We share some of our tips on keeping your home comfortable for you and your feline family members.

Minimizing cat hair around the house

First I will say that Maine Coons do not shed as much as many other breeds of long-haired cats. My two top recommendations to minimize the amount of fur that accumulates on your carpet are:

Comb your Maine Coon at least once a week, particulary as the weather temperatures turn warm. See our tips on grooming and grooming suppies for more information.

Locate cat trees in areas where you cat likes to hang out, and the fur will collect on the trees rather than all over the carpet. See our tips on caring for Maine Coons for more information and where you can purchase our favorite cat trees.

Will the cat fur now accumulate on the cat trees? Yes, but it may be easier to clean the fur that has accumulated on this one piece of cat furniture than to vacuum the entire house. We find that using the same comb we use to groom our cats works equally well to loosen the fur that has accumulated on the cat trees when vacuuming. For ordering our favorite cat comb, see our grooming tips.

Our favorite litter accessories

To scoop our litter, we prefer Litter Lifters brand litter scoops that can be purchased at the Litter Center of the Cat Connection Store. If this link doesn't work, try typing "litter lifter" into the Search area of the home page at www.thecatconnection.com. We have found these scoopers to be durable, easy to use and easy to clean.

We have many furniture cabinets throughout our home that actually hide our litter boxes. They are made by Hidy Tidy. Complete information can be found at www.hidytidy.com.

For another quick solution for covering your litter boxes, try cutting a hole in the side of a wicker trunk.

Floor care

Since we live in a rural setting with both Maine Coons (who remain exclusively indoors) and Karelian Bear Dogs (who are both indoors and outdoors during the day), we have found it most practical to use ceramic tile on most of our floors. It is extremely durable, very easy to keep clean, and offers a variety of price and color options. We favor large size tiles, which are closely set to minimize grout space.

Carpet care

If you have ever owned a housecat, you may have observed that urine spraying is not just a behavior seen in unneutered male cats. Spraying is a normal territorial marking behavior among both cats and dogs and can be seen in neutered male and female cats. Some believe that spraying may also be a reaction to a stressful environment. A visiting stray cat appearing at the patio door, for example, can annoy your housecat.

As urine dries, it begins to bond to the carpet fibers. At the same time, Mother Nature begins a natural process of decay that whereby bacteria feed on the organic waste and remove the odor, but this process unfortunately can take several years.

We have found that MisterMax's bacterial treatment (which comes in pint and gallon sizes) dramatically speed the nature process of organic waste removal. Just go to www.MisterMax.com to order online. Anti-Icky-Poo is the name of their product specifically designed to eliminate urine contamination and other organic waste (I know, the name is silly, but you have to admit, it is memorable.)

Try to treat stains as soon as possible. A natural yellow dye (urochrome) is found in all urine to varying degrees, and any dye absorbed by carpet fibers is often undectable. The quantity of the dye increases as the same area is contaminated over and over. If any non-organic residue remains in the carpet once the organic waste has been removed, a vigrous cleaning with hot water exptraction equipment is recommended by the folks at MisterMax.

In the event you replace carpeting that has been affected by cat urine, it is probable that the hard floor beneath and walls were also affected, so the floor should be treated before carpeting is replaced and walls inspected for contamination. UV light that fluoresces the minerals contained in urine can detect urine that you may not see, especially in daylight.

Odor control

In the process of remodeling our home, we found a great service that not only eliminates mold that can form after water damage to your home but also eliminates pet odors that can build up over time and linger in the air. It is chemical free, relying on ozone, so we found it to be safe and effective. We called Dan Bryson of Fresh Start at 951-694-8501. You can locate a dealer near you at www.chemfreeair.com.