9 tips for a pet friendly home

Asha Bogenfuerst Asha Bogenfuerst
Doghouse, Design Mood Design Mood Otros espacios
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Pets are great companions, and can bring much joy and warmth to a home. Like us, animals also seek shelter, comfort, food, and companionship, and it becomes our responsibility to provide them with these essentials when we choose to keep them as pets. Featured here are some ideas about how to make our homes pet friendly. We will also discuss some tips on how to safeguard the house from being damaged by our beloved animal friends. As cute as they are, they tend to shed fur and scratch flooring, but keeping pets doesn't mean that you have to live in a messy house. With the right precautions, such as choosing the right flooring and furniture, a lot of mess and damage can be prevented. 

Let's browse through these 9 tips for a pet friendly home for ideas on how to keep both our pets and and our house in great condition. 

A cozy spot to nap

Since cats and dogs tend to spend about 50% of their time sleeping, 30% of their time lying around, and only 20% of their time being active, a cozy spot to nap is high priority on the need's list. 

Just like us, cats and dogs also have their favorite spots for napping, sleeping, and lying around. If you don't create a cozy spot for your pets, then they will choose spots for themselves, and if you're unlucky, it might be your most expensive piece of furniture or a sentimental piece passed down to you from your grandparents. Either way you wouldn't want your furniture to be scratched or to have fur all over. Therefore, we recommend creating a few cozy spots in the house where your pets can indulge in their favorite pastime – sleeping.

The extra large, comfy dog bed pictured here comes in various sizes, styles, and colors. It can easily be placed in any corner of the home. There are also comfy rugs and sleeping bags available for pets that take up less space in the house. 

Specialized pet furniture

Some pets can be highly demanding when it comes to having a space to lie around. They don't want to lie around on the floor with rugs, they want to lay down in an elevated platform, like furniture. This is especially true for cats, they tend to prefer higher places sometimes, maybe because they feel safer. 

Having a special piece of furniture for your pets will hopefully keep them off yours, and also bring them to the same level as you. Now you can easily pet them while lying on the couch without having them jump up on your furniture and damage it. 

Personalized bowls for dogs and cats

Personalised Spaniel Bowl with dog portrait homify Cocinas clásicas Cristalería, vajilla y cubiertos

Meal times are another thing our pets look forward to everyday. Pet owners often like to make their pets feel special by giving them personalized bowls with their names on it. Pictured here, is a hand-painted ceramic dog bowl with the pet's name and also a potrait. 

Right flooring

When you have pets at home, the right flooring can help you save a lot of money and time. For example, if your home is carpeted, you're going to spend a lot of time vacuuming the house as cats and dogs shed their fur, and fur tends to stick to carpets. Having an expensive hard wood floor is also not recommended as pets tend to scratch flooring. Dogs especially, love to dig the floor sometimes. 

We would recommend laminate flooring, vinyl flooring or tiles for a pet friendly home. All of the types of flooring mentioned above are also much cheaper compared to hard wood floors. Laminate flooring is great as it is resistant to scratches, staining, and fading in the sunlight. It's also easily cleaned and ideal for heavy foot traffic. Vinyl flooring is durable, water resistant, and is excellent for cushioning noise. Last but not least, ceramic floor tiles are extremely durable, and are impervious to wetness and humidity, making it suitable for a tropical climate. They also tend to be cooler than laminate or vinyl flooring, and pets love to lie on a cool tiled floor on a hot day. 

We hope these tips will help you choose the right flooring to accomodate pets at home. 

Making the outdoors comfortable

This waterproof outdoor bed for pets is great for the garden, and can even float in the pool. Some people prefer to keep their pets outdoors so that they can keep watch over the house. Now you can keep them comfortable outside. 

Kennels

Kennels are essential for dogs that are kept outside. It provides them with shelter from the rain and heat. The kennel pictured here is designed by Design Mood. It comes in various sizes and colors.

Next, let's see how to make the garden more pet friendly.

Playing in the garden

Pets love to play in the garden, however pets can also destroy the plants you've taken great care and effort to grow. This football post is an example of finding the balance between play and damage control. Now you can play football with your dog without having to worry about destroying the plants in the garden bed. Building a fence around garden beds is also another idea to keep pets from wrecking havoc in the garden. 

Browse through fencing designs here on homify for more ideas and inspiration. 

Place to wash

Dogs and cats also need a wash every now and then. Having an outdoor shower or wash area is one way of washing your pets conveniently. It's less messy and troublesome. This way they can shake off without messing up and getting the whole bathroom wet. 

Travelling with pets

Finally, be prepared to take your pets along with you on trips with this stylish travelling bag for pets. It also good to be prepared for trips to the veterinarian and so on. 

We hope you found some helpful tips for a pet friendly home here. For more inspiration, have a look at home design ideas for cat lovers. See you again on homify soon! 

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