What to Know About Pets and Indoor Air Quality

You’ve heard the phrase before: a home isn’t a home without a pet. A furry friend can make a house feel like home, more so than any amount of interior decorating could. Whether your pet is a dog, a cat, or some other animal, chances are, they make your life better. However, they may not necessarily make your indoor air quality any better. As wonderful as pets are, their fur and dander can get into the air, as well as into your air filters. Here’s what you should know about the ways pets can impact your indoor air quality and what to do about it. 

Pets Can Clog Air Filters Quickly 

There’s nothing more soothing or comforting than petting a soft cat or dog, but their dander and fur can quickly spread through your home and clog your air filters. The average home should change their air filters every 90 days. However, homes with one pet should change theirs every 60 days, and homes with more than one pet should change theirs every 20-45 days. These time frames may vary depending on whether you or someone in your home has allergies, as well as the type of pet you have. If you have a hairless cat or a hypoallergenic dog, for example, you may not need to change the air filter quite as often. 

Fur Isn’t the Only Problem

When you think of pets who cause indoor air quality issues, your mind probably jumps to cats and dogs. However, furry friends aren’t the only ones who cause issues with indoor air quality. Our feathered friends can cause problems as well! If you have birds, there are several ways they can reduce the quality of your indoor air. Firstly, their feathers can get dirty. If your birds fly freely through your home, the flapping of their wings can send that dirt flying through the air, which you and your family then breathe in. Additionally, bird droppings and dust in their cage can cause indoor air quality issues and respiratory difficulties for you and your family.

Indoor Air Quality and Pet Maintenance Products

Your pets’ fur, feathers, and dander aren’t the only way they can impact your air quality. Every pet has different needs, so you’ll use different products to care for them. Cats, for example, need litter boxes. When you change their litter or when they kick it, dust can rise from the litter depending on what type you use. That dust can clog your air filter, or you can breathe it straight in when you change your cat’s litter. Similarly, chemical cleaning products used to clean up after your pet when they have an accident can cause indoor air quality issues if you don’t have proper ventilation or filtration. 

What Can You Do?

If your pet is impacting your indoor air quality, there are a few things you can do about it. Firstly, you can change your air filters often.  It’s helpful to look at the MERV rating of a filter. MERV stands for Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value, and it indicates how many particles the filter is able to catch. The higher the MERV rating, the better and more efficient the filter will be.  For the best in filtration think about adding a separate HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filter system. HEPA filters are estimated to remove 99.7% of particles from the air, so they’re especially good for families with pets.It’s also a good idea to brush and/or bathe your pets often. Try investing in a dust-free litter for cats, and when you clean up pet messes with chemical products, open windows.

Stack Can Help With Your Indoor Air Quality!

Call Stack Heating, Cooling, Plumbing & Electric in Cleveland, Ohio! We are Cleveland’s indoor air quality experts and can help you with filtration and ventilation. We want you to know that your family’s safety and comfort is our number one priority, as it always has been. We are taking all necessary precautions and following CDC guidelines to keep our customers and employees healthy. We’ve been serving the Cleveland area for over 40 years, and we’re not going anywhere. Give us a call at (440) 937-9134 or visit us on our website today and find out what we can do for you!