Pet-Friendly Spring Cleaning Tips - Avoid These Common Toxic Cleaning Products

If you’re like many pet parents, spring cleaning is one of the ways you welcome warmer weather. It’s beneficial to both your human and your four-legged family members to declutter, sanitize, and let in the fresh air. But some products commonly used for spring cleaning, especially household cleaning solutions, are toxic to cats and dogs.

Common Household Cleaning Products that are Toxic to Pets
No matter what products you’re using to clean, always follow the directions on the bottle or package. Most should be used in a well-ventilated space, and children and animals should be kept clear until the product dries or settles.
Household cleaning products that most commonly cause poisoning to pets are alkaline chemicals like bleach, detergents, toilet cleaners, and drain openers. These products are caustic and cause chemical burns to the paws, skin, mouth, and gastric tract. The fumes can irritate or even seriously injure your pet’s eyes, lungs, and throat.
Bleach is incredibly versatile for cleaning, used to sanitize everything from kitchen counters and floors to toilets and sinks. You can even use bleach to sanitize your pet’s bowls, toys, and other belongings. Just make sure to rinse and dry the object before use.
If ingested, bleach can cause anything from mild gastric distress and skin irritation, for example, if your pet licks their paws after walking across a recently mopped floor, to chemical burns along the GI tract if your pet drinks undiluted bleach from an open container.
Carpet cleaning products like carpet shampoo and powder deodorizers can be mildly toxic if your pet licks their paws after walking through after products were recently applied.
While the majority of conventional household cleaning products will not cause immediate health risks with responsible use, there’s growing evidence that they can contribute to or even cause long-term health issues. For example, artificial fragrances and air fresheners have been linked to asthma and allergies in both humans and pets. Household products like oven cleaners, toilet cleaners, and pesticides may contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) which have been linked to cancer, lung damage, and liver damage.

Pet-Friendly Spring Cleaning Alternatives
Unfortunately, the cleaning product industry is poorly regulated. You may have noticed that the ingredients lists on your favorite products consist of vague terms like “propellants,” “proprietary cleaners” and “fragrances.” It’s not always easy to tell if a product can be harmful to our pets, our human family members, and the environment.
One of the most effective changes you can make to your cleaning routine is to ditch the artificial fragrances. It may be difficult, at first, to overcome the notion that a home is not clean unless it smells like “winter berries,” or “island breeze,” or some other perfume.
To truly remove odors without adding harsh perfumes, you need to find and clean the source. Pet-specific carpet cleaners are great for removing both pet and non-pet odors and stains from porous surfaces because they’re pet-safe, using enzymes to break down the organic materials and neutralize odor-causing bacteria.
Essential oils can give your home a fresh scent, but they can also be highly toxic to pets. Among the most common essential oils that cause poisoning in pets include eucalyptus oil, tea tree oil, peppermint oil, citrus oils, pine, wintergreen, sweet birch, and clove oils. They can harm pets if inhaled, either when used as an ingredient in homemade cleaning solutions or diffused.
To help you shop for safer cleaner products, you can refer to the EPA’s Safer Choice certified guide or safety scores from the Environmental Working Group.
By far the safest, easiest, and most affordable way to keep a clean, pet-friendly home is to keep it simple. Baking soda, lemon juice, and vinegar can take care of just about anything: caked-on messes, clogged drains, and lingering odors.