Dog and Cat Hair Removal - Vacuum and Steam Cleaning

Steam cleaner more effective for pet hair than vacuum

by Mercia Tapping, President, AllergyBuyersClub.com

One of our staff came back with a rather amazing story the other day. He had been demonstrating a Ladybug vapor steam cleaner for carpet cleaning - something we do not usually recommend, as it is too time consuming. The sequence for carpet cleaning is vacuum, vapor steam clean, then vacuum again. The idea is to vacuum up excess dirt, then use heat to loosen up the fibers on the carpet and bring the dirt up to the surface. Then whatever dirt is not on the steam cleaner toweling attachment you then vacuum up afterwards. Here is what happened.

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The carpet was first vacuumed with one of those vacuums we hate - the see-through container kind. Then the carpet was steam cleaned with a vapor steam cleaner. So far, so good. Then it was vacuumed again. The homeowner then panicked as large clouds of visible black dust could be seen being sucked up into her vacuum cleaner. So our guy examined the nature of the dust and declared it to be dog hair. The house owner denied vigorously she had a dog, so he had to be wrong. He took another look, definitely dog hair. Then the light dawned and she said "Well, I have had this carpet for three years but it belonged to my mother and she had a black dog…". So the moral of the story is that vacuum cleaners often do not create sufficient air flow and penetrating power to bring up dirt /pet hair deeply embedded in your carpet. You need to release them with hot steam - also a great way to help dog and cat allergy symptoms.

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First Published: November 2001
Updated: April 2007

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