With a dog or a cat in the house, a cleaning spends more of its time on hair: along baseboards, on stairs, under furniture and on the couch. Most homes with pets do best with visits every week or every two weeks, because hair builds up faster than other dust and is the first thing people notice when it’s back.
How do pets change a house cleaning?
Mostly in where the time goes. Floors take extra passes, stairs and baseboards collect hair in every corner, and upholstered furniture needs vacuuming, not just a wipe. The rest of the cleaning, the kitchen and the bathrooms, stays about the same.
What changes by animal:
| Dogs | Cats | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the hair ends up | Floors, stairs, entry, the dog’s favorite spot on the couch | Upholstery, beds, windowsills, the tops of furniture |
| What else comes in | Mud, wet paw prints, sand and road salt in winter | Litter tracked out of the box, onto nearby floors |
| What to watch | Nose prints on glass doors and low walls | Hairballs and the corner around the litter box |
| Busiest season | Spring and fall shedding, and mud season | Spring and fall shedding |
The heavy shedding seasons are when a home that looked fine every two weeks starts needing more. A dog that comes in wet from the yard in March brings the same problem salt does in winter: most of it stays in the first few feet inside the door, if there’s a mat there to catch it.
How often should you clean with pets?
Every two weeks works for most homes with one dog or a couple of cats. Weekly makes sense with a big shedder, several animals, or someone in the house with allergies.
For a four-bedroom house with two kids and a dog, in average condition, recurring cleaning runs $120 to $160 per visit every two weeks and $115 to $150 weekly. Between visits, a quick vacuum of the main floor and the stairs every couple of days keeps the hair from spreading. How often should you have your house cleaned? goes through the choice for the rest of the household.
Does having pets change the price?
It can. The number of pets is one of the questions the estimator asks, and the condition questions are where hair and tracked-in dirt show up. A dog that doesn’t shed much and a house kept up between visits may not move the range at all.
What moves it more is how long the hair has had to build up. The same four-bedroom house in rough shape, with hair and dust built up for months, needs a deep clean first that runs $280 to $380, against $265 to $340 in average condition.
How do you get the house ready for a cleaning with pets?
Decide where the pets will be, and clear the floors. Cleaners can only vacuum what they can reach, and a dog following the vacuum around or a cat hiding under the bed makes a visit longer for everyone.
Before the cleaners arrive:
- Tell us about your pets when you book. How many, and anything the cleaners should know, like a dog that slips out the door or a cat that shouldn’t get into one room.
- Put the pets somewhere comfortable. A closed room, a crate or the yard, depending on the animal. A pet that’s calm around strangers can stay out, as long as it isn’t underfoot.
- Pick up toys, bowls and beds from the floor. That’s what lets the floors get done edge to edge.
- Scoop the litter box. It’s the one spot that makes the rest of a clean house smell like it wasn’t cleaned.
- Keep the same day of the week. The same two cleaning professionals come every visit, so your pets get used to them, and the one exception is when you move your regular day.
What should you do about pet hair between cleanings?
A short routine keeps hair from piling up: brush the pets outside or on a towel, put a washable cover on their spot on the couch, and keep a mat inside the door. Wash pet bedding every week or two, since loose hair collects there first.
A deep clean is the reset for a home where the hair has gotten ahead of you: baseboards, door frames, vent covers and ceiling fan blades, the places where hair and dust settle and a regular visit doesn’t reach. Deep cleaning covers the list, and how long does a house cleaning take? has the hours. The estimator gives you the range for your own home, pets included, in about a minute.
