter what the weather, the laundry is quickly dry again in the closet, and it is also much more crease-free than air drying. This saves you time when ironing.
Little known: The tumble dryer is also the pet owner’s best friend. Haven’t you noticed? Then you’re probably going about it the wrong way. When drying after washing, hardly any pet hair is removed, since the normal wash cycle (without the Pet Hair Removal program) has driven the hair deep into the fabric of the laundry. But if you pull a piece of clothing out of the closet and realize that it has cat hair on it, you can get rid of it in minutes.
Simply put the dry garment in the dryer for a few minutes and let it blow through. It can be cold air that whirls up your hair. This saves energy and money. As a result, pet hair is blown off the fabric and ends up in the drain or lint trap. Of course, both must be emptied regularly so that the tumble dryer can continue to fulfill its function as a dryer and/or pet hair remover. It doesn’t get any faster than that!
Reliable – lint roller
Did we mention how stubborn cat hair is? As always when it comes to removing cat hair, the following also applies here: None of the methods mentioned above make the clothing completely free of cat hair. However, the amount decreases significantly. Anything that is still stuck to your favorite item after the Pet Hair Removal program and/or tumbles dryer can be reliably removed with the lint roller. A typical lint roller with adhesive strips like the BÄSTIS from the well-known Swedish furniture store Ikea is still the most effective tool when it comes to cat hair on clothing. They are easy to use, can be found almost anywhere, and are relatively cheap. In any case, cheaper than special animal hair rollers, which don’t do their job much better. However, conventional lint rollers have one major disadvantage: if the adhesive surface is full of lint and hair, a new one has to be used. Unfortunately, this creates a lot of waste in a household with one or more cats.
Hardly any cat owner can do without the good old lint roller. Before you leave the house, your clothes are routinely lint-free.
Remove cat hair without a lint roller
Those who, for the sake of the environment, prefer not to use a lint roller or don’t have one at hand, look around for alternatives. How to remove cat hair without a lint roller? There are some home remedies (see below) that can be used in a limited space like clothing. However, a direct comparison shows that nothing removes animal hair even remotely as well as a lint roller.
Remove cat hair from sofa, blanket, carpet, scratching post, cat sleeping place
The methods mentioned above for removing cat hair are not suitable for all textiles. For obvious reasons, washing machines and dryers are only used for clothes, at most for blankets and small carpets. On the other hand, using the lint roller on large areas would be so labor-intensive that it is unrealistic. Thank God there are also some helpers for the sofa, blanket, carpet, scratching post and cat sleeping place to get rid of the annoying hair in a reasonable amount of time.
The Paku Paku Multi-use is the ultimate cat hair killer for all soft textile surfaces. Although the name of the little Japanese goes for an animal hair roller, it removes the hair with a rocking motion. You have to move the device back and forth in a small space and press lightly. With every contact, the textile surface picks up animal hair and passes it on to the collection chamber inside. A clicking noise indicates the success of the operation. The chamber is easy to open and empty. So the Paku Paku is quickly ready for use again. We’ve been using it ourselves for years and swear by it. If you want to see for yourself, take a look at our Paku Paku product test.
It is really very effective against cat hair and also environmentally friendly since neither waste nor electricity is used. The original is extremely durable and resilient, while the copies available are both a little worse processed and don’t work quite as well. We, therefore, recommend that you actually spend a few euros more in this case. We promise you, you won’t regret it! The Paku Paku even works wonders on scratching posts.
However, despite all the enthusiasm for the many strengths of this product, we don’t want to hide the few weaknesses from you. Unfortunately, the Paku Paku does not work on smooth or hard surfaces. He also doesn’t get into corners that well. In order to achieve a good result on blankets, they must be in tension, otherwise, the blanket will only be pushed back and forth. So either a second person is needed to hold the blanket in place, or you use lint rollers or the methods just described as recommended for clothing.
STRENGTHEN
- very effective on all soft textile surfaces
- uncomplicated to use
- does not produce garbage
- requires no electricity
- best rated
WEAKNESSES
- not suitable for smooth or hard surfaces
- does not get into the corners due to the construction
- loose textiles must be fixed, otherwise, they will only be pushed back and forth
In our opinion, the miracle brush also rightly bears the self-chosen name. We would therefore like to recommend you as a second helper in the fight against cat hair. The curved special bristles not only reliably pick up lint and hair, but also get into almost every corner. E.g. simply in the cave in the scratching post. Handling is easy: brush and remove the picked-up hair with a comb. Clean regularly with lukewarm soapy water and place on the bristles to drain and dry. Here, too, it is advisable to invest in the original with patented bristles and a handy handle made of beech wood coated with environmentally friendly water-based paint. The miracle brush is very robust and purchase for eternity. We’ve been using them for a number of years. Just like the Paku Paku, the practical helper for our 3 cat household is indispensable.
