I have always had pets since I was a little girl. Dogs, cats, chickens, ducks, calves, goats, birds, fish, hamsters, mice, chipmunks, rabbits, baby skunks and once I had an abandoned baby squirrel as a pet. The squirrel’s name was Luke and he was the most interesting “pet”. He became domesticated quickly. I remember he would climb up and down me like I was his personal tree every morning before I left for school and when I returned home. I quickly learned that I could be dressed, make-up done, eat breakfast, make my bed, take care of all the other animals with Luke on my shoulder, back, arm or leg (blue jeans were a must to have on with Luke around) but I could get my hair brushed and fixed for school only after he was back in his cage. He was definitely a hair loving squirrel. Plus he liked to be on the top of his personal tree so he could see what was going on around him. He was a constant companion when I was home and so much fun in his short life.
The baby skunks were interesting too as they are nocturnal and do “smell” a bit even as babies. My friend and I raised a litter of abandoned skunk kittens back in the 1980’s and I was surprised that so many people wanted them as pets. Most were taken to a Vet to have their scent glands removed and were kept in the house like a regular, run of the mill, domestic cat. Joann kept one female that she named Pandora, never removed her scent glands and she was a lovely pet. I have never seen grown men run to their car so fast as I did when Jo would call Pandora out of the barn to “meet the visitors”. I do believe they would have moved slower if she had pulled out a gun or call out a Pitt Bull on them. Pandora was very effective in getting unwelcome/unwanted guests to leave in a short period of time. Eventually the call of nature rang in Pandora’s little ears…..okay, okay, it was a handsome male skunk calling her….and she eventually left to raise her own family in the wild. She did stroll back by on occasions just to let us know she was doing fine out on her own. Now trust me here, Pandora had a distinctive white marking in her fur so we knew it was her and not a rabid skunk coming to visit.
******Please note I am not advocating that anyone approach wild animals. This is very dangerous. Nor should you think that a baby wild animal has been abandoned by its mother. Leave them alone as the mother will return. Never, never touch a wild baby as sometimes the mother will abandon the baby when she smells your human scent. In the above cases we knew the parents were deceased and the babies would have perished without intervention. You should call your local Animal Control, a trusted Vet or Rescue Society for further information about abandoned domestic and wild animals.******
So I guess it comes as no surprise to you that I love animals. I cannot remember more than a couple of months at the most when I did not have a pet around me. I think they are wonderful. I am also a Registered Nurse, as well as a Realtor, so I know the benefits pets have as therapy providers, companions and protectors.
The love of my life, my dear sweet husband of 20 plus years, has never said “no” to a new pet in our lives. When we lost a beloved pet he would always say we needed a bit of time to grieve and then start the search for a new family member. At present we have 2 dogs and 2 cats (yep, he is allergic to cats but loves them anyway). Also several chickens that provide us with eggs and chicken humor.
So everybody loves animals right?! Well my family loves animals and if you have pets I’m sure you love them too. Not everyone fits into the love of animals category. So how does this work when you are trying to sell your home or if you want to buy a home? Hummmmmm…..this is something to ponder so lets get going.
“Do you smell something?”…….
I don’t care how much you bath your dog, they still smell doggy….again very shortly. STOP…don’t get mad at me here, humans smell bad if they don’t bath every day too so I am not throwing nasty comments about poor poochie’s hygiene here! Cats don’t smell ”catty” so much but their litter box can smell, well quite nasty, even when you keep it cleaned out on a regular basis. Cats spray their territory as do dogs. Okay now don’t get grossed out here but when the pet sits down on your rug or furniture you don’t see them tucking their tail between their legs to cover their private parts do you? Dogs and cats have scent glands in their anal area that identifies them as them to other animals. That is why you see the “sniff and wag” going on between animals. So they do leave their scent all around your house and on you. Most of the time we humans cannot detect the odor as our sniffers are not as highly tuned as the rest of the animal world. But when your dog or cat sprays around your house to mark it’s territory it is usually strong enough for humans to smell it. Because you live in the house with your pets on a daily basis you have become immune to the smell. It’s just like when you put on perfume or cologne. You can smell it for a while then you don’t notice it anymore but hours later someone tells you that you smell good. This is because you have become desensitized to the smell of the perfume whereas someone new passed by and can smell it perfectly.
Someone that does not own or live with pets can detect pet odor in a house as soon as they walk into the front door. Someone that has pets that live outside the house can detect pet odor in another house as soon as they walk in the front door too.
So what does this mean to you as a Seller? It means you have a lot of cleaning up to do in order to have your home appealing to everyone out there looking….pet lovers, pet neutral folks and to folks that do not like animals. Clean your carpets, drapes and fabric covered furniture. Wipe down the walls and scrub the baseboards. Clean the house from top to bottom. This should be done even if you do not have pets in the house so it smells and looks clean for potential buyers.
Realtors tour your house and will give honest feedback even if you don’t want to hear it. We will tell you if there is a strong pet odor and make suggestions to help you. Don’t be offended if we tell you that your house smells like poochie or kitty’s liter box. We are just trying to help you sell your house.
I have been out with clients that will not go more that a couple of feet into the front door because of pet odors. Nothing that I say can convince them to look through the house if pet odor is what greets them at the front door.
A portion of our population is allergic to cats and dogs. Take my husband as an example. He is mildly allergic to cats. His sinuses start to fill up and his eyes get itchy and watery but our cats just love him. They jump up in his lap, climb on his shoulders and rub around on his legs. They seem to gravitate toward people that are allergic to them for some reason. This is not such a big deal for my husband but it can be a very big deal to people with severe allergies.
Your Realtor can give you suggestions about how to handle your pets to make your home more appealing to buyers. The Realtor should post in the MLS comments about pets being in the house and the specific instructions for showing the home with pets.
It is best if you have a specific place where the pets can be contained during the day for showings. No Realtor wants to deal with a pet that escapes the house when the door is opened. No one wants bites and nips…..even if you think they are “love nips” it does not come across that way to Realtors and their clients. We just got my mother a kitten this past summer. Had to raise her with a bottle because the momma cat was hit by a car. Is she a sweet kitten? You bet! Can you smell her or the little box? Nope, not at all because she will jump into the shower with my mother (yes, quite unusual behavior for a cat) and the litter box is cleaned daily. Can you get close to my mother if the munchkin kitty decides she does not want anyone around Mom? Absolutely not! Talk about a guard kitty, she is definitely one. She has backed grown men into a corner! Pretty good for a 3 pound kitten!
Most people that have pets think of them as family members. You just have to remember to do a bit more cleaning and clean more often when selling your house.
So love your pets as they provide unconditional love to us, offer companionship, protection and a lot of humor if you just let them. Just remember that not every one likes animals.
