Green way to clean pet hair off furniture?

[Nico DeMouse]

I'm struggling to find a green way to keep our furniture relatively free of pet hair. We've got four cats and two guinea pigs, so it's a losing battle to begin with. I'm not looking for perfection, but would like to have guests be able to actually sit on our furniture! I've tried vacuuming with our regular vacuum and a handheld; just seems to move the hair around. I've also used one of those making tape lint rollers, which worked really well but seems very wasteful.

Has anyone tried those rubber pet hair remover mits you see at the home stores like LNT and BBB? Seems to good to be true. Has anyone found a good, eco-friendly way to keep your home relatively pet hair free?

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

What kind of upolstry do you have on your furniture. Fabric with a fuzz on it tends to be more sticky and holds on to hair more than smooth fabric. You might try getting slip covers in a cotton twill. It wouldn't hold on to the hair as much as a cheneil or velvet and you could pull it off and toss it in the washer if it still got bad.

[phatchristy]

I actually have what looks like a large yellow rubber sponge...it grips the hair and it clumps up to the sponge. Then I remove it.

I think the best way to keep the extra hair off is by grooming the pets regularly. Have you heard of the furminator? I think some have called it an undercoat rake. But it helps remove dead undercoat which otherwise would wind up on your couch/carpet...etc.

[Llyra]

:

I usually just wrap my hand in masking tape and get it off that way. Not green at all-- I go through a ton of tape.

So I'm just and :....

[thomlynn]

I use the shop vacuum for everything (we have all hard floors). I take the floor attachment and rub back and forth. I think you have to break the static to get it off so rubbing works really well. Try that with your regular vacuum, back and forth in a small spot kinda fast, like you're scrubbing it.

I hate pet hair, we will never have another animal inside the house.

[GoddessKristie]

We have a lint roller that isn't the tape kind. It has a rubber roller and when it's full you rinse it under water (in a bucket if you don't want to go back and forth so much to the sink) and it comes clean, dries quickly and is still sticky years later. No waste!

[Sharlla]

The brush attachement on our vacuum is great, I brush it in a curcular motion and the brush combs the hair off the couch and I just pull the hair off as needed.

[PixelDust]

No matter how much I brush them, at least one of our dogs is always losing mass quantities of hair, so pet hair is a big challenge for us! The type of the fabric definitely makes a huge difference. We used to have a couch with a tweed-like fabric, and the dog hairs just wove themselves into it. When we bought our new couch, I looked specifically for a smooth, tightly woven, low nap fabric, and it has helped a lot! I use the vacuum hose with an attachment (not the brush, but a hard plastic thing), and that works well on the furniture we have now. We also have one of those grippy rubbery brushes, and that works really well, but is slow going and can be hard on your back. For our clothes, we do use the tape lint rollers, because I really haven't found anything else that works close to as well.

[momma,mia]

I think I remember seeing someone using pantyhose. Like, wadding it up or putting it over their hand to rub on the couch. I don't have pets inside so I don't know if it works, but it might be worth buying some knee highs to try it!

[Nico DeMouse]

Thanks for your input, ladies.

My furniture is twill microfiber -- we picked it because we hoped it would be durable and easy to clean. It's funny because most of our home improvement purchases involve figuring out what will best blend with our respective kitties fur colors.

I'm intrigued by the pantyhose idea; I'll dig up an old pair and let you know how that works. I love the idea of recycling something old instead of buying something new.

GoddessKristie and PixelDust -- where did you buy your tools? They sound promising if the pantyhose doesn't work.

[PixelDust]

Originally Posted by Nico DeMouse

GoddessKristie and PixelDust -- where did you buy your tools? They sound promising if the pantyhose doesn't work.

I think we found the brush at PetSmart or somewhere similar. You could try searching online for "rubbery pet hair remover brush thing"!

[srain]

We put stuff on our couch so our dog doesn't get up there. That's probably less viable with cats, but you might consider keeping throws on it that can be easily washed.

[Nico DeMouse]

Just wanted to post a followup --

I tried the pantyhose idea this morning on my couch and it worked really well!

[mumkimum]

I also have a rubber pet-hair type brush & it is really amazing. It is great in really hard to vaccuum areas of the carpet too.
Just the regular reuseable lint brushes do work okay, and using a lightly damp sponge can help as well. Used to do both of those on our furniture for the cat hair before the rubber brush.

[oh - btw I found the brush once at target, but am not sure I've seen it there since I got it?]

[PixelDust]

I happened to see one of the rubbery brushes at Linens & Things just a couple of days ago. Oddly enough, it was in the kitchen section.

[Minerva]

Originally Posted by srain

We put stuff on our couch so our dog doesn't get up there. That's probably less viable with cats, but you might consider keeping throws on it that can be easily washed.

Or the reverse: we put throw blankets on the couch to hide the cat hair when we had an unexpected guest. I swear when this couch finally breaks, we're going to (washable) cushions on the floor, and skip the couch.

[antannie]

i like the rubber thing. We also put towels where the cats like to sleep and that helps. We have slipcovers on everything. Blankets or sheets can be used as a cover and whipped off quickly when guests arrive.

[SoHappy]

I put on yellow rubber gloves and pet the furniture. The hair rolls up into wads and I can lift it off.

[Mama Dragon]

Go buy a Kirby (or borrow one) and use a zipp brush on it, those things nearly suck the threads off the carpet! Just another suggestion in case you can use a Kirby....

[lrlittle]

Originally Posted by Sharlla

The brush attachement on our vacuum is great, I brush it in a curcular motion and the brush combs the hair off the couch and I just pull the hair off as needed.

: using the vacuum OR dustbuster. we also got one of those rubber brush thingys. it works ok, but i still prefer the brush attachment.