The 2020 lockdowns affected people in different ways. If you’re happy in your own company, then being forced to stay home may not have been that big a grind. It gave you an opportunity to do the things you previously felt you didn’t have time for. You could catch up on popular TV shows or work your way through the books you’d been meaning to read for ages. On the flip side, if you thrive in the company of others, lockdown was a nightmare. Suddenly being shut away at home made you feel lonely and at a loss to know what to do with your time.
Why Brits turned to pets to battle the blues
The one thing pretty much all of us were allowed to do during lockdown was go for a walk. But going for a walk by yourself isn’t everyone’s idea of a good time. And if you have children, trying to get them away from their ‘screen-time’ and into the fresh air can be quite a challenge. So it’s perhaps not surprising that a lot of Brits took the plunge and invested in a pet. Over 3 million pets were bought during lockdown, leading to over 17 million pet-owning homes in the UK. The most popular pets were dogs, with cats a close second. What’s more, 74% said their new pet helped improve their mental health, making lockdown more bearable.
Dogs are great at getting kids outdoors
Dogs are great pets to have if you like to spend time outdoors. Full of energy, a dog is only too happy to drag you out of the house for some exercise – even when you’re not feeling it! Generally kids get on well with dogs too, so it’s little wonder that 56% of people who bought their first pet during lockdown had children at home as well. Taking your dog for out turns a boring walk in the park into something fun and rewarding.
How to clean up after your pets
There’s quite a lot you have to get used to when you take on a new pet. It’s not just the expense of an extra mouth to feed, or being available to go for walks, you have to deal with the extra mess, too. If you buy a puppy or a kitten, they often don’t come toilet trained. And of course, when they leave their little puddles or muddy paw prints on the floor, they don’t tell you. It means you can have a nasty, unhygienic mess to clean up without realising it.
Thank goodness for the Thane H2O range of cleaners
If you live with pets, there are some cleaning devices which are a real godsend. The first is the H2O e3 Cleaning System. It’s a smart cleaning system that uses two ingredients found in every home – tap water and table salt – to help keep your home hygienically clean, disinfected and deodorised. It works by passing gentle electricity through the saltwater solution. This process creates a powerful oxidant which both cuts through grease and kills germs and bacteria – even the COVID-19 virus. But what’s really great is that the cleaning solution it generates is completely harmless to humans and animals. So you can relax knowing you’re keeping your home safe and clean, without harming your family.
How the Thane H2O HD works wonders on floors
Another brilliant and simple way to keep on top of your pet’s mess is to try steam cleaning. The Thane H2O HD steam cleaner, for example, uses piping hot steam to cut through and lift away the kind of grime your pets leave behind. Even better, its extra-wide cleaning head comes with microfibre cloths which do an amazing job of gathering up pet hair. Even just a quick whizz round with your H2O HD steam mop will leave your floors sparkling clean and sanitised.
Discover why thousands of UK pet-owners trust Thane H2O cleaners to keep their home sparkling clean here.
