How to Keep Your Car Clean with Pets
Whether it’s taking your dog along on summer road trips, a cross-country move with pets, taking your nervous kitty to the vet, or a drive to the local park, hiking trail, it doesn’t take long for your vehicle to accumulate fur, mud, stains, and grime from having pets on board.
While we love having our pets along for the rides, we don’t love the mess that’s left behind. Over the years, we’ve discovered some tips and tricks to keep your vehicle clean(well, cleaner) and smelling fresh.
After a long, hard Winter, and with shedding season in full swing, my truck was in desperate need of a deep clean. So, I thought I’d bring all of you along for the ride.
I gathered some of our tried-and-true tools, tips, and tricks to share. But I also put a some new ones to the test to give you the best options for keeping your car clean without leaving your pooch at home.
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The Tools
The collection of cleaning items for our deep clean included some previously tested and approved items such as microfiber cloths, a lint roller, and a windshield cleaning tool. I also tested products such as a pet hair removal mitt, the FurViking detailer tool, a pumice stone, and the Mini Pet Hair Removal tool.
The Pet Care Tools
A collection of tools we tested to clean pet mess from our vehicles.
Microfiber Cloths
Microfiber cloths are great multi-purpose cleaning tools to have on hand.
Dashboard a little dusty? Nose art on the car windows? Dirt on your leather seats? A bit of pet hair on the carpet? Need to soak up a spill quickly?
Microfiber cloths are a decent go-to assistant for all kinds of messes that pets can make.
Household Nitrile Gloves
This simple household glove is able to pick up pet hair with just a sweep across the carpet. With just a spritz of water, it picks up even more.
Nitrile or Latex Gloves
You know those handy household gloves that we use for cleaning in our homes? Try them on pet hair.
Moisten the hair or the gloves with a spritz of water and take it up to the next level.
This is new to our arsenal and, quite honestly, it’s a game changer for pet hair!
I was absolutely amazed how much hair was collected with one wipe and if your hand can reach a spot, the glove will bring the hair with it.
This little pet hair detailer was very effective at pulling hair from the upholstery and carpet, including the creases and folds of the seats.
Ownpets Pet Hair Detailer
This is another awesome new tool for my cleaning arsenal! In fact, it might be my favourite for detailing the cloth seats and carpeted areas in my truck.
I was able to switch between 4 different rubber-toothed surfaces to pull all kinds of hair out of tight spots in the truck.
It’s ergonomic design made it comfortable to hold and manuever.
This one is definitely going to become a permanent member of my clean team!
Pumice Stone
With a very light brushing using the pumice stone, the pet hair is easily collected off the upholstery.
Pumice Stone
Pumice stones aren’t just for getting rid of foot calluses.
A pumice stone, rubbed gently across fabric or carpet surfaces will definitely remove a lot of hair with very little effort.
I did find that, even though I was gentle, a little of the pumice material was left behind like bits of sand at times. And you would have to be careful with it around plastic trim to prevent scratches.
But, for a quick and cheap pet hair solution, it does the job well.
This handy little tool is small but mighty. It’s perfect for hooking out hair from tight crevices in your car seats.
FurViking Pet Hair Remover
When I first picked up this tool, I didn’t have a lot of hope.
It’s small and looks pretty innocuous.
But, boy, was I wrong!
This little tool is even better than the Ownpets tool at getting into all those nooks and crannies.
I will keep this tool on hand just for this purpose, not so much for larger surface areas.
I definitely give this one high marks for getting into those spots that pet hair likes to creep into and live forever.
This pet hair removal glove would be best suited to giving your seats a quick scrub to remove pet hair for a light clean.
Pet Hair Remover Glove
This glove/mitt reminds me of a reusable lint brush.
It’s easy to slip on, and has bi-directional bristles. Just rub it back and forth across the surface and it will collect hair.
I would consider this one as a maintenance tool to quickly remove fur, dander and dust off larger surfaces, rather than a deep clean tool when a lot of hair has accumulated.
Lint Roller
Lint rollers are great for quick pick-ups of pet hair, lint and dust on your clothing and car upholstery.
Lint Roller
Ah, the lint roller. We keep these handy all over the place.
It’s basically a wide roll of masking tape that’s inside out and on a handle.
