It's not very common to associate your family pet with plumbing.
Pets can bring joy and love to your family, and it’s hard to believe that they might cause an issue to your plumbing system.
When it comes to your family pets’ bath time or drinking water, there are a few essential tips to keeping your pipes safe.
Tip #1 - Always Use Drain Strainers and Stoppers.
Pets that shed during a bath can be a nightmare for your pipes. Pet hair tends to be thicker and rougher than a human hair, and can quickly clog pipes.
Using drain strainers during a bath will help prevent unwanted clogs from hair build up.
When you do get a clog, a Linthicum Plumbing and Drain Cleaning Inc. professional can help!
Tip #2 - Keep Your Toilet Lids Down
Both dogs and cats are known for sneaking sips of water from the toilet.
Drinking from the toilet bowl isn't the most sanitary, and can sometimes make your pet sick. Cleaning solutions and chemicals used to clean your toilets can leave a residue you don’t want your pets ingesting.
Make sure to check your pet’s water bowl periodically, so they don't look for water elsewhere, like the toilet!
Tip #3 Don’t Mix Cat Litter and Drains
Yes, some cat litters are marketed as flushable, but that doesn’t mean all cat litter is safe to flush down the pipes.
Most cat litter is designed to absorb moisture and increase to more than 15 times its original size, which is not suitable for your pipes.
The granules can expand even more once they enter the pipes creating an artificial block.
Even the “flushable litter” can still clog in older septic systems. Make sure if you are using flush-safe litter that you don’t put too much down at once. Also, you increase the possibility of clogging your pipes by not waiting long enough between flushing clumps.
In addition to the litter pellets, when flushing “disposable litter” the waste can contain parasites, such as Toxoplasma Gondii, and other dangerous bacteria which could make it into the water supply.
For the safety of your pipes and health, it is best to avoid flushing pet waste and litter. Pet waste is best in the trash than your pipes.
Tip #4 - Watch Where Your Dog Digs
Most dogs love to dig, and that can be a bad thing when it comes to sewer piping.
It's important to watch where your dog burrows and if they like to dig deep holes. Make sure your dogs aren’t digging around plumbing lines in the yard.
Tip #5- Install Pressure Balance Valves
Make sure that your shower heads and faucets have pressure balancing valves.
By installing these, you can prevent water changing temperature because someone flushed a toilet someone where else in your home and fix any leaky faucets to deter your curious cat.
By using these tips, you can avoid a lot of common plumbing problems that your pet can cause.
At Linthicum Plumbing and Drain Cleaning Inc., we know that plumbing problems aren't entirely avoidable and sometimes it's best to call in a professional.
If you have any pet-related plumbing problems, please call us anytime, and we’d be happy to help.