Question for dog/cat owners

[GagHalfrunt]

The smell doesn't come from the pet, it comes from idiot owners. It's very possible, even easy, to own a pet without the smell. Just don't let the pets use your carpets as their bathroom.

 

[gaidensensei]

^Ya, that's true too. What the owners are feeding the pet can be one of the major factors contributing to it's smell.

Canned preservative food is really, really bad. Or usually from my experience.

 

[thehstrybean]

I went house hunting yesterday and looked at about 8 houses. Two of them smelled awful and it was clearly the smell of dog. One of the first things i wanted to do soon after i got a house was to get a dog and/or cats, but i'm afraid of what the house would smell after a while.

I imagined that the owners didn't even realize that their houses smelled that bad since they were so used to it.

Were those owners just filthy and never washed or cleaned their pet? or is that smell inevitable? I noticed one house had a thick carpet in the living room, but the other house didn't have any carpets at all and smelled even worse than the house w/ the carpet, so i was wondering how the hell it smelled that bad?

I got a puppy from the pound. She peed and pooped a bit when we first got her, but it's all fine now. Just a lot of fur, but yes, if you don't take care to keep your pet clean, it will smell. I take the pup to the groomer about once a month, and she plays in the mud all the time. Smells fine!

 

[thomsbrain]

If you keep your dog relatively clean and house-train it, it should be okay.

But there are some dogs that just plain stink up a storm (many basset hounds, for instance).

 

[shortylickens]

Carpet is for suckers. Wood flooring FTW.

D:
My mind reels in agony with the thought of dog claws on hardwood floors.

 

[FuzzyDunlop]

because the owners let their dogs/cats do this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-6Xv4bjd-s&feature=related

 

[destrekor]

Dogs smell worse than cats. As long as the cats don't pee on carpeting, the house should smell ok. Most dogs have a funk that isn't related to bodily functions.

Yet at the same time, not really.

I've been in many houses with dogs, and never really noticed a smell.
Houses with cats, it seems 50/50. There is either a characteristic "these are cat people" smell, or absolutely no smell - which I deduce they have done something to cover said cat smell up with various scented products that combined cancel everything out, including smell itself.

It's an oddity, for sure. I always fear for the universe when I encounter these houses. But they are more enjoyable than the "they have cats" smell.

😛

To be fair, when a dog smell, it's just straight up funktastic.
Two causes: either the dog always rolls around and the owners do nothing to clean the dog up, or the dog is wet.
Wet dog is just terrible, yet as I'm sure many cat owners have done, I have gotten used to that smell to the point that it's not really offensive to my nose. It's almost "homey" to me, since I absolutely love dogs and at this point don't get to see my parents dog all that much (1/4 of the year essentially).

Oddly enough, our last dog, a complete heinz-57 mutt (think she had a little standard poodle in her, the hair was similar but not quite the same shag-carpet style)... we basically groomed her quite often, kept away the foul smells. And damn she gave our noses wet-dog-smell attacks after it rained. 😀

Our current dog? Aussie Shepherd/Lab mix, with basically the shiny flat coat of a Lab (complete with full tuxedo pattern, 4 mostly/partially white paws included), though her hair is a little longer.
3 years old (I think), and she has yet to have been subjected to a bath.

There is something to that dog, it's just weird. She just doesn't get a smell to her unless she has rolled around in something. Nature just works for her, because any smell is temporary. And she doesn't stand around or run around in the rain. If it's raining, it's either she seriously has to do something outside, or we throw her out. Regardless, she's back at the door as fast as possible, sometimes never leaving the deck if she didn't convince herself she had to do anything. She's a wimp, partly why we haven't tried bathing her yet. But 3 years running, no pressing need either.

She does love rolling around in the grass like an idiot. Freshening up, perhaps? 😀

 

[0roo0roo]

I disagree. I had hardwood floors on my entire mainfloor at my last house with the exception of the stair landing. The landing was carpeted and that's where my dog chose to lay 90% of the time. She didn't leave messes there, she just laid there. No amount of vaccuuming would get rid of the "dog" smell in that part of the house when you came in. She was bathed regularly and frequently combed. She just smelled like a dog and so did the carpet.

You can try covering it up with some carpet powder but a lot of that stuff smells worse than the odor you are trying to hide.

well no shit though, why would vac work, if you vac'd yourself instead of showering youd stink as well, u gotta buy a shampoo machine when you get a pet if you have carpet. if you dont, ur asking for it, and aggravation every time the pet f*cks up.

 

[Cashlaw]

Only sick or neglected animals will smell bad or leave smelly messes around the house, and it takes the owner to leave the house that filthy long enough for it to smell.

Blame the pet owners. Most pet animals are naturally very clean, or try to stay clean if they can.

 

[EagleKeeper]

We have our two cockers groomed/bathed every two weeks.

The house carpet is professionally cleaned every three months.

These are requirements of my wife.

No-one has ever commented on order.