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you're listening to Pet Flow with Katie Mera, a lifestyle podcast that features various topics, current events, tips and advice and the occasional guest that not only benefits you but also your pet. So come and join me and take a listen as I am your host, Katie Mera. Hey, guys, welcome to Episode six of Pet Fluffy. Today we'll be discussing cleaning hacks for the pet owner what you can do to clean and to be safe for your pets. I will also give you the latest news regarding pets in Cove in 19. Plus, I'm gonna answer a question regarding two cats being passive aggressive towards each other, especially when no one's around. So we're going to get into all of that. Let's get into our first segment years of scooper. Here's a scooper where a captivating current event can spark a conversation or a feel good story that makes your heart smile. And best of all, it's all about the animals. CNN reported several days ago that a pug in North Carolina, maybe the first dog in the US test positive for Corona virus. Three members of the family contracted covert 19 last month, but one of the members that did never showed any symptoms. The family found out that their dog tested positive for the virus after they participated in a Duke University study about Cove in 19 and the researchers in the study have also been taking swab samples from family pets to see how the Corona virus spreads in households in the study, even though they haven't tested as many pets, Winston Sample was the only one that came back positive. He is believed to be the first dog in the country to test positive for the virus. According to researchers, the amount of virus that was detected on the pug was very low, suggesting that he not likely be a host of transmission of the virus to either other animals or to any other humans in the household. The pope did show minor symptoms while his family was also sick. He had a small cough for a day or two and didn't eat breakfast one morning. His symptoms weren't alarming enough for the family to report that he was sick, and it was just luck that he was tested while the family was doing this research. Now, researchers also don't know if the Corona virus made the pug sick, or it's due to an unrelated ailment. The family does have another dog and cat in both of those tests came back negative. The family also expressed that the pug tends to lick things and spend more time with the family. While the cat is more of aloof and the older Publix to sleep most of the time, the pub currently is doing very well, and his behavior is back to normal. In hindsight, of all of this, it just shows that animals and our pets are only minor. Early. Affected by the Cove in 19 I've read several discussions regarding this topic. As I've covered in previous episodes, I will stress, as I always do, to fear not as these are isolated incidents is, and the ratio of pets Contracting Cove in 19 and the severity of Cove in 19 to their immune systems are drastically different than it is for humans. So I think that we should all take this with a grain of salt, as I've been saying previously, because if you look at the numbers worldwide, there's only been two dogs, two cats, three tigers and two lions that we know of that have Corona virus out of the entire world. So well, let's keep that into consideration. And might I add all had mild symptoms. I also found some interesting financial pet news. Nestle had their strongest quarter in five years because puppy food is their new profit margin. Now, the world's largest food company reported a 4.3 quarterly sales growth, the best in nearly five years do to their investment of pet food. As many know, Nestle produces some of the most recognizable brands that include Hot Pockets, San Pellegrino and pretty much anything that begins with Nest. So like ness quick Nestea Ness espresso, the list goes on and on, and I think in other countries, Nestle also produces Milk Purina, one of Nestle is Pet Brands saw a 7% organic growth and $14 billion in sales, beating out all of Ness lease other human product categories. And this quarter, Purina sales soared to a whopping 14% higher in North America. Also on April 1st, Nestle acquired the London based pet food brand Lily's Kitchen. This brand is most notable for their dog treats that include chicken jerky and dog meat balls which a lot of my clients dogs really like. They acquired the brand to appeal to the higher economic level of pet owners. And because of Nestle sales growth, pet food is an accelerating trend. This is why consumer good companies such as General Mills and JM Smucker has spent billions to acquire pet food brands. While US pet ownership has constantly increased over the years, it's accelerated in the Corona economy. Animal fostering is up 90% in some cities, and chewy dot com stock is at an all time high. Americans are taking in more pets and pampering them mawr, so that is awesome news for US pet owners and us pet givers. It's such exciting information to receive now to our next segment, all the flow