In the past few weeks, the topic of what to do with pets when selling your house has come up with both Realtors and home sellers.  If you are a pet owner, you know the importance of your pet within your own family.  Unfortunately, not everyone is going to feel the way you do about cute little Fluffy; most certainly those that are not animal lovers, and probably not even those that are fond of animals.

So what is a home seller to do with Fido when the phone rings for a showing or you have an open house scheduled?  In an ideal world, the pet, and all evidence of the pet, needs to be removed.  At the very least, absolutely, positively, the home seller needs to hide all animal bedding, toys, food and water dishes. 

100% of the time a dog should be removed from the home for showings and open houses.  Cats can be a bit trickier.  If you can, pack up kitty and take her with you during showings and open houses.  If this is the case, then hide the litter box.  The litter box is such a turn off to potential home buyers, and you don’t want them to write off your house just because they don’t like animals.  If your cats are like mine, they will go into hiding and stay there when strangers enter.  In this scenario, I would use caution when determining whether or not to remove the litter box; it could create a whole other situation that you don’t want. 

In addition to your house portraying the illusion that no pets exist, it needs to smell that way.  While your house is on the market, make sure your dogs are bathed regularly and the litter box is kept extra clean.  All furniture and bedding needs to be clear of any pet hair, too.  It may be inconvenient, but if you don’t take these steps, you run the risk of your house not selling.

Regarding birds, reptiles, rabbits or any other critters you may have as pets, the recommendations above apply.  Bottom line – the best case scenario is to have your house pet-free while potential home buyers are in it.