If you've ever visited someone whose house smelled of pet odor, you know that the first whiff of air you smelled made an impression that you still remember. And if you took off the clothes you wore and found hair all over them, you probably made up your mind not to visit again. If you are a pet lover and your home has pet odor and hair issues, here's a solution that will work.

Even if your house and your pets are meticulous, pet smell, hair, and fur can really make people stand-offish about visiting your home. Even if you clean daily, pet hair and odor are continuous issues, and even when you're not cleaning, these particles and smells are being generated. So the best solution is something that will clean up both these pollutants as fast as they are generated.

The answer is to clean the air with a purifier designed to remove both particulates and odors. Let's deal with the particles first. Not only are fur and hair an issues if you have a warm-blooded pet such as a dog, cat, bunny, bird or ferret, but dander is as well.

The hair and fur are visible, but the dander is not. However, the protein in these small flakes of dead skin is a highly potent allergen and can make your home intolerable for those who are allergic to it. And prolonged exposure to all of these particles can create sensitivity where none previously existed.

The best type of air cleaner for particles is a HEPA (abbreviated as high efficiency particle arresting). To receive this designation, it must be able to remove 99,997 out of every 10,000 airborne particles that are.3 microns or greater. This type of filter easily traps pet hair, dander, and fur as well as other household particles such as dust, dust mites, mold and mildew spores, pollen, bacteria and viruses.

Now let's talk about the odor. Pet odor, particularly urine, can be tenacious and seemingly impossible to control. If you are used to cleaning up after accidents happen, this puts you behind the eight-ball in terms of how your home smells.

And even if you are able to completely clean the area, it will still take a while for the smell to dissipate, and meanwhile the way your home smells is not good.

Again, using an air cleaner that can continuously filter out the pet smells, especially urine, keeps your air smelling fresh all the time, even when mistakes have happened.

Carbon filters are well known for their ability to eliminate gaseous pollutants. A carbon-based filter with an additive especially designed to eliminate pet urine smell is the only solution that you can count on to work.

Since particles and gases are two different types of matter, your air purifier should be able to eliminate both odors and particles. This means selecting a purifier that contains filters that can remove both.

Using an air purifier that can work 24 hours every day to clean the air means less hair, fur, and dander to clean from surfaces and vacuum from the floor. And it means that each time you open the door to your home you can be confident that your air smells fresh and clean.