How To Get Cat Hair Out Of Clothes When Washing? [All You Need To Do & Consider]

Cats are adorable creatures who are low maintenance and easy to keep due to how clean they are. They give you the joy of having a companion without any obstruction to your daily activities. Being a naturally potty-trained creature also makes it the perfect pet to have. However, when it comes to cat hair, messiness is no joke.

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Loose hair that sticks to your clothes can be the greatest nuisance of raising cats. However, cat hair can be easily removed in the process of washing by adding white vinegar to your laundry.

We have put together this article to help you with tips that can ease the process of removing cat hair from your washing.

Do Cats Shed A Lot?

Cats shed all the time – only the degree of hair loss changes. They shed every day, but every once or twice a year, you might find the shedding intensified. As the year becomes colder, you might find your cat shedding to make room for its winter coat to grow, which will naturally be heavier.

In spring, your cat will shed off that coat for lighter fur. You might see a difference with indoor-only cats, who usually shed the same amount for the whole year. Nevertheless, each cat has its own unique shedding pattern and there is no need to be worried about a problem unless there are other signs of distress.

If you are in sync with your cat’s daily behavioral and body patterns, you will easily notice when there is a particularly heavy loss. In those cases, shedding can mean that your cat has internal or external parasites, is stressed or anxious, or has other problems like allergies.

Bottom line is that cats shed all the time and its amount can be triggered according to circumstances. For example, my cat can start shedding every time he is distressed by a fight or another cat in the yard. It is a moment’s instance, but as you can tell, shedding can even come as a reaction!

How to Get Cat Hair Out of Clothes When Washing?

Removing cat hair can be a difficult and time-consuming process. The best way to deal with it would be to use a lint roller or brush to graze the hair off the surface before you wash it. Wet cat hair sticks even more to the fabric and it is far easier to just dust off the fur beforehand.

It also saves you from cleaning the washing machine off cat hair that gets stuck inside it. However, I understand that there are days when you feel lazy, or just do not have the time for it. In these cases, there are ways to get rid of cat hair on your clothes while you are washing them.

1. White Vinegar

A classic home remedy to get rid of loose hair strands on your clothes is to use a cup of distilled white vinegar. Vinegar is a common solution to many house problems, and it can easily get rid of the cat hair on your clothes in the washing. Simply add a cup of white vinegar to the washer before you start the machine.

Since vinegar is a natural softener for fabrics, it will help with the loosening of your cat’s hair and remove it easily in the washing. If you do not like the smell of vinegar, you can replace it with other essential oils. Make sure that they are pet-friendly ones if you are trying to remove hair from your cat’s possessions.

2. Use The Dryer

After your clothes have been once in the washer, make sure to dry them off using your machine’s dryer. It will give your clothes a good whipping and automatically remove all the fur stuck to the fabric. You can also put the clothes in the dryer before you put them in the washer, as the process is easily interchangeable.

3. Use Tools Made For The Job

Apart from lint rollers, there are certain products you can use to get rid of cat fur from your clothes in the washing machine itself. An example of it is the product FurZapper. All you need to do is to add it to the washer and dryer and let it separate the loose hair from all your clothes.

There are also many other pet hair removers that you can easily find in the market that separate fur from your clothing in the washing machine itself. By far, I have noticed that this is the easiest way to get rid of cat hair in the washing machine.

4. Rinse By Hand

Another way to remove cat hair from your clothes when washing is to rinse them with your own hands. Use a cloth brush or rinse on a board to tackle the hair personally, one by one. You can even run a sponge on the surface to easily remove all the hair from your clothes.

5. Use A Fabric Softener

A simple but useful method, adding a fabric softener can help loosen up the clothes in your washer and help get rid of the cat hair. Although it may be an extra cost, as compared to simply using vinegar, fabric softeners will also be good for your clothes, so it is not a bad idea to invest in them if you have cat hair problems.

How To Prevent Getting Cat Hair On Clothes?

Everyone knows that prevention is better than cure. You cannot stop a cat from shedding, but you can definitely lessen the amount that gets on your clothes through these few helpful tips. By keeping these things in check, there will be lesser hair to clean from your washing machine.

Brush Your Cat Everyday

A simple but effective routine to follow, brushing your cat every day for a few minutes can bring drastic changes to your cat’s fur getting on your clothes. Keep a separate brush to get rid of all the stray hairs in one round of brushing, as well as pluck out all the loose ones. This can get rid of a lot of hair that would have otherwise stuck.

Cover The Areas Your Cat Sits On

You can also avoid getting cat hair stuck on your clothes by getting covers for human surfaces that your cat usually likes to sit on. The couch is one spot that can gather a lot of feline hair, and getting a cover for it makes sense as well. You can easily dust off the loose strands and it will keep the real furniture clean.

Choose The Correct Fabric

This may be by far a difficult step to follow since you cannot control the kind of clothes you have already bought. However, if you are looking to shop according to how much your cat sheds, it is best if you get clothes made out of silk, taffeta, or satin which have a smooth texture and do not let the hair stick.

Cat hair also gets easily stuck on corduroy, wool, and other types of fluffy material. It is almost impossible to remove cat hair from these fabrics. Another piece of advice if you are planning to dress according to your cat, is to get clothes in colors that do not let cat hair show. In these cases, it is best to avoid black.

Maintain Cleanliness

Make sure to maintain cleanliness around the house. Vacuum or clear by lint-rolling the hair and dirt on your cat’s bed every day, dust or sweep around the house, and make sure to give your cat weekly grooming. All these things can keep your clothes from getting covered by loose cat hair.

Fun fact – cats also prefer clean places. Being dirty or living in a messy surroundings can stress them out which leads to more hair loss. Hence, by maintaining cleanliness, you tackle two birds with one stone.

Maintain Your Cat’s Health

The last, but most important thing to do, in order to keep your cat’s hair loss in check, is to maintain the good health of your cat. A stressed cat will not only shed a lot, but it will also lose its will to groom itself, leading to more hair. Feed your pet good, nutritious food, and grooming it every week is an important part of pet-keeping.

Is Cat Hair Harmful?

Cat hair in general is not harmful – except when they become irritants in crevices like your nose, eyes, or ears. Other than that, people who are allergic to cat hair can be disturbed by its presence near them. They are not exactly sensitive to the hair itself, but to the bacteria on it like their saliva, urine, or skin particles.

As it is, even with all its properties on it, cat hair is not potentially deadly for humans. It can only cause allergic reactions in some cases like rashes, coughing, or soreness.

Final Thoughts

Although loose cat hair can be a menace, there are numerous ways to reduce a cat from shedding. There are also a lot of things you can utilize cat hair for, which can keep you entertained with creative activities. We hope that this article has helped make you understand how to remove cat hair while washing.