From a quick roll-over for your clothing, to a quick seat-cleaning in your car, these handy little tools will pick up those loose hairs that cling to clothing and car seats of pretty much every pet person.
Again, I’d consider this more of a maintenance tool than a deep clean tool.
While you won’t need to use this little machine each time you clean, it’s invaluable for cleaning up messes and doing deep cleans in your vehicle.
Bissell Little Green Pro Portable Carpet Cleaner
This little carpet cleaner is a great tool for removing embedded dirt and stubborn pet stains from carpeting and upholstery in your home and your vehicle.
I love using it to deep clean the seats and carpets in my truck. It pulls out the salt residue that collects each Winter and the mud and dirt that Lucy drags into the truck each Spring.
Seat Cover
All of this pet hair and gritty sand would have ended up imbedded in the car seat. This cover can be quickly removed to shake out the sand and pet hair. For a more thorough clean, it’s machine washable.
Seat Cover or Seat Hammock
Invest in a seat cover or hammock to protect both cloth and leather seats from damage from muddy paws, ground in dirt, pet hair and more. If your pet gets nervous and drools, has accidents, or gets car sick, having a waterproof cover for your seats is vital. Make sure you choose one that can still allow access to seat belts and car seat anchors and tethers.
With an extendable handle and microfiber head, this windshield cleaner tool makes the task of keeping your windshield clean a little easier(and less annoying).
Windshield Cleaner Tool
While a little part of me feels bad cleaning off my pup’s nose art from the windows, this tool will ease the pain.
It has an extendable handle and microfiber cloth pads to make cleaning windows less of a pain in my neck(literally!).
Ask my hubby…I hate cleaning vehicle windows and anything that helps make this job easier is an awesome tool for me!
Prevention
The best bet for keeping pet hair and dirt out of your vehicle is to get rid of as much of it as you can before you get into your car.
Give your dog or cat a quick brush before you take them in the vehicle to remove loose hairs outside the car instead of all over your seats.
If you’re anything like us, pets love to come and crawl all over you as you’re heading out and leaving them at home. So, having that lint roller on hand before you climb in your car will get the pet hair off your clothes and keep it from the vehicle’s interior.
A Few Tricks to Keep Your Car Pet-Mess Free
We’ve learned a few tidbits along the way that may help all of you keep your car clean when you have pets along for the ride. Some may seem like common sense and some a little “out there” but they all work!
Restrict your pets to one vehicle only. That way, the messes are contained and only one vehicle suffers “the wrath” of pet mess. My husband uses his truck for business so Lucy is not allowed in his truck. This keeps hair and muddy paws out of his “office”.
Using a harness and tether or carrier for your pets can help contain the mess to one area of your vehicle. However, pet hair can only be contained so much and will find its way into all areas of your vehicle if you don’t keep on top of it.
You can also put a t-shirt or some of those cute pj’s for pets on them to contain the hair. I’ve never tried this method, to be honest. But I see the logic and I’ll bet it helps and looks adorable too! Just make sure whatever you choose, it fits underneath their harness so they can still be buckled in for safety.
If you’re in a hurry and don’t have time to get rid of some loose pet hair, drive with your windows down for a few minutes. This is surprisingly effective at removing pet hair from your vehicle(honestly!).
In that same vein, if the pet hair has gotten out of hand, open every door of your vehicle, remove any loose objects, and use a leaf blower to give it a quick blast inside (if you have one, of course). Hilariously effective and very satisfying!
Keep a cleaning caddy tucked in your vehicle to deal with pet messes as they happen, if possible. Even if it’s just a couple of microfiber cloths, household gloves, and some vinegar/water mixture in a spray bottle will be useful
If your car is smelling a little funky, sprinkle some baking soda on the carpet and upholstery and leave for a while to absorb the scent before vacuuming thoroughly. If it’s a more pervasive smell, or someone had a boo-boo, you can treat it with an enzymatic cleaner. This should eliminate most smells from your car.
Different tools may work better or worse with different vehicles, depending on the upholstery and carpeting in your vehicle. A little trial and error may be necessary to find the perfect tools for your vehicle. But, based on trials, the above mentioned products will do a great job for most vehicles.
Pet people are always on the lookout for new ideas to make life with pets easier-to free up more time to spend with their pets!
Do you have another method to keep your vehicle clean with pets? Please share in the comment section below.
