People love their pets. They’re a part of the family: worthy of attention, spoiling, and freedom. A lot of freedom, in fact: according to a recent survey, 77% of pet owners let their pets roam freely throughout their house.

This includes bathrooms, and unfortunately, with pet bathroom privileges come potential pet plumbing problems. We’ve listed six of the most common pet-related plumbing problems – and how to avoid them – below.

Gnawing on pipes.

Keep exposed pipes covered. Pets like to chew on whatever they can find, whether it’s your laptop cable or a tasty under-the-sink pipe. Circumvent this problem by using childproof locks on your under-sink cabinets so they can’t be nosed open.

If there are exposed pipes in other areas of your home, there are many options for covering them up. If a pet bites through a pipe the results can be disastrous, so don’t wait to protect yours!

Drinking out of the toilet bowl.

Drinking out of an open toilet bowl is unhygienic and could make your pet sick. Don’t let your cat or dog accidentally consume leftover cleaning chemicals by making sure to always close the lid of the toilet after use.

Clogging drains during bath time.

Pets shed. It’s unavoidable. What is avoidable are the problems your pet’s shedding can cause. For instance, your pet’s hair doesn’t have to clog up your pipes. Instead, you could install drain guards to catch hair before it gets in your pipes.

Another way to avoid clogs while bathing your pet is by rinsing your pets off outside before bringing them in for a bath.

Digging up pipes in the yard.

Some pipes are quite a bit closer to the surface than others. Unfortunately, it’s possible that your dog could wind up running into one while digging holes in your yard. When that happens, they could damage or even puncture it, which would be messy and expensive. Train your dogs not to dig in your yard. It’s always worth the investment–trust us, you don’t want to see what a burst sewage pipe looks like.

Getting hurt by hot or high-pressure water.

Unfortunately, it can be difficult to tell how hot or pressurized water is until you use it. Sometimes, pet owners can accidentally hurt their pet with water that comes out of a fixture too hot or too fast.

Luckily avoiding this nightmare scenario isn’t too difficult. First, you could use pressure-balancing valves. Installing these valves will make sure the water that comes out of fixtures is never too pressurized. You should also always test the temperature of water before using it on your pets.

‌
Sometimes, despite your best efforts, a pressure gauge fails or a drain gets clogged with Fluffy’s shedding. When that happens, call up the experts at Benjamin Franklin Plumbing® of Dallas. We’ve never met a pet hair clog we couldn’t clear!