where discussions happen and information is absorbed to help aid you in your head. It's been quarantine life for the past. I was a eight weeks at least. I know that we've been living in our homes every single day, all day, every day we have become almost like a hermit, hunkered down with our family and pet. But being in a space for a prolonged period of time are space can get messy and junkie. So when it's time to clean, especially as a pet owner, we tend to have not only our own health in mind, but also our pet. So I have compiled a list of simple hacks that can help clean your home with your pets in mind. In their messiness, we all have a pet who will vomit every now and again. And when they dio, especially on a carpet or rug. Sometimes it's a complete mess to clean up. So the special hack is toe wait for the vomit to dry, and then it vacuum it and spot clean. It actually makes for an easier clean with spot cleaner, I highly suggest will light, pet and stain spot shot or car bon, a thes air three stain cleaners that I've personally used. And this is not an endorsement. These air just products tried and true for my business, So I highly suggest thes three. The other common stain that goes along with vomit is actually urine. So with pee stains Ah, fresh one. You'd want to soak up as much urine as possible and use fresh water to flush out the urine. Then you want to use open water to scrub clean and then at an enzyme cleaner when it's dry, so that the pet doesn't remark that area. And that's for dogs and cats. And if you do have ah, animal that is marking, blot the area and then use an enzyme based cleaner and spray the area with the natural essential oils spray. Eucalyptus oil works great, so you'd want to use one cup of warm water with 20 drops of eucalyptus oil and spray the area as needed. When having a pet pet hair gets everywhere, from the furniture to the floor to the carpet, there are a couple ways to remove pet hair from these surfaces. First, lightly spray a static spray over the surface. Wait a few minutes and then vacuum. That's it. And to get into those nooks and crannies, dampen a rubber glove and run your hand through all those nooks and crannies, and the hair will be attracted instantly to the glove. This also works well with a moistened squeegee, and you use it as a rake to a kind of rake your carpet or rug, and the same effects happens with the pet hair. These two methods are much quicker than the traditional duct tape to the furniture method. This also works for your car seeds. Next, need toe. Wash your pet toys, so with rubber ones, you want to throw them in the dishwasher for thorough, clean. And then if you do have a sanitizer setting, definitely use that because we want to sanitize all the rubber and plastic toys that our pets play with. Now as faras the plush toys, you just want to throw it in the wash with a tablespoon of baking soda. This will disinfect the toys and keep them nice and fresh and clean. Because we don't want to use fabric softener and some of the laundry detergent, it tends to be a little harsh, especially since they'll be putting it in their mouths. Does your house also smell like a wet dog or a large litter box? Create a all natural room deodorizer for every room in your home, so if you want to make a the Oda riser for 16 ounces, you want to use 1/2 a cup of warm water, 1/2 a cup of vinegar. It's gonna tend to fizz, so that's a normal reaction and then you want to use 20 drops of essential oils. My favorite is to do 10 drops of peppermint oil and 10 drops of lime, But you could also use lemon or tangerine to give a fresh scent in the air. If your furniture needs a little sprucing up, as Faras sent wise, use baking soda, so Sprinkle it on your furniture. Let it sit for 20 minutes while it absorbs all of the odor and just do a quick vacuum to freshen your furniture. I know this next one. A lot of kitty and puppy owners are going to relate if you have a cat, especially a kitten or a puppy that loves to shred toilet paper, this simple hack will help alleviate that. For cats, drop a few drops of lavender or rosemary essential oils inside the cardboard tube. For puppies, it's cinnamon or Citrus based oil like lemon, orange or lime, and that will keep them far away. Now how do we deal with pets? Chewing courts use a flexible plastic conduit, and you can get those at Home Depot or an auto repair store. They basically snap on the outside of the cord, and that will deter your pet from chewing them as well as they do have a product called a critic ord. And this is another option for smaller cords that cats and rabbits will chew on. And you kind of just snap it around the court and it will deter them. And I think with the critic cord, it also has a nasty taste that will also deter them away from chewing the cords. If you have that very expensive furniture that you would love for your pet to never sit on. Two great options are foil or a plastic carpet protector where you can cut them up and place. Um, right on the seat, prickly side up, and it will deter your cat and dog