So, the weekend chore is to clean the cat boxes. The feline overlords have … ways … to express their displeasure if the sanitary arrangements do not meet their high standards, and as their humble servant I wish to satisfy them.
Normally, when cleaning their boxes, I use Lysol wipes. Lots of wipes. It seems to meet their feline hygiene standards. For a while, at least.
But we are living in the corona-time. Lysol wipes are a rare commodity. I seek an alternative.
Bleach we’ve got. Lots of it.
So what would be an appropriate bleach-water ratio to achieve the disinfecting/cleaning function necessary to clean the boxes and keep the feline overlords content?
You are going to clean and rinse the surface before disinfection, as well as rinse it with clean water afterwards, so there should be no mixing of bleach and ammonia, that is a red herring.
You do not need a crazy bleach solution to disinfect hard surfaces; a 1:50 dilution of household bleach ought to do it. Let it sit for 5 minutes to properly disinfect, then rinse.
Probably a BAD IDEA to use PineSol. That pine fragrance is from a terpene, a class of chemicals that also includes the scents of citrus fruits. It’s related to turpentine. The bad news is that cats very much dislike the scent of many terpenes, so the risk is you’ll drive our overlords into using locations you didn’t mess up.
How important is it to disinfect them? The first time a box is used, it’s infected.
I scrub mine and use the garden hose. They smell clean to me afterwards, and the overlords seem happy with them.
A tablespoon or two of bleach in a quart of water is plenty for disinfecting.
I have had cats for decades and I don’t think it’s necessary to disinfect a litter box. It’s not like they eat out of it. Clean, yes. I use a little dish detergent and hot water. But I’m not sure there is a point to going farther than that. A good bath will get rid of most bacteria. It doesn’t need to be sterile, and even if you could get it germ-free it won’t stay that way more than a day.
Another vote that you don’t need bleach. Soap and water, or even water and sun if that’s available, should be plenty.
If you do use bleach, make really sure that you air the pans out well before refilling and setting them back out for use. The fumes from bleach are hazardous and irritating; the irritation’s more noticeable to some humans than others, and quite possibly more noticeable to cats than to humans.
A vote for bleach. If I can smell a “clean” box, the cats can, too, and none of us enjoy it. Also: DON’T USE LYSOL unless you wash the box thoroughly afterward. Lysol contains phenol chloroxylenol and can be toxic to cats.
Ooh, that’s far more bleach than is needed for sanitizing. 2 Tablespoons per quart is more than the state Dept of health guidelines call for (for the weakest commercial 2.75 sodium hypochlorite product) although I get that you’re wanting to be thorough.
I don’t know what those cats are doing, but that still sounds like a lot. Even 1:10 is a strong disinfectant solution which is caustic and not recommended in this case (disinfecting a hard plastic surface) anyway. That 10% solution would be used, e.g., following power washing to disinfect tires coming from an infected poultry farm.
I don’t wash cat boxes. Once a year, I throw them out, litter and all, and install new ones for Ruby and Wilson. Net cost: about $30/year. One of my small luxuries.
Basically this. We rinse with a hose when changing the litter (about once every 3-4 weeks; it’s clumping litter so doesn’t get changed very often) and then when the boxes get discolored and tired, we buy new. We break a lot of rules about litter boxes though, for example we have one box for two cats. They are litter mates so it doesn’t seem to be a problem. Also they are happy to use a covered box, which not all cats are. I have asked everyone who visits our home if they smell “cat box” and they all say no, so I guess we don’t have a smell.
ETA I meant to say do not use pine sol. I had a cat get the running shits and turns out it was from the pine sol. REALLY NOT RECOMMENDED!
I’ve always used a glug of bleach in a full-of-water litter box, after emptying the litter and rinsing any leftovers, and never had a problem with it. In addition, I dry it in the sun if the weather is above freezing.
There shouldn’t be enough residual ammonia to give off any toxic gas.
Not all bleaches sold in the United States are registered disinfectants.
To be a registered disinfectant, the bottle must have an EPA registration number on the front label and also a statement disclosing the percentage of active ingredients. If the label has neither of these things, it is not a registered disinfectant and may contain ANY percentage of actual bleach, no matter how small.
Regular and concentrated Clorox bleach are registered disinfectants, but scented and Splashless Clorox are not. Surprisingly, many store brands are, but the brand at Dollar Tree is not.
If your bleach is a registered disinfectant, there should be instructions on the label for how to mix it up both to sanitize and to disinfect surfaces. Follow those instructions.
If it is not a registered disinfectant, there is no way to tell how dilute the mixture in the bottle is or how much you should dilute it to make an effective disinfectant.
Yes, this. For instance, thickened bleach may contain poisonous additives and you definitely don’t want to use that for animals (or to disinfect your kitchen counter).
