Unless you own a turtle with depression, chances are - your pet is going to be jumping up and down your house, knocking over vases, scaring your guests, urinating on house plants, and potentially also urinating on your guests.

The fact of the matter is, most animals will consider your house a weird place that needs to be thoroughly explored and potentially trashed if they see a funny-looking elusive bug on the wall they need to chase.

While the prospect of keeping your pets indoors does have its joys, you do need to take into consideration the potential perils of keeping a hyperactive terrier in a place built for humans. As you will see, some adaptation will be required, so be prepared to redecorate your house and tweak a couple of things here and there.

Right then, without further ado, here’s the deal.

How to Outfit Your House So That Your Pets are Safe & Sound Inside

Use Pet-proof Barriers

A pet-proof barrier is one of those small gate thingies you’ve seen particularly springy small dogs jump right over in videos. But that shouldn’t happen. Find the barrier you’ve seen in the video and then don’t buy it. Buy a slightly taller one, instead. (They’re also used for babies, for the record.)

The thing about these barriers is that they’re incredibly useful for warding off places you don’t want your pets to be entering willy-nilly. Whether you’re having guests, or organising a house party, these barriers can help keep your pets safe in one area of your home, while you’re having fun in other rooms.

Keep the Garbage Covered and Well-Protected

As you probably already know, most pets aren’t really picky eaters.

Whether it’s leftovers from the day before yesterday, a semi-rotten egg sticking out of the heap of trash, or indeed someone’s vomit after a house party, your dog will be right on the case with the first opportunity.

Cats and lizards tend to be pickier, but still – you need to make sure you don’t find these pawed and clawed creatures head first in your trash pail every five minutes. 

Hide Exposed Wires

Other than trash, your furniture, your guests, and other pets you may have, your furry or, ehrm … scaly companions will also attempt to chew and gnaw on wires. Especially if the wires in question are exposed and have the potential to kill them.

The thing is, pets are curious and like tugging string-like objects just to see what happens afterwards. Therefore, you need to cover up all exposed wires and make sure they’re well out of reach of pets for their own safety. (But also for the safety of your TV program quality. You don’t want your pet iguana chewing on your router cables in the slow, disturbing way typical for these lizards.)

Pick the Right Kind of Flooring

Without a doubt, your floor is going to take the brunt of your pet’s abuse and shenanigans.

This is why it’s important to figure out what sort of flooring solutions you’re going to go with. If you happen to be only refurbishing your house now, you may want to go with parquet or a similar hard floor surface, because these will be easier to clean.

A backyard deck is also a designing option you should consider. These are difficult to damage because they’re a hard surface. Also, they form an area that stands between your indoor rooms and the backyard, so your pets can play there to their heart’s content!

(On the other hand, if you have to go for a rug, get one of those waterproof models.)

All things considered, pet-proofing your house is all about making sure your beloved pets don’t eat trash, get electrocuted, ruin your rugs and furniture, and have something fall on them perhaps. As long as you cover these crucial areas, your house and your pets should be A-okay.

 Author Bio: Kevin has gone through an extensive home renovation with his son, which he has both thoroughly enjoyed, and dreaded every morning. He is now the proud owner of half his dream house (the other half has been waiting for spring). You can read more of Kevin's work at PlainHelp.

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