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Old February 6th 07, 06:56 AM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
Cat Protector
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Posts: 378
Default Cleaning Used Cat Tower

Thanks for the answers but someone I know who rescues cat gave me the
answer. She suggested I used a solution of 1/4 bleach and about 3/4 water
and then use one of those sponges that had the hard surface side to remove
the cat hair. I kind of added a bit more bleach to the solution and made it
a bit more concentrated. It was kind of heavy but I wanted to be sure I had
a stong solution to kill all posibilities of FELV. Tomorrow, I'm going to
spray it down with a weaker solution and leave it to air dry.

It was also suggested to leave out in the sun for about 8 days (2 days for
each side) which would also kill some of the germs and possible bacteria.
She also recommended spraying the tower with Lysol to remove the smell of
the cats that used it before. I got a Walmart brand of the disinfectant and
am going to use that since it does the same thing as Lysol but is much
cheaper. The tower's carpeting dries pretty well.


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"Gail Futoran" wrote in message
...
"Rhonda" wrote in message
...
You know, I don't think anyone answered before because they probably
don't know or don't want to give you the wrong info.

In a case like this if you are worried about it -- I would probably just
run it past the vet.

Good luck,

Rhonda

Cat Protector wrote:
I just received a used cat tower and was wondering if it is truly safe
for my cats? I was told that it would be ok to bleach it before giving
it to my cats. Has anyone else here ever gotten a used tower and safely
been able to allow their cats to use it? I saw that one of the cats in
this home was pretty healthy (awaiting FELV test) and the other was a
feral so it is unknown how healthy that one was. The woman had adopted
the one black cat we found from the Humane Society while the other one
she brought in from outside. One of the neighbors said he was a longer
haired cat which looked like he was a bit large. Both cats were
displaced by a fire and the one we found we were able to get into the
adoption system of a local rescue group.

The cat tower is now on our back porch so I was wondering what besides
bleach do I need to use in order to sterilize it? The tower is kind of
tall (a little over 6 feet) but it does need some vacuuming and such but
it was one of the few things which survived the fire besides both cats.


I'll tell the OP my experience, and if it works for
him/her, great. I had two FeLV+ kittens housed
in an isolation room with cat trees, carpeted runs,
etc. When they died (lymphoma), I vacuumed,
sprayed everything with a 10% Clorox solution,
laundered everything launderable using Clorox,
shut the room up for a month, then opened it up
and let my healthy cats in. They use it as a play
room. I've also used the room to quarantine
new cats and kittens and although I don't go to
quite the extreme I did after the FeLV+ kittens
died (more recent additions test healthy), I
always clean with a Clorox solution.

You (OP) might check online about the
survivability of various contagious feline
diseases. The FeLV virus is fairly easy to
kill; I don't know if that's true for other
diseases.

Gail F.