Fluff & Function

For anyone with furry friends, especially those that are shedders, what do you do with your pet's hair? Maybe you leave tufts outside for bird nests or it's vacuumed up and thrown in the trash. Whatever you do, staying on top of pet hair in your home is a never-ending cycle. Recently, I saw a video of a woman who, after grooming her cat, used the fur to create a cat toy and it had me wondering what else you could do with dog and cat fur. As it turns out, there are many ways to creatively upcycle what would otherwise be waste. There are a few environmental things you can do with fur. The easiest would be to throw it to the birds, but your garden can benefit from excess fur too. The smell of pet fur may help to deter pests like rabbits from invading your garden. It won't be very aesthetic, but stuffing fur in some burlap bags or pantyhose around your garden will omit enough of your pet's scent that other critters may be deterred. You can also use pet hair to fertilize soil since it contains nitrogen. Nitrogen is an important nutrient for growing plants as it helps the ground to retain moisture and regulate plant temperature. The hair will break down and release nitrogen, nourishing the garden soil. You can also add it to your compost pile as you would food scraps. There are also ecological programs such as Matter of Trust, a non-profit that turns donated hair and fur into mats to help clean up oil spills. These mats can line storm drain cages to keep oil out of waterways or used in waters where oil spills have occurred. Hair is surprisingly absorbent when it comes to oil thanks to its porousness and its natural affinity to oil. Next time you groom your pooch, consider mailing a donation. If those aren't your speed, there's a significant use of pet hair in the crafting world. If you have a double-coated dog breed with a long undercoat, this makes for great yarn. Who wouldn't want a sweater made of dog hair? Some breeds that can produce wonderful yarns are: mastiffs, Australian shepherds, Siberian huskies, chows and sheepdogs. Only the soft undercoat is used, and the hair needs to be about two inches long to spin into yarn by hand or wheel. There are plenty of tutorials online on how to spin your own yarn or ship it out to be spun for you. My personal favorite is needle felting with pet fur. Just like fibers used for needle felting, pet fur has small barbs that will hold together when needle felted. Turn your cat's hair into a toy or make a small, felted replica of your furry friend. Grab a felting needle and go to town! You can even take the extra fur and use it as stuffing in DIY pet toys or beds. If your pooch tears up a stuffed toy, use their fur as stuffing and sew it back up. Next time you give your pet a well-needed grooming, get creative with the byproduct. Your vacuum bag is full of possibilities.