from sitting on your furniture. Now, if you have ants in the house, that typically happens in the spring in the fall, and they tend to go for a pet food. So in order to protect your pets food, you want to create a moat around your pets dishes, and you just basically put the bowl in a larger, shallow bowl or a mat or a pan that has a large lip to it, and then you fill it with water, and that way the ants can't actually get into the bowl because there's basically a water moat surrounding the pet dish. Dogs and cats always get excited to go outside, and they tend to claw the doors of your home in order to protect your home. You want to use a gel, stain or gel finish to protect your door and to use Plexi class. We do have pets that tend to be a sloppy drinker or a messy eater. For this, use raised bowls for less bending of the neck and place a lipped Matt like a shoe mat. Now they actually make pet shaped ones, and you want to put it under the bowl to make sure that all the food and water gets dumped onto the mat and made for a nisi clean. And the last tip I have is to make sure that your pets are shutting effectively and the best tool that I've ever used and people always swear by it is the firm in ator and with dogs. You can do this outside certain cats. You could do it outside, maybe have him unleashed up, but you want to really get all that dead for off of them, which in turn keeps your house hair free. I hold these simple hacks, help everyone and to have an efficient and quick way of cleaning their home during these quarantine times. Now we're on to our next subject. Q. Any time it's Q and A times solve all your animal problems here, no matter how pressing or silly your question is, Don't worry, I got you covered. Now it's time to get into the nitty gritty. Stephanie J. Of an Adele, Virginia, writes. Her two cats are having a passive aggressive relationship where their friends one minute and then they kind of get into spats the next. She wants to know how this behavior could be stopped. The first question before finding a solution is to find the source of why there are several reasons why cats tend to be aggressive towards each other. Some of it could be fearfulness or defensiveness conflict with other cats in the home, which can also caused redirection of aggression. So, for example, if you have three cats and home and a cat fights with Seacat, but instead of fighting with Seacat, it actually redirects it's anger and fights with be cat that's called redirection of anger Now it could also be predatory aggression, territorial aggression. It could also be rough play. Or the cat could have some underlying health issues, such as pain or thyroid problems. And in these cases, the first thing you want to do before you try any techniques is to make sure you take your cat to the vet to rule out any underlying medical it conditions. That way, that can be all ruled out, and you can start with the behavioral techniques. Another thing to know is a lot of times aggression tends to be prevalent in same sex cats, so usually you'll find it most common with two male cats or two female cats. So the first thing to Dio after going to the vet is toe interrupt aggressive behavior, and you want to distract him by whistling. Throw a soft toy in their vision line, shake a jar. Penny is really anything that you can do to distract the behavior. Just remember that in these type of situations, never pick up a cat when they're showing aggressive behaviour because again they can redirect the anger on you and you can really get injured pretty bad when two cats are about to fight. They just have this hormonal switch that I guess turns on and they don't recognize who you are, and it can be a really bad situation where you can actually end up in the hospital. So just don't pick up cats when they are showing high levels of aggression. The second thing that you would want to dio is use calming diffusers and sprays with thes sprays and diffusers that plug into a wall and you can sprayed in the air. It helps a cat feel safe and secure and helps both timid cats and the aggressor cat. Now the next thing you want to do is provide an alternative stimulation. So these are areas that they can redirect their stimulation. So scratching posts cat condos purchase playtime with the cat string toys. Anything to get that redirection of energy away from that cat and onto themselves. Cats tend to be a little bit more aggressive because they have all this pent up energy and you want to release all that energy as much as possible. So the next thing you want to dio is check for behavior modification. You have to do this step in the moment of the action. So when you see a positive behaviour, you reward the cat with a tree or any sort of positive affection. Another method, if all of this else fails, is to do a re introduction to each other. So you'd want to separate the cats and provide safe species for each cat. Allow the passive cat toe, actually have access to litter and food without being cut off by the aggressor. And then you also want to keep them