How to get rid of cat dander is an age old mystery.  The short answer is there is no way to get rid of cat dander; but you can control it. Cat dander allergies are not the result of  cat hair or by dead skin flakes, not entirely at least.  Cat dander is what happens when the cat grooms itself and its saliva soaks the dead skin cells leaving a sticky residue on the hair.  Dander is so potent it can pollute everything within 50 miles of open space.  Use the following methods to help control cat dander in your house thus alleviating cat dander allergies.

Oatmeal baths. Since dead skin cells one part of the equation, it is best to treat this condition first. Give the cat an Oatmeal bath once a week to exfoliate dead skin and keep the coat’s natural oils from trapping dead skin. Oatmeal also soothes itchiness and burning, so your cat won’t lick and scratch as often which is an important factor in controlling dander.

Dander Wipes. Use dander wipes every day to control the cat dander.  Allerpet – a popular brand – can be found in any pet store for as little as $5. Wipes remove dander from the cat’s fur. A cheaper alternative is to use a paper towel dampened with cat shampoo and water.  Rubber gloves and hand washing afterwards is recommended by dermatologists.

Feed Wet Food. Dry food provides no hydration. Cats that don’t get enough liquid develop skin problems. Water is an important ingredient in wet food and provides the proper moisture a cat’s skin needs. Be sure to provide plenty of water throughout the day, moreso during the spring and summer when heat encourages dander.

Shave the cat. A good old-fashioned grooming session — complete with shaving — isn’t such a bad idea.  It isn’t as shocking and cruel to shave a cat as it sounds.  Dermatologist’s say that it is in fact common, particularly with long-haired cats, for the sole purpose of preventing and controlling dander. However, it is not a good idea to attempt to shave a cat without a professional groomer because they can seriously injure you or you can injure them.  Shaving a cat does make its skin vulnerable to sunburn though and will need sunblock.

Launder the Bedding. It is not uncommon for pet owners to worry that their cat won’t recognize their own bedding if it gets washed.  Dermatologist disagree and highly recommend laundering a cat’s bedding in extremely hot soapy water every other day.

Steam cleaning. Furniture and carpet require the same hot, hot water and soap that a cat’s bedding does to remove floating cat dander. Vacuuming daily does help to remove some dander but it does not get rid of it completely.Steam cleaning is recommended every couple of months.

Visit the vet. The comes a time when cat dander is beyond a pet owner’s abilities.  When the dander reaches a level where it can not be cleaned then it is time for a trip to the veterinarian to rule out any other illnesses that may be contributing to the dander.  Sometimes a vet will suggest medication.

Cat dander allergies does not have to be the end of cat ownership.  These simiple tips will have you loving a kitty cat in no time!

Popularity: 5% [?]

Maggots were everywhere!  I mean every stinking where!  Ewww.  I have the eebie jeebies and the willies.  I’m wigged out, grossed out, freaking out and flipped out.  I have maggots in my kitchen.

Well not anymore but I did this afternoon.  I was sitting here blogging about my daughter’s fire hazard of a room, trying to get the images aligned correctly and watching the clock.  It was getting late and I needed to go grocery shopping before I picked up afore mentioned filthy teen daughter.   So I shut down the laptop, took a shower and went on my merry way.

A few hours later, when I returned it looked like someone had dumped a box of rice on the floor.  Wondering what on earth the dogs could have gotten into I asked my daughter to sweep the floor.

A few minutes later her best friend came to me and said, “I think you need to come here.  I think you have worms.”

Startled I followed behind her and after taking a good look at what I thought was rice I realized it was maggots.  I looked around and this time I noticed they were in my dining room, kitchen and entry way.  A few unsavory curse words were uttered….

What followed was not pretty.  I screeched and eewwwed and ran around trying to shoo them into some sort of pile so I could pick them up.  That didn’t work out so well.  Never fear though, my plight was not in peril.  With dust buster in hand I started sucking the little buggers up.

Emptying the dust buster was a whole other disgusting experience in itself.

Once I managed to get them sucked up it dawned on me that there were more.  LOTS more.   The maggots were coming out of a small opening between the floorboard and flooring right behind my trash can.

