How to Clean Pet Hair Out of Your Car Before a Road Trip

It’s summer time. This means that your kids are out of school and it’s time to travel. For many families, summers are spent travelling and visiting extended family members and friends. But for families who have pets and relatives, or friends, with pet allergies this can be a huge problem. According to the Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America 15-30% of Americans suffer from pet allergies, and one of those people could very likely be someone you are going to visit. Even if you don’t bring your pet along for the trip, the hairs and dander that are left behind in your car by your pet can get all over you and your family and eventually into your host’s home. To avoid making your host suffer allergy attacks, follow these simple tips to clean out your car, and remove any allergens left behind by your pet, before heading out on a summer road trip:

Vacuum Your Car
This is simplest way to start cleaning your car to remove any trace of pet allergens. Pets can leave behind hair and dander and by vacuuming your car you can remove most of what pets leave behind. While vacuuming it is important to be thorough. Allergens left behind by pets can be very small, and therefore very hard to find. That is why it is important to be thorough and vacuum the entire interior of your car, instead of spot-checking for pet hair. If you live in a household that doesn’t have a vacuum readily available then you can go to the nearest gas station. Most gas stations have industrial vacuums that you can use for a small fee. Also, most car washes have services available where they will clean the interior of your car along with the exterior. Again, these services come at an additional cost.

By vacuuming the interior you will be able to remove the bulk of the allergens that are left behind by a pet. But vacuuming alone will not remove all of the allergens in your car.

Use household Cleaning Products
Though vacuuming the interior of your car will remove the majority of the allergens that pets may leave behind in your car, it will not remove all of them. That is why it is important to use household cleaning products. These products will remove the rest of the allergens that were left behind by a vacuum.

Products like Pledge and Febreze – that are used to clean furniture like upholstered chairs and couches – can also be used on the interior of your car. By meticulously cleaning the seats and carpets in your car with household cleaning products, you will be able to eliminate the allergens that may have been left in your car after vacuuming.

You can also have your car steam-cleaned. Much like you would have the carpet in a house steam-cleaned you can have the interior of your car steam cleaned. This method will effectively remove many allergens that are left in your car by a pet. But these services are best left to a professional and come at a cost.

Keep Your Pet Away from Luggage
This is an important step to keep pet allergens out of your car after it has been cleaned. Even if you have your car professionally vacuumed and steam cleaned, if you allow your pet to go near your luggage you will reintroduce allergens into your car, thus exposing your allergenic host to them. While packing for a road trip make sure to keep your pet away from you. If your luggage is exposed to the pet during the packing process then you will reintroduce the allergens to your car. When you are done packing make sure to keep the luggage out of reach of a pet. If the pet has access to your luggage they can leave allergens behind on it, thus reintroducing them to the car after you have cleaned it.

When visiting family or friends during a summer road trip the last thing you want to do is trigger a loved one’s allergies. To ensure that this doesn’t happen make sure to thoroughly clean out your car – to remove any and all allergens – before visiting family or friends with allergies. If you do, this you can ensure a fun and allergy free trip for all.

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