Question to those living in Germany

**Kirsten** · 02-19-2004, 03:11 PM

I was wondering if anyone here has experiences with products available in Germany to clean laminate. My floor looks really crappy at the moment because Lily loves to play with water and has wet feet all the time - and my entire floor is covered with her little paw prints. Pure water isn't enough to remove these prints from the wooden floor.

I know there are some products for laminate cleaning, but I'm not sure about their toxicity for pets. After all, they walk on it and lick their paws, this is why I have only used water so far. But meanwhile the floor looks so bad that something has to happen...

Kirsten

**catnapper** · 02-19-2004, 08:42 PM

Do they sell that orange cleaner in Germany? We used to use this at work to clean all of the new furniture we were installing - it really did clean up the smears! The best thing is that its all natural... made from citrus.

**Barbara** · 02-20-2004, 03:16 AM

I don't have laminate, so I don't have any idea. But maybe you can ask in a bio shop. Here the "Tagwerk" has lots of ecological cleaning and painting stuff. And they are specialists.

Of course these things are expensive.

The Ökotest magazine this February has a test about cleaners and on their website www.oekotest.de they say they found some that are ecologically "very good".

Good luck.

**tatsxxx11** · 02-20-2004, 03:16 PM

Have you tried writing/emailing/calling the manufacturer for suggestions? Or perhaps you can ask the installer what he/she recommends? Or call any flooring store...they should be able to offer suggestions. Geesh, that's disappointing to hear that wet kitty paw prints would leave hard to remove smears! I thought it was the ideal flooring for pet people!

**Barbara** · 02-20-2004, 03:23 PM

Tatsxxx, I think Kirsten tried with water only! But even kitty paws have a little fat that can't be removed with water only. You could take dishwasher -it simply can't harm a warm blooded animal too much?

**tatsxxx11** · 02-20-2004, 03:45 PM

Oh!

I'm sure there's some safe product out there that can clean those pesky prints up!

**Randi** · 02-20-2004, 04:20 PM

How about using a soap product first, and then clean water?

In Denmark they sell something called "Neutral" - I really like their dishwashing liquid.

**Corinna** · 02-20-2004, 05:56 PM

Add a little white vinager to the water. It works great. and cheap.

**Kirsten** · 02-21-2004, 03:17 AM

Thanks everyone.

Yes, so far I was using only water, sometimes with a bit "neutral soap". Worked as long as I had only Luna, but Lily with her constantly wet paws did some severe damage to the surface!

Since we don't have a good ecological store in our little town, I bought a laminate cleaner yesterday that's made on a linseed oil basis. The result on the floor looks good, and I hope it's not doing any damage to my cat's feet. I will only use it when the floor is looking as bad as it did these last days.

For future cleanings, I also bought an orange cleaner containing 98% bio-degradable tensides. Vinegar or dishwasher in the water also sounds like a good solution to me.

tatsxxx11, actually I'm really happy about my laminate, especially when Luna poops on the floor every day, it's easy to clean. The problem with Lily is that she loves to put her paws into her water bowl, so her feet are really really wet!

Kirsten