🐾 Cleaning and maintaining Ananimalab furniture – what you should actually do (and what you shouldn’t)

Cleaning our cat furniture is surprisingly simple.

Still, there is one mistake that is made more than any other.

It has nothing to do with cleaning products.
It has nothing to do with the materials.

It has to do with brushing.

In this article, we go through how to keep Ananimalab furniture properly clean according to the manufacturer’s care instructions.

🪶 Why brushing is the most important maintenance step

Ananimalab furniture uses two main materials:

  • durable fleece fabric
  • sisal carpet

Of these, especially the fleece:
👉 collects cat hair very effectively

At the same time, it is also:
👉 easy to keep clean

The reason is simple:
hair does not soak into the material, but stays on the surface.

This means that with the right brushing technique, the surface can be cleaned quickly. With the wrong brushing technique, the surface can look too fluffy.

⚠️ The most common mistake: brushing in the wrong direction

The fabric is a tough fleece. When brushing it, it makes sense to find the direction of the fabric. In other words, if the fabric fluffs up when you brush it, change direction immediately so that the fabric stays smooth as you brush. Then continue brushing in that same direction. This keeps the fabric smooth and tidy.

It has a direction.

When you brush against it, the surface can:

fluff up
look uneven
wear out faster

When you brush in the direction of the fabric

When you brush in the right direction.

the surface stays smooth
looks tidy
and lasts longer

🧠 How to find the right brushing direction

This is the most important part of the whole article.

  1. Lightly brush a small area
  2. Watch how the surface reacts

👉 If the fabric fluffs up → change direction
👉 If the fabric stays smooth → keep brushing in that direction

The direction of the fabric may vary slightly within the same element, so you may need to fine-tune the brushing direction – especially around corners and curved parts.

The right brush does more than you think

Our recommendation is clear:

👉 a long-bristled nylon brush (bristles over 5 cm)

reaches between the fibres
removes hair effectively
does not damage the surface

The same brush works for:

  • fleece fabric
  • sisal carpet


We also sell the Tidybrush we use ourselves. It is the same brush we use every day in our workshop.

Not every brush actually works on these surfaces. This one does. We have already tested all the others for you.
With this brush, you can keep your furniture tidy – even when there is enough cat hair in the living room air to make it feel like spring.

  • TidyBrush - Ananimalab.com
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TidyBrush

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🧴 What about other cleaning methods?

Brushing is the most important step. But you can also use:

Vacuum cleaner

  • for quick cleaning
  • especially on larger surfaces

Lint roller

  • for finishing touches
  • removes loose hair

👉 These can be used together with brushing.

🧼 More thorough cleaning

For a more thorough clean, it is best to remove the elements from the wall. This only takes a few seconds – and attaching them again is just as quick.

  1. Remove the furniture element from the wall
  2. Clean it properly
  3. Attach it back in place

When removing an element:

  • turn it evenly from the long side of the piece

⚠️ Do not twist or pry from the end, especially with thinner elements.

💨 Disinfection – a solution tested in practice

Not everything is visible to the eye. That is why the furniture can also be disinfected:

Options:

  • ❄️ freezing
  • 💨 steam cleaning

These methods are used, for example, in catteries and cat cafés.

Sisal carpet and steam cleaning

Normally, sisal does not like moisture. But in this case, the sisal is backed with a thin layer of latex and the carpet is firmly attached to the body of the element.
This makes steam cleaning possible.

Important note: do not soak it too much!

🪵 The materials are made to be used

One thing is good to understand:

👉 these pieces of furniture are made to be used, not just looked at

That means:

  • the surface changes with use
  • wear is part of normal use

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