Posted: October 1, 2009, 5 a.m. EDT
It’s no secret that Americans love their pets. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that an online survey conducted by cleaning-product manufacturer Bissell Homecare, Inc., has discovered that American homes are covered with cat and dog hair – and people are OK with that. With 50 percent of owners giving their dogs and cats free run of the house, there’s bound to be a lot of hair flying around.
This survey also uncovered some other interesting statistics: 57 percent of pet owners said that their pets are more likely than a significant other to give them a kiss when they return home. And 86 percent of those surveyed said they don’t mind doing a little extra cleanup if it means having a dog or a cat in the house, although 38 percent said they’d add pets to their homes if they didn’t also add to the housework.
According to the pet owners surveyed, dog or cat hair is the most difficult mess to clean up, more so than vomit, urine or feces, and 62 percent said they would sacrifice something they enjoy, like a cup of coffee before work, if it meant that their pets would stop shedding around the house.
Since giving up the morning Starbucks won’t make the stains disappear, 73 percent said they would love to have a magic wand that eliminated pet odor and hair. But because this really isn’t an option, either, 51 percent of those surveyed admitted that they sometimes take the easy way out when hiding pet messes, such as covering an accident or pet hair instead of cleaning it, or using an air freshener to hide a bad odor.