Are Your Carpets Giving Your Dog Allergies?

Posted on: 5 May 2016

If your dog scratches more than usual, sneezes uncontrollably or exhibits other strange behavior, and they don't have fleas or ticks, you might have allergens in your home's carpets. Although allergies are more common in humans, animals can also develop allergies to contaminants such as dust mites and mold. The allergies can eventually make your beloved pet sick. One of the things you might do to ease your pet's discomfort is professionally clean your carpets. Carpet cleaning removes the allergens that irritate your pooch's skin and respiratory system. Here are things that lurk in your carpets and information on the best carpet cleaning service available for your needs.

What Type of Allergens Hide in Your Carpets?

Allergens, or things that cause allergy symptoms, don't always reveal themselves to you. While you can see the dust in your home as it coats your furnishings or floats around in the sunlight, some contaminants, such as dust mites and mold, aren't easily seen. Dust mites and mold can hide deep within the fibers of your carpets and aggravate your dog's allergy symptoms over time.

One of the biggest problems with mold is that it can survive in cold and hot conditions. Mold spores travel from room to room through your home's air. In most cases, your cooling system may pick up the mold spores as it circulates air throughout the house. Once the spores land on surfaces, they hide until the indoor environment becomes moist and humid enough for them to grow. If your dog loves to lie on the home's carpets, they may pick up mold spores on their fur and paws. 

Dust mites may irritate your pooch's skin and respiratory system. These types of contaminants are tiny enough to hide inside and between the carpet fibers. Because dust mites feed on dead skin and hair to survive, the pests may cause create numerous skin problems for your beloved dog, including sores and rashes. Additionally, dust mites leave behind feces and other contaminants that can enter your pet's lungs and nasal passages. Your dog may develop polyps, or growths, inside their nasal cavity that block the flow of air into their lungs.

The best option to combat the major issues above and protect your pet is to steam clean your carpets.

How Does Steam Cleaning Work and Benefit Your Home?

Steam cleaning relies on heat, detergent and water extracting machines to do the job instead of steam. Carpet cleaning professionals typically wet the carpets before applying detergent to the fibers. If you're concerned about how the detergent may affect your dog, you may have the option of choosing a non-toxic and pet-friendly cleaning solution for your carpets. It's important that you tell the cleaning contractors about your pet's allergy problems before they begin services.

After they apply the detergent, the cleaners switch their equipment to heat mode. The heat is designed to activate the detergent and help it penetrate the fibers of the carpets. Depending on the company you choose, the heat produced by the equipment may reach a temperature of 200 degrees or higher. Higher temperatures can destroy contaminants and treat other problems with your carpets better than lower temperatures. The contractors generally extract the water from your carpets with a long vacuum hose attached to a large truck parked outside your home. 

If you're concerned that the heat will damage your carpets, don't be. Sources report that steam cleaning is a safe method that dries quickly with little to no effects on your carpets. But if you still have concerns about the steam cleaning method, contact a contractor for more details.

For more information about carpet cleaning, contact a contractor, such as those at Service King, today.

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