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Why do shopping malls always have slippery surfaces in the main traffic areas? Ok, it’s just a rhetorical question, as I understand that the slippery, shiny floor tiles are generally better for cleaning purposes, tend to look better for longer even when slightly dirty, and are also more hard-wearing than others flooring options.
My beef with these surfaces is they are so hard to walk on – and it doesn’t matter what footwear you have on as even when wearing rubber-soled shoes, they can be tricky. Throw in joint problems and they are positively treacherous!
I struggle with very bad knees – some days are worse than others – and I find it extraordinarily exhausting walking through a shopping mall. Not because I spend too much time in them (I don’t, I tend to get in and get out as quickly as possible) but because I am concentrating on not slipping or falling. I am in awe of women who can walk in high heels or the guys in their lovely dress shoes with no rubber soles – or perhaps they too are secretly cursing the mall floor as I do!
I have a friend who works with a Home Building company, and I asked her what the trend was with regards to customer choice of flooring; were more people choosing hard floors over carpeting when building their home? She told me that people were choosing carpet in bedrooms but hard floors such as tiles, floorboards or floating floors for the higher traffic areas. Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? I mean the hard floors are easier to clean.
There is also a trend in the animal world – well mainly the dog world – for designer dogs that profess (often falsely) to be ‘low maintenance’ as they don’t shed fur all over the house.
And OK, I get it, who wants to be chained to doing housework all the time? I often have at least three dogs in my house, and the fur bunnies that I find all over the house drive me crazy, but it is all part of having a dog (or 2 or 3!).
What does all this have to do with animals I hear you ask? Well, have you ever seen a dog who is frightened of a slippery floor and wondered how or why it developed the fear? It can only take one slip and a dog may hurt itself enough to cause a dislike of these types of flooring.
It may seem a bit funny at first, to see a puppy or dog slipping and sliding on the floor, or to see their legs slowly sliding out from under them as they’re eating or drinking, but it is actually a serious matter as it can and does cause serious damage. Longer coated dogs (and cats) struggle even more as they often have long fur between their feet pads, which if not trimmed, can make negotiating slippery surfaces very hazardous indeed.
This doesn’t just apply to our senior pets either and we should seriously be considering our younger animals as the more often they slip, the more damage they could be doing.
This video link shows some puppies trying to walk on a slippery floor – it was put on the internet for a bit of a laugh, and they certainly look cute, but it makes me cringe as I know the damage this is doing to these little guys.
As part of my work with special needs pets, particularly those with mobility problems, I communicate with a range of veterinary professionals, including veterinarians and rehabilitation people. One of the most common issues I am hearing from all corners is an increase in animals, dogs mainly but some cats too, that are experiencing joint, muscle and spinal soreness and injury caused by slippery surfaces in the home.
Some Veterinarians are telling me that sadly, they’re even having to euthanise animals that would be still considered young due to injuries caused by slippery flooring.
When I am contacted by people who have recognised the dangers of their pets slipping all over their hard flooring, they invariably ask for the best type of traction socks or boots. And whilst I do think we have the best Tractions Socks available, along with a fabulous new range of booties as well as our regular boots, and I highly recommend them, however, they’re not designed to be worn all the time.
Traction socks and boots need to be taken off at the very least at night because dogs have two types of pores and the most important pores that help the cooling process (the Merocrine glands) are on the paws – pretty trippy hey? So, your dog’s paws need access to open air at night; otherwise, the paws can be prone to infection and the dog may have problems keeping cool. And although a dog’s primary method for cooling down is via panting, we don’t want to make things any harder than they need to be.
I have seen some pet owners using a grip adhesive coating or sticker grips placed on the pads of the dog’s paws to help with traction and also seen toe grips, which are silicone rings placed over the nails of the dog to help provide traction.
You might be a bit shocked to hear this, but the very best words of advice I can give to people who have hard slippery floors that their pets are struggling with……..is to put down non-slip carpet runners and mats!
Most of my house has floorboards, and although they were never shiny and slippery, when my old girl Ash, a crossbreed, started having trouble standing after lying in the hallway (she always had to be close to our Rottweiler, Boston and he liked to lay in the hallway), I purchased some non-slip carpet runners. I found runners that could be hosed off outside if necessary and along with an existing large rug in the loungeroom, I also purchased smaller carpet mats to place in areas in the loungeroom not covered by the mat where I noticed she was slipping.
Recently, when my other half and I visited Sydney to call on local veterinary clinics, we rented a lovely Air BNB with a small but workable outdoor space for our dogs Boston, and Ash our elderly crossbreed with mobility problems who uses a wheelchair for exercise. As beautiful as the Air BNB was, there were shiny tiles in both the main rooms and in the small outside courtyard and as Sydney at the time was very wet, these tiles became treacherous for everybody, especially poor old Ash.
So, the first thing I did was locate the closest Bunning’s store and purchased a large carpet mat and several runners so Ash could feel safe in that environment.
No matter the age of your dogs (or cats), I urge you to think of the health and well-being of your pet, rather than the aesthetics of the floor surface. Either choose a type of flooring that provides some grip or ensure you have plenty of rugs and mats to give your pets peace of mind and help them to feel safe as they wander around their home.
Over a 35-year veterinary nursing career, Gillian Shippen developed a special interest in animal behaviour enrichment and in 2006 began her business Pets Need A Life Too, dedicated to behaviour enrichment. In 2012 after recognising a growing need in the pet industry, she incorporated mobility aids and in 2020, established HandicappedPets Australia. She believes that pets are family and whether disabled, injured and/or elderly, they deserve to live a happy and healthy life. HandicappedPets Australia offers the largest online selection of products to improve animal mobility. Gillian works with veterinary teams and pet owners to help keep pets mobile, safe, healthy, and ready to enjoy life! Be Happy. Be Together. Be Amazed. Be Moving. Be the Next Miracle.
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This’s so true! because of the slippery floor, a lot of cats and dogs get injured and as pet owners, we should take care of that. Will surely use these dog products you have recommended.