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The right solutions

Raising them healthy is just one aspect – it also includes knowing the solutions that could assist us in nullifying the mess created by our pets

Will a washing machine help remove my pet's hair?

Wash pet bedding often. After laundering, run an extra rinse cycle to be sure that your washer is free from pet hair. If you dry the pet bedding in a dryer, clean the lint filter in the mid-cycle so that it can collect additional hair as the bedding finishes drying. If you don't clean a clogged filter, pet hair can redeposit on clothes.

For washable clothes or bedding that is covered with pet hair, run the items through the dryer on air/no-heat first before washing them. The tumbling action of the dryer will loosen much of the hair and it will be sucked into the dryer lint trap. Be sure to clean out the lint trap immediately after taking this step to prevent odors and increase air flow.

Add 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar to the rinse cycle when washing loads with lots of lint or hair. The vinegar will help the fabric fibers relax and release the hair.

When washing clothes, do not overcrowd the washer. The clothes need room to move freely in the water so that the hair can be loosened and flushed away down the drain.

Tossing the clothes in the dryer – even for a short time – will help remove hair more than air drying clothes. Keep all dryer vents clean and clear of lint so that there is enough strong air flow to pull the hair away from the fabrics.

What does the term natural food mean? I find it on almost all packaging from cakes to ice-cream, bread to meat, medicine tablets to biscuits.

I don't know either. As of now, it is just a clever marketing gimmick which has discovered that humans hate the word chemical and are drawn to things that are from nature directly. But after decades of debate, there remains no generally accepted definition of a 'natural' food product. Regulatory agencies have refused to settle the issue. An oatmeal product seems more natural than processed wheat but it uses as many chemicals and pesticides as anything else. Some people mistake natural for vegetarian but many products have extracts of meat and still call themselves natural. An ice-cream promotes itself as natural but uses flavour extracts. Even the sugar substitute which is clearly chemical claimed it was made from natural ingredients till it was taken to court.

What is needed is a series of law suits against food items that use the term so that, in time, food advertising and packaging will become more truthful. Government also needs to formulate a definition for the meaning of natural.

(Views expressed and information provided are personal. Send your questions to manekaanimallove@gmail.com)

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