Pet-Friendly Flooring for Dogs & Cats

Featured Image: Tapestri Silk Blend Hexagon Porcelain Mudroom Floor Tile from Arizona Tile

For many of us, pets are part of our family, and we think nothing of having them in our homes… that is, until you notice scratches on the floor, dirt and fur in carpets, and water splatter and drool stains decorating your non-water-resistant surfaces.

Fortunately, keeping your home full of furry companions is no competition for the tile and stone we offer. Flooring is a significant design component of your home, encompassing aesthetics, functionality, and practicality. We offer pet-friendly flooring options that can alleviate the stress and maintenance needs that come with living in a house with dogs and cats.

Benefits of Pet-Friendly Tile

Whether it be in the living room, the kitchen, bathrooms, or bedrooms, any area of your home can benefit from high-quality, durable tile. As we all know, pets don’t have many boundaries and will poke their noses in and out of every room and space they please.

Porcelain isn’t the only tile flooring option in a home with pets, but it is one of the best suited to stand up to a “pet mess”. Porcelain tile is one of our most durable materials available and is color permanent, abrasion-resistant, and cannot be cut, torn, gouged, or punctured. With pets, there are potty accidents to expect, water spills, and general messes. Because porcelain is a non-porous surface, there won’t be any liquid absorption—the puddle will be perfectly waiting for you to wipe it up.

With that said, it’s paramount to talk about the ease of care porcelain offers: there’s no polishing, buffing, or waxing needed…ever. In fact, such care can damage and dull your porcelain tile over time. Caring for porcelain is as simple as wiping it with a damp sponge, and sometimes the addition of soap-less detergent, to keep it looking shiny and new.

Not only is durability and care important, but aesthetics are also worth considering in your flooring design. Porcelain tile is available in a vast variety of sizes, shapes, colors, patterns, and textures, so no matter your design preference, you’ll find a product that accentuates your design palette. You’ll be able to enjoy it all stress-free because when your dogs are playing an intense game of chase, even with muddy paws, no harm will be done, and a simple mopping will erase all evidence.

Pet-Friendly Flooring for All Rooms

Every area of your home should be considered when making your flooring selections, including outdoor spaces. The kitchen and gathering room are the heart of your home, so these spaces are most important. However, chances are your furry companions follow you into the bedroom and even bathroom, so this flooring needs to be just as durable. After all, no matter how much we may trim our animal’s nails, they still scrape against the floor with every step, times four paws.

Kitchen & Gathering Room

Image: BA-Almond 8 x 48 Wood-Look Porcelain Kitchen Floor Tile from Arizona Tile

Wood floors have been popular for ages; however, natural wood can absorb water and be susceptible to scratches. If you want to utilize the look of wood in your flooring design, we offer a magnificent alternative: wood-emulating porcelain tile. This wood-look flooring has all the benefits of porcelain, but with that warm, rich appearance of hardwood so many love.

Bio Attitude is the perfect example of a wood-look porcelain with its true essence of oak in five beautiful colors. Bio Attitude doesn’t stop with appearance and practicality, though—it features PROTECT® technology, which works continuously to eliminate up to 99.9% of bacteria for the lifetime of the product, resulting in a surface that stays cleaner and fresher for longer.

Image: Intense Toffee 12 x 24 Kitchen Porcelain Wall Tile & 24 x 24 Floor Tile from Arizona Tile

Shifting to another nature-inspired product, still featuring PROTECT® technology, the Intense series is an Italian-made porcelain, inspired by sedimentary limestone. The inspiration is taken so faithfully that it even displays granules and micro-inclusions of fossils, typical of natural limestone. Additionally, Intense is available with R11 Anti-Slip Finish (a slip-resistant finish for wet or outdoor spaces), which would be great if you want your kitchen and/or gathering room floor to seamlessly extend to your outdoor patio.

Image: Verrazzo Beige 24 x 24 Porcelain Living Room Floor Tile from Arizona Tile

Also able to extend your indoor space to your outdoor space with R11 Finish Technology is our Verrazzo series. Resembling a natural display of agglomerate stone, neither your guests nor your pets will have any idea it is actually porcelain.

Bedroom & Bathroom Flooring

Image: Faro Taupe Grey 12 x 24 Porcelain Bedroom Floor Tile from Arizona Tile

Does your dog run off your bed, then on your bed, then off your bed, over and over when they have zoomies? Every time their nails push off your floor or come crashing down onto it, that surface can take a beating. You won’t regret the extra research you did to ensure your pet-friendly flooring selection is just right. As for the bathrooms, you might easily glaze over this area, but what about doggie bath time? Or the shadow who follows you from room to room?

Anthea porcelain tile holds up in these situations. Versatile in its applications,  Anthea is another stunning tile series featuring PROTECT® technology and is available in an R11 Anti-Slip Finish. This series showcases a harmonious blend of various natural stone materials, showcasing gorgeous depth and a wide color  range. There’s no need to halt installation at flooring: Anthea is also an excellent wall tile that can be easily wiped to rid its surface of water splatter from after-doggie-bath shakes.

Image: Anthea Dark 12 x 24 Bathroom Floor Tile & Anthea Dark 2 x 2 Shower Floor Tile from Arizona Tile

Porcelain has been our main focus here, but dolomite is a natural surface worthy of consideration. Dolomite White, an incredibly dense form of white marble, offers the luxury and sophistication of natural stone while ensuring practical performance – durable enough to be pet-friendly.

Image: Dolomite White Honed 8″ Hex Bathroom Floor Tile & Dolomite White Honed Penny Round 3/4 Mesh Shower Floor Tile from Arizona Tile

Mudrooms

Mudrooms are an excellent multi-use space to contain, well… mud… and dirt from tracking into your home. There are times when we cannot avoid mud, no matter how careful we are, but let’s be honest, pets don’t ever use ‘avoid-the-mud’ caution. This space can stand alone or be part of the laundry room, but it’s an area that’s semi-expected to get dirty, so why not add a little extra style with patterned tile?

Image: Reverie 11 Porcelain Mudroom/Laundry Room Floor Tile from Arizona Tile

Tapestri is a series of modern, crisp geometric designs, combined with soft, soothing colors. All eight colors are neutral and elegant, and host 15 different and unique patterns. To take it up a notch, our Reverie series features more pronounced colors and patterns with a vintage appearance and an aged appeal. Also, charming and unique, no one will ever know just how durable this tile is… this tile really has it all.

How Will You Incorporate Pet-friendly Flooring?

Hopefully, you found inspiration here to create a pet-friendly environment that will make your life easier! To gain a better sense of each product used in a room, explore our Just Imagine Tile and Slab Visualizer. When you can, visit an Arizona Tile showroom or slab yard to see our products in person. If you have questions along the way, please send us a message, and our exceptional staff will be happy to help!