For many first-time RV owners, it can be surprising how quickly the small area inside your RV becomes cluttered and dirty. If you own a pet (or two!), this process happens even more quickly. It can be hard to stay on top of regularly cleaning your space and making sure your pet’s hair doesn’t cling to everything (and everyone) that enters your RV. That doesn’t mean you should leave your furry friend at home because they love the outdoors as much as we do!
Fortunately, there are several ways you can reduce (if not eliminate entirely!) the amount of pet hair inside your RV. Even if pet hair in your RV doesn’t bother you, your guests will thank you for doing your best to clean up after your furry friends and reduce their impact. In this article, we’re going to share five tricks to keep your RV pet hair free!
Outdoor Bathing/Cleaning Station
One of the major reasons why so many of us are attracted to living in an RV is because we like to spend the majority of our time outside. The lifestyle that comes with living in an RV allows us to move around and explore more of the natural world. But it also means that we end up tracking more of the elements of that natural world into our indoor living space. Because of this, having the right essentials for grooming your pets is all the more important.
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Many RVs aren’t necessarily equipped with a large mudroom where you can stop most of the mud, dirt, and, in this case, pet hair from being tracked into the rest of your living space. So it’s even more important to set up an outdoor bathing or cleaning station for your pets when you live in an RV. The design of your cleaning station is entirely up to you.
It could be as simple as a small washtub outside of the door to wash your pet’s feet and underbelly. Or you can go a little further and set up a full outdoor shower to be able to give your pet a proper shower before you allow them back into your RV. Whatever you choose, it remains important to give your pets a little bathing or cleaning outside of your RV to reduce the amount of hair and dirt they track in.
Wood or Laminate Flooring
The next great way to reduce the amount of pet hair in your RV is by replacing carpeting with wood or laminate flooring. You can also go the linoleum route if that’s more affordable for your budget, but the point here is that it’s much easier to sweep hair out of your RV if it’s only accumulating on a hard, flat surface. Hair tends to get stuck and matted into the carpet much easier and then it’s much more difficult to get rid of.
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Additionally, carpet, in general, is going to be more difficult to keep clean than wood, laminate, or linoleum flooring. And a dirty RV floor can lead to a host of additional issues, such as mold accumulation, which can eventually be detrimental to your health and the health of all the folks you choose to entertain in your RV. The safest bet for keeping your RV pet hair free and staying healthy is to replace most of the carpeting in the main living areas of your RV with wood, laminate, or linoleum flooring.
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Area Rugs
Even after you exchange carpet for a flooring option that’s easier to clean, you might also add a few nice area rugs to the floor of your RV. This suggestion can even work well if you don’t choose to replace carpet with wood, laminate, or linoleum because it reduces the amount of pet hair that builds up in the carpet itself. Area rugs are much easier to remove and shake out periodically. Depending on the type you opt for, you can also get away with simply tossing them in with your next cycle of laundry to start fresh with a pet hair free RV.
Cover Furniture
If your pets love to curl up on the sofa, benches, or captain and first mate’s chairs while you’re away, these are other areas where pet hair can build up. Fortunately, there are furniture covers made specifically for this purpose. They come in many shapes and sizes. Some are made for your couch while others function better for the chairs and benches in your RV. When sorting through these furniture covers, make sure to take some measurements of the furniture you wish to cover so you can make sure you’re getting the correct size.
Photo: Orna Wachman/Pixabay
If you don’t want to spend the money on a customized cover for your furniture, you can always create a selection of “specialty blankets” to be used for this purpose. These can either be older blankets or towels that you don’t mind getting dirty or they can be nicer blankets that complete the desired Feng Shui of your RV’s interior design. Whatever you choose, appropriate furniture covers will be much easier to wash and keep pet hair out of your RV than trying to extricate it from the depths of your RV’s original upholstery.
Roll It Up!
Finally, even if you use all of the tricks above (or even if you opt for none of them) a lint roller is one of the best tools to keep around your RV if you have pets. This will allow you to roll up pet hair quickly on a more regular basis and is easier to use than a vacuum while you’re in between larger cleaning cycles. Furthermore, a lint roller will come in handy when you’re preparing for that important job interview or night on the town and realize that you’re somehow already covered in pet hair!
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Keep Your RV Pet-Hair Free!
As pet owners, we often learn to live with the hair that falls off of our furry friends on a daily basis. But even we will need to clean things up from time to time and our guests will surely appreciate leaving our RV without being full of pet hair every time they visit. We hope that you’ve found these five tricks to keep your RV pet hair free useful and if you have any tricks that we didn’t include we’d love to hear from you. Until then, happy RV living!