With the miracle brush, you can get every cat bed hair-free again in no time.
As helpful and actually irreplaceable as Paku Paku and Miracle Brushes are in the fight against cat hair: sometimes you wish it were even faster and easier. Especially on large areas. Why not simply vacuum your carpet to remove pet hair? This is because the bristles of the vacuum cleaner brush usually do not penetrate deep enough into the carpet or have enough force to pull stubborn hair out of the fabric. That’s why there are vacuum cleaners and attachments especially for animal hair. However, even with these, sufficient performance must be ensured. Some manufacturers rely on rotating brushes that are only driven by the air circulation during vacuuming. This is usually not enough for a satisfactory result. There simply isn’t enough power. Vacuum cleaners that have a turbo brush with its own motor are better.
If you don’t want to invest in a new vacuum cleaner right away, you can also buy attachments such as upholstery attachments and turbo nozzles individually. These can be easily attached to your own vacuum cleaner and increase its efficiency when used against stuck animal hair.
Many vacuum robots can also wipe. This means that even less cat hair can be spread around the home. Especially when the vacuum robot vacuums several times a day. This can also be set up when you are not at home. Thanks to the app, most models can also be started via smartphone.
We ourselves start the suction process whenever it suits us manually via such an app. Quite often e.g. B. before we get home. So we find a vacuumed apartment without a lot of cat hair.
Another plus point: A vacuum robot gets to places where you rarely vacuum yourself. For example under the bed or under a closet. For this to work, however, the path must be clear. Cables and other obstacles must be cleared out of the way before vacuuming. With a bit of foresight, however, the problem is quickly solved.
In addition, the vacuum robot is not particularly fast. But since you don’t have to vacuum yourself and can devote yourself to other things in the time, that’s not really a disadvantage. One such thing, however, is that the robot cannot get into every corner. Or that it vacuums less efficiently than you do (at best). Again, the same applies here: After all, you don’t have to do it yourself. It doesn’t bother you if you let the vacuum robot run twice in the worst case. And if you then discover a few hairs in an inaccessible corner of the room, they are quickly wiped up with a cloth.
Home remedies to remove cat hair
If you don’t have a lint roller for your clothes or a Paku Paku and miracle brush for the sofa and the like, you can also use one or the other home remedy. As already mentioned, these unfortunately cannot hold a candle to the proven helpers. But necessity is known to be the mother of invention. The following household items will help you to remove a few cat hairs from clothing and other textiles:
- Rubber Gloves: Wet to remove the last loose hair. Disposable gloves are particularly practical for the scratching post and other animal utensils.
- Dry pot sponge (soft side)
- Packing tape: Something for absolute emergencies – stick on and peel off.
- wet hand
- Pumice stone (caution with sensitive textiles, try it on an inconspicuous place!)
- Window squeegee: Ideal for straight surfaces
If you don’t have a lint roller handy, some tape will do in a pinch. Simply press, peel and the hair will stick to the tape.
Remove cat hair: This does not work
Washable lint rollers like the WOWGO are a good idea for the environment, but unfortunately nothing more. Lint brushes like the Omasi, on the other hand, are often offered with a convenient cleaning station, but only remove light lint. Unfortunately, cat hair cannot be removed effectively.
Choose fabrics and materials carefully
Passionate cat lovers can be recognized by the fact that they match their clothes to the color of their cat. It’s not some weird fad, it’s a survival strategy. As a pet owner, you have to make compromises. White cat and black clothes or home textiles? That does not fit. It is also best to keep your hands off items of clothing that are already full of hair and lint in the store. Fleece, wool and felt, for example, magically attract cat hair. Smooth fabrics are best. For the sofa, microfiber is preferable to woven fabrics. Even less cat hair sticks to leather and imitation leather. But these are quickly covered with scratch marks.
Conclusion
Cat household without cat hair? That’s probably only for owners of naked cats. For all the animal lovers who live with furry friends, we have shared our experience of removing cat hair from textiles here. Let us know if one or the other hint helped you. If you know of any other effective methods, then feel free to share your experience with other cat owners in the comments so that they can be helped too!