6 Effective Tips to Pet-Proof Your Plumbing
Ensuring the well-being of our pets is a perpetual worry for those who own pets. Our animal companions are highly energetic and tend to get into things. Astonishingly, plumbing issues stemming from pets happen quite frequently. It's crucial to safeguard your plumbing against pet-related damage, not only for the protection of your pet but also to preserve the integrity of your household's plumbing system.
Here are some tried and tested tips that will keep any pet-related plumbing worries off your mind.
Use drain guards
When pets move around the house freely, they leave behind a lot of pet hair all over the place. All the pet hair can go down the drains and clog them. You may even be bathing your pet in the bathroom or kitchen sink. This of course, let in a bulk pet hair in the pipes. Animal hair is much coarser than human hair and can create difficult clogs in the drains.
Using drain guards or drain stoppers can catch most of the pet hair (and also human hair) and prevent it from entering the drains.
Keep a watch on the digging
Pets are in a habit of digging as a form of play. We get that. But our cuddly friends could easily get carried away and dig much deeper, closer to the pipelines. Even if your pet is not the mischievous kind, it may be that little exploring could expose the pipes closer to the surface. This could be a serious problem and lead to pipe leaks. You may end up spending big bucks on emergency drain pipe repair.
To save yourself from exploding pipes and waterworks, you should be aware of which spots should be out of reach for your pets. You can ask a local technician to inspect your backyard and locate areas which aren't safe for the digging games. You can choose to cover the spot with some fixtures, so that your pet cannot access it.
Pet-proofing the toilet bowl
There are so many funny videos on the internet with pets drinking out of the toilet bowls. It's just not funny anymore. Letting your pets drink out of the toilet can be very harmful for their health. Yes, that's true! Even if you claim that your toilet is as clean as the crystal, there may be residues from cleaning products in there. You wouldn't want your pet to get a taste of those harmful chemicals.
So always make a point to put the toilet lid down. That should keep your pet safe. Besides, make sure to keep fresh drinking water available in your pet's water bowl, so that your pet doesn't have to go hunting for water to quench its thirst.
Installing pressure balancing valves
If you don't have pressure balancing valves, hot water may suddenly burst from the faucet scalding anyone using it. And in case you are using the faucet to bathe your pet, scalding may be a major issue for your delicate pets, especially the younger ones.
Installing pressure balancing valves is a cheap and convenient solution, to avoid any such bad experiences for your pets (or for anyone else).
No exposed pipes, please!
The most practical approach to pet-proofing is to keep the dangerous stuff out of reach. This includes pipes and drains. Curious pet dogs can sometimes get out of control and chew through pipes.
There are some easy DIY pipe covers that you can make at home. You could also purchase pipe covers at the hardware store.
Managing pet litter
There is some misleading information about kitty litter. People assume it to be flushable. But that's absolute trash!
Even if the bag of kitty litter says that it's flushable, it should not be flushed. Kitty litter has a tendency of becoming sticky over time, and can cause your drains and toilet to clog. No matter what the friendly blogger says or what the bag reads, never ever dump kitty litter in the toilet!
