Some habits can have a harmful impact on your plumbing. Break these 4 pet-related bad habits if you want to protect your plumbing and your pets.

We're all guilty of having bad habits when it comes to our plumbing but more so if our habits also involves our pets. These bad habits not only include the things you do to take care of your pets but also things your pets do on their own. Some of these habits may seem relatively harmless at first but they can have harmful impacts on your plumbing system and even put your pets in harm's way.

If you've ever witnessed your upholstery being gnawed to bits, you'll know that pets chew on things almost as second nature. Dogs and other pets chew on objects for plenty of reasons. For instance, it helps keep animals' teeth clean and jaws strong, plus it also helps them relieve stress and anxiety.

As far as most pets are concerned, your toilet is nothing more than a gigantic water bowl. So it's no wonder that any pet that's large enough to get to your toilet will take a drink from it. If you let your pets drink from the toilet, you put them at risk of picking up infections from bacteria passed through human fecal matter. Your pets can also get sick from ingesting chemicals used to keep your toilet clean.

One of the quickest ways to clog up your toilet is to flush kitty litter. Even kitty litter that's marketed as being flushable can still do a number on your toilet. Once flushed, kitty litter can settle inside of your toilet's P-trap as sediment. The longer it soaks, the more time it has to swell up and trap incoming debris. Eventually, you'll end up with a clog on your hands.

Washing and grooming leaves behind stray hair — more so if your pet happens to be a heavy shedder. Wet pet hair can find its way down your drains and mingle with other trapped debris. Given enough time, that hair can form a large clog that's difficult to bust through.