Plumbing with Pets in Mind!

Many Canadians are pet lovers. In fact nearly 60% of Canadian households have at least one furry, feathery, or scaley companion sharing the family home. For families with preteens at home, that number is closer to three quarters! As pet owners, it’s our responsibility to make sure we provide our animals with a safe and healthy home to live in. Here’s how to make sure your plumbing doesn’t impede that goal.

There’s No Such Thing as Flushable Litter.

We know you may be thinking to yourself, of course there’s such thing as flushable litter. The litter I have in my home right now literally says flushable right on the bag. Unfortunately, Canada is still a good class action lawsuit away from banning manufacturers from marketing their litter as flushable, so in the meantime, take our word for it: flushing litter is wreaking havoc on your pipes. Municipalities across Canada from Vancouver to Saint John have been spending millions in taxpayer dollars to clear plumbing of all the so called flushable products, and many cities have issued reminders that the only things that should be flushed are human bodily wastes and toilet paper.

Anti-Scalding Measures.

Have you ever been taking a shower when someone accidentally flushed a toilet at the same time? Depending on how your plumbing system is set up, you may have experienced a sudden drop in water pressure and/or an extreme change in water temperature. While adults can typically bare these drastic changes, children and pets can easily be scalded if water temperatures flare. Talk with your local, Calgary plumber about how you can prevent this problem and the many anti-scalding technologies currently available.

Provide Sanitary Water.

For whatever reason, both cats and dogs can have a weird attraction to toilet water. While the water in your toilet is the same as the water coming from any of your faucets, it’s still important to prevent pets from drinking from the toilet. This is because human wastes provide food for many nasty types of bacteria and moulds (if you don’t clean your toilet frequently enough, you’ll begin to notice a reddish sludge growing along the porcelain). And even if you can’t see any growth, that doesn’t mean there aren’t already small colonies beginning to grow. Further, the harsh chemicals we use to keep our toilets clean can be extremely dangerous. The residue from these chemicals could be causing your pet harm. To protect your animals from themselves, keep the lid closed on the toilet and provide ample fresh water in a convenient location.

Just a quick stop on our website will reveal that our team at Plumbing Paramedics are pet lovers. There’s nothing we love more than meeting new Calgarians and their furry friends. Which is why we think it’s so important to help Calgary homeowners protect both their pets and their plumbing. If you have any questions on how to safely dispose of pet wastes and litter (you put them in the green cart), prevent extreme temperature changes in the shower, or any other plumbing related questions, give the Calgary plumbing experts at Plumbing Paramedics a call today!