This is Bella (turns out a very common dog name btw). She is a beautiful, 3 year old whippet. Her claws are a little long, and need to be cut, but she hates it. She used to have accidents regularly. Now just occasionally. This is normally, when we (I) forget to put her out in the evening. We love her very much.
Now, when considering our floor choice, we would always think about Bella.
But what floor should you choose?
If you type “pet-friendly” flooring into Chat GPT or Google, you would probably end up with a vinyl floor. It’s a plastic floor, so will be resistant to marks, scrapes and unfortunate accidents. There are, in fact, entire flooring businesses and categories that have been created to service the “Pet Floor Fear”.
They normally run an argument that your floor needs to be plastic (vinyl) and non-slip. It also needs to have low VOC emissions (so it doesn’t off-gas chemicals….). For good measure, if you were really pushing the pet-floor angle, you would endorse the floor by Vets, and call it “Animal Safe”, or “Pet Smart”.
At Kite, we try and dig a bit deeper than company marketing material, so we always look for independent sources (obviously a vinyl flooring company is going to say their floors are pet friendly, just like we say our wood floors can make you look younger….). Interestingly, looking at the British Vet Associations, they do not recommend a specific type of flooring. Neither does the Kennel Club. What there is, is a general understanding that the floor should be durable, waterproof and easy to clean. But these qualities can apply to all types of flooring.
Because Bella has spent her entire life on a wood floor. There have been no marks of scrapes. Accidents have been cleaned up, with no marks. Our vet bills have not skyrocketed due to VOC emissions. And she doesn’t seem to have a problem slipping.
At Kite, our view is that all floors, whether they are Wood, Laminate and Vinyl, can be pet friendly. The choice is not be based on floor type. But on floor quality.
A good quality wood floor, with good quality oils or lacquers, will be resistant to marks, scrapes, and unfortunate accidents. It will also not kill your pet from off-gassing chemicals (no good quality flooring will, even the ones that aren’t sold by us!). And all the floors that we sell, regardless of type, are textured, so you will not be turning your kitchen into an doggy ice-rink, however fun that may sound.
Laminates will also do exactly the same job. They won’t have the depth of colour and texture of a wood floor. But they are half the price of a good quality wood floor.
And vinyl flooring? That does the same job as Laminate, but for more cost. And slightly more shine. If you have read any of our blogs before you will know that we struggle to understand the purpose of vinyl. Other than to keep vinyl flooring companies busy.
So, if you have a furry friend, our top tip, is to choose your floor based on quality, not on floor type.
And guess what? It also means you can have that beautiful, wooden floor you’ve always wanted.
Obviously, samples available online!
For worry free pet flooring, you can try our Premium Laminates.
You could also try some floors from our Newington Plus Range.
Want to learn more about floors and VOC emissions? This is a great place to start – Floors and VOC
