Pretty Pet-Friendly: Easy Ways
to Keep Spot’s Digs Stylish
& Spotless

As a pet parent, you know the challenge of trying to keep your home clean and stylish while maintaining a Pet-Friendly environment. When Julia Szabo, a renowned author and pet columnist for the New York Post and Country Living Magazine, faced this challenge she was inspired to write Pretty Pet-Friendly: Easy Ways to Keep Spot’s Digs Stylish & Spotless.

Pretty Pet-Friendly combines high style with an environmentally friendly standpoint to show you how having a Pet-Friendly pad can actually mean having the prettiest place on the block.

Pretty Pet-Friendly is filled with ideas to live well with your furry kids. It walks you through each area of the home, from the kitchen to the living room to the bedroom, providing practical tips, helpful how-tos, and unique recommendations for keeping things neat, Pet-Friendly, and chic.

Here’s an example of what you’ll find in some of the chapters of Pretty Pet-Friendly.

Floor Plan

As Szabo writes, “the floor is your dog or cat’s eminent domain. They eat there, sleep there and play there. And even the most well behaved pet will make messes there, too. Which is why your floor has to be designed to take a beating—or at least conceal the evidence.”

In Pretty Pet-Friendly, Szabo gives you easy, practical ways to keep your floors clean without sacrificing style—from your entryway and throughout each room of your home.

Learn what makes modular carpet tile an excellent flooring choice, especially for apartments; why, when it comes to hardwood floors, the harder the better; and why ceramic tile is the ideal option for large surfaces in any pet residence.

Szabo also gives her perspective on pet beds, including her point that where you position your dog or cat’s bed in your home is almost as important as the bed itself.

In the Kitchen With Your Galloping Gourmets

Szazbo writes, “The kitchen is one of the most important rooms, if not the most important room in the home. The reason is simple: The kitchen is where food preparation—not to mention snacking—happens. And to our animals, food equals love.”

Szabo shares how, after overcoming her own design challenges, she has been able to create what she calls a “pet wellness center” in her kitchen.

The chapter goes on to discuss the most wholesome, healthy food for your pets, as well as the importance of not overfeeding. Additionally, she provides options for treats to consider, writing “as vigilant as you need to be about the ingredient panels of pet food, you need to be twice as strict with pet treats. Many mass-produced treats are empty carbs that come with all sorts of unhealthy extras.”

You’ll also get vital information regarding foods that are dangerous—even deadly—for our pets. It’s a list of toxic foods and additives in which every pet parent should be aware.

Beyond nutrition, Szabo provides indispensable tips for storing your pet’s food, keeping them hydrated and making the kitchen safe and comfortable—and, of course, stylish.

Splish, Splash in the Bath

While many dogs—and especially cats—dread getting a bath, Szabo provides practical advice on making the experience more comfortable for the both of you.

In many ways, it starts with choosing the right shampoo. You learn that most mass-produced shampoos contain ingredients that are unnecessarily harsh for pets—things like sodium lauryl sulfate or propylene glycol. Szabo recommends shampoos that contain only natural, non-toxic ingredients.

And for all those pet parents who have had their furry friend use the beds, sofa and every other piece of furniture as a towel after a bath, Szabo offers up some valuable tips to keep these items from becoming sponges.

Groom Your Room, Green Cleaning and Clearing the Air

How can you keep entire forests of shredded fur from living on your clothes and in your home? What are the best cleaning products for your home that are also safe for your pets, too? What can you do to keep the air fresh in your home so that everyone can breathe easier? The answers to these questions—and much more—are shared in these chapters.

Pretty Pet-Friendly is required reading if you want a healthy home environment for your four-legged family member—not to mention a stylish one for you. You can buy Pretty Pet-Friendly at Amazon.com now.

The Author, Julia Szabo Julia Szabo produces and writes the weekly “Pets” column for the Sunday New York Post, and the monthly “You and Your Pet” column for Country Living magazine. Her writings on pets have also been published in the New York Times “T” magazine, the New Yorker, Town & Country, Centurion, Departures, Travel & Leisure, Interview, The American Dog Magazine, The Bark, and Traditional Home. She is the author of several books, including Animal House Style: Designing a Home to Share With Your Pets.