Thinking it was something in the trash I started to empty the can only to find the inside of the can and the outside of the bag were covered in maggots.  Did I say ewwwwww?

Bug spray I thought!  I looked under the sink.  Damn! The only thing I had on hand was an old can of Insect Repellant from last year’s camping trip.  Should work, right?  It says, “backwoods” on it.  What’s more backwoods than maggots?

Didn’t work.  They just ran faster out of that little opening.  I never knew maggots could survive being completely coated in insect repellant.

I’ll tell you what did work.  Malathion.  I probably should have diluted it and followed the instructions but there was no time for any of that.  Regardless of the recommendation to dilute this tiny bottle to 48 gallons of spray I poured it directly on the opening.

They didn’t die at first.  It took a couple of dousings.  But I don’t have anymore maggots in my kitchen.  I hope.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Coupon scams that involve cramming are huge! Be very careful which websites you use to get coupons from.  Recently I visited a site while looking for fast food coupons.  I found a good and went to print it out.  It wouldn’t print.  The page acted like it was loading. Then suddenly a pop up appeared telling me that if I entered my cell phone number they would send me a text to verify I was human and then the coupon would become printable.

So I put in my cell phone number.  Indeed the coupon became printable andI went on my way.

A couple of weeks later I noticed a strange charge for $69 on my phone bill. Upon calling AT&T I discovered that they hadn’t put the charge on the bill but the other company did.  By replying to the text message they sent me, to supposedly verify my species status, I was granting them permission to put charges on my bill.

AT&T gave me the company’s information, including phone number and told me to call them.  When I called that company they told me they were a third party billing company for this voicemail service that I supposedly signed up for.    I would need to call the company itself.

I did.  And I did again the next month when it showed up on my bill again.  And I called a third time and threw a fit.  It was then and only then that the charges were taken off my bill and I was credited for the previous 2 charges.

This kind of tactic is more common than you might realize.  The AT&T representative told me that these companies are somehow managing to reroute through telephones in public places.  Don’t ask me how but she said they were.

Watch your phone bill and only download coupons from reputable sources.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Good god could my dogs loose any more hair?!  Sydney, our classic black and white, fluffy border collie sheds enough hair to make wigs for 4 people a month and Berkley our retriever/basset hound mix has a beautiful, long, silky coat that bursts free of his skin every time he moves.  Don’t get me started on our shorthair cat that I thought wasn’t supposed to shed.

In my quest to free my house from the pet hair blanket I picked up this little gadget by Pledge called the Fabric Sweeper for Pet Hair.  I was a skeptic at first because I normally keep a few sticky paper rollers around the house and I have tried and exhausted all other methods.

The Pledge Pet Hair Fabric Sweeper surprised me.  It may not have gotten 100% of the hair off of my comforter but it did get about 99%.  Usually I vaccum my floor, spread the comforter on the floor, vaccum one side, re-vaccum the floor, flip comforter and vaccum again.  Then I run a sticky paper roller over both sides.  Once my bed is made I cover it with a sheet big enough to completely cover the comforter.  AND it still doesn’t work.

Did you know dog hair can get into your mattress by poking through the fibers?  Same works for dirt.  I always end up with dirt in my bed.  Its forced me to run a dust buster over my bed every night before I crawl in it.

I could not believe how easily the Pledge Pet Hair Fabric Sweeper removed all that hair.  I went around and did the whole house.  Amazing.   I no longer have to lay a sheet over my comforter anymore.  Several times a day I do a quick swipe with the fabric sweeper and pick up any accumulated hair.

I have only one problem with this pet hair removal device.  When the container filled up with hair I figured I could open it somehow and empty it.  Sure enough, the rollers on the bottom pop out.  That’s when it happened.

My joy turned sour.  After putting the rollers back in it stopped picking up as much hair.  At first I thought maybe I put the rollers in upside down and so I switched them.  It still didn’t work.  Now my Pledge Pet Hair Fabric Sweeper only picks up about 50% of the hair.

The good news is that it only cost me 5 bucks and it lasted a couple of months.  I can go get another.

I’d give this product a nice review.  It could be improved but so far it worked better than anything else I’ve tried.  I’m looking at the Fur-Zoff product and may just try it to see if it’s better than Pledge’s.

Popularity: 6% [?]