separate between re introductions and then when you are reintroducing them, you want to have total supervision. So if you have to put the cats on a leash or there able to be trusted without one to continue tohave playtime together, you just want to be able to do it in a controlled environment. Sometimes you have to reintroduce cats to know what each cat has for their boundaries and provides spaces for them where they know this is my space and the other cat knows this is their space and no one is in competition. If you've tried all of these methods and nothing is still working. My suggestion at this point is to get in contact with a cat behavioralist with these people. They will assist and really reevaluate what's going on, and then they will address the issue and assist you with a proper solution. This would probably be the best option in the most severe cases. A lot of times when it comes to this type of training, it really comes back down on the actual owner. I hate to break it to you guys, but most of the time it's because there is a passive owner and they aren't doing the previous methods that the actual behaviorist will just tell you to do over again. So to save you thousands of dollars practices, methods. But if all else fails, absolutely get in contact with a professional. So, Stephanie, I hope this answers your questions. Good luck with everything. If you have a question, feel free to email me at Pet Fluff podcast at gmail dot com. Now we go onto the last segment of the episode, which is the feature pet of the well. It's time for my favorite segment, which is the feature pet of the episode. This is where I showcase a local D M V pet that is in need of a forever home. So let me help you find your forever pay feature This week is actually a bonded pair of siblings that would love to stay together, and they're rescued from Puerto Rico. Now they are with a foster home in Northern Virginia, and they are sponsored with homeward trails, so a little bit about homeward trails. They are Virginia non profit organization dedicated to the rescue and re homing of adoptable dogs and cats. Founded in 2001 homered Trails has rescued more than 24,000 dogs and cats. It is the 10th largest shelter in Virginia and pulls from rural shelters throughout the state as well. A surrounding states. They also run a program in Puerto Rico, bringing home adoptable puppies and dogs to the mainland for adoption. To date, more than 600 Puerto Rican dogs have been found homes in the D. M V. If you are interested in adopting a dog or cat at homered, trails call ahead to set up a specialized appointment due to covert 19. Normally, you could just walk in and see all the dogs but because of social distancing, they require for you to do a call ahead visit to see the potential animal you are interested in. So today's feature is Franny and frac two. Siblings that have been adopted from Puerto Rico and have been with Homer Trails since January. Franny and Frack are about three years old. Both are very sweet but also shy, and they're very attached to one another. They would like to keep them together and are looking for a quiet adult Onley home. Their adoption fee is reduced so that they can stay together. Their best guess is that the breed is a Jack Russell terrier mix, and they are each about £15 they are currently living in a foster home in northern Virginia and can be met by appointment. I will have their links attached in are linked tree account. You can call homeward trails for more information. They're super cute dogs. I'm looking at him right now. Very sweet, all white little pups. And I'm sure once they get acclimated into a really good forever home, I'm sure their personalities are going to blossom. So if you are interested in Franey and Frack you can get more information at homered trails dot org's time to get out of here. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and found it very useful for your daily cleaning lifestyle. Are you up? Had owner that is in need of pet sitting services? Consider Searcy Pet Service for your ultimate pet sitter. We provide dog walking, pet sitting overnight care, boarding and even taxi services that can help you and your pet. So follow us at seriously pet service on instagram for all of your pet cities. And you can also email us CRC pet service at gmail dot com. Do you have a comment, a suggestion, a question or an existing business that would love to promote With PEPLUM With Katie Mira, please email me pet fluff podcasts at gmail dot com For all of your information, and I will get back to you as soon as I can. Next week's episode is going to be fun activities to do with your pet and activities and events for the pet lover and these air for people that don't really have pets but love pats. Plus, I will be answering a question about a dog who winds to greet people but barks when they approach how to help in unfriendly dog. You guys have a blessed couple weeks and I will see you next episode. And in case you have forgotten today you matter. You are loved your worthy, and you are magical, okay?