A blocked drain can cause all kinds of unpleasant things to occur in your home. You may find that water will no longer drain from the sink, the toilet water won't flush away or that certain areas of your home begin to smell really bad. In the worse case scenario, wastewater could back up through the drainage system and flood your home. The leading causes of blocked drains are human hair being washed down the plug hole and fats and other food waste being allowed to enter the plumbing system. However, if you are a pet owner, this could be the source of your plumbing problem. Below is a guide to some pet things which might be blocking your drains.
Dry Food
If you feed your pet dry food, you may be tempted to wash any leftovers from their bowl down the kitchen sink, thinking that it will probably break down when it comes into contact with water. Unfortunately, when dry food comes into contact with water it doesn't disintegrate, it expands in size. You can test this by dropping a piece of dry pet food into a glass of water. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what might happen if you wash an expanding substance down your drains. The expansion will increase the chance the dry food will clog your drain. You should take care not to wash any leftover dry food down the drains in your home.
Clumps of Cat Litter
Cat litter will tend to clump together when it becomes moist with use. This allows you to use the litter for a longer period of time without the need to change it. However, this tendency to clump together can cause problems if the cat litter is allowed to enter the plumbing system in your home. The clumps of cat litter can become stuck to the inside of the drainage pipe causing it to become narrow. As more debris passes through the sewer pipe, they can become trapped in the cat litter, causing the pipe to become completely blocked. For this reason, you should never flush cat litter down the toilet. Instead, you should scoop it into a plastic trash bag and place it in the bin with the rest of your household waste.
If your drains become blocked, you should call out a plumber who will be able to help to clear any blockage.
