Cleaning Used Cat Tower

"Cat Protector" wrote in message
...
Well I decided to not use the Lysol type solution and decided to
spray the tower down again today using an anti-bacterial dish soap
and water. This way I can wash away a lot of the bleach (which I'll
probably spray down with lots of water first) and hopefully get rid
of the smell of the other cats that used it before. I want to make
this tower as safe as possible to use for my cats. It may be
overkill but better to be safe than sorry.

--
Cat Galaxy: All Cats! All The Time!
www.catgalaxymedia.com

If the bleach is just plain bleach (like Clorox)
you don't need to do anything but let it
air out and it will dissipate on its own. I
don't know what adding soap does to
the fabric but I personally wouldn't use it
as you are using it.

Gail F.

I just used a spray bottle full of water and sprayed the tower to dilute the
bleach/water mixture I applied on yesterday. Once that's dry I plan on
either applying a anti-bacterial dish soap/water mixture to get rid of the
bleach smell or just bringing it in the house so it can be vacuumed.

--
Cat Galaxy: All Cats! All The Time!
www.catgalaxymedia.com

Panther TEK: Staying On Top Of Your Computer Needs!
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"Wendy" wrote in message
...
Don't use the Lysol. I've heard that is toxic to cats. Why don't you check
somewhere like Drs. Foster and Smith to see if they have a good cat safe
disinfectant.

You only need a 32:1 water/bleach solution. Leave on for a while and rinse
well to remove as much of the bleach smell as possible.


"Cat Protector" wrote in message
...
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.


--
Cat Galaxy: All Cats! All The Time!
www.catgalaxymedia.com

Panther TEK: Staying On Top Of Your Computer Needs!
www.panthertekit.com
"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.

Well knowing how obnoxious the bleach smell can get I was going to use the
anti-bacterial dish soap to further disinfect the tower and get rid of the
smell.

--
Cat Galaxy: All Cats! All The Time!
www.catgalaxymedia.com

Panther TEK: Staying On Top Of Your Computer Needs!
www.panthertekit.com

"Gail Futoran" wrote in message
...
If the bleach is just plain bleach (like Clorox)
you don't need to do anything but let it
air out and it will dissipate on its own. I
don't know what adding soap does to
the fabric but I personally wouldn't use it
as you are using it.

Gail F.

"Cat Protector" wrote in message
...
Well knowing how obnoxious the bleach smell can get I was going to
use the anti-bacterial dish soap to further disinfect the tower and
get rid of the smell.

The bleach smell will go away all by itself.
I'm surprised it hasn't by now. Adding
any kind of soap is adding a dirt
attractant. Any kind of soap isn't going
to do what the bleach has already done -
which is disinfect. I.e. kill diseases that
might be present.

Here's a link that might provide some
useful information for you:
http://www.sheltermedicine.com/portal/is_cleaning.shtml
You can google other links to cleaning
animal shelters.

Note that I got into the habit of cleaning my
FeLV+ kittens' isolation room weekly with
Clorox after one kitten developed ringworm.
The other kitten, despite the close quarters,
never caught it.

Gail F.

Well I used a bit higher concentration of bleach mixed with water because
the last thing I need is something like ringworm, panleukopenia, or any
other illness that the cats could have possibly had. I want this thing to be
completely safe for my cats to use. I also was told that after spraying the
tower I should also let it dry in the sun as well in order to kill
additional germs.

--
Cat Galaxy: All Cats! All The Time!
www.catgalaxymedia.com

Panther TEK: Staying On Top Of Your Computer Needs!
www.panthertekit.com
"Gail Futoran" wrote in message
...
"Cat Protector" wrote in message
...
Well knowing how obnoxious the bleach smell can get I was going to
use the anti-bacterial dish soap to further disinfect the tower and
get rid of the smell.

The bleach smell will go away all by itself.
I'm surprised it hasn't by now. Adding
any kind of soap is adding a dirt
attractant. Any kind of soap isn't going
to do what the bleach has already done -
which is disinfect. I.e. kill diseases that
might be present.

Here's a link that might provide some
useful information for you:
http://www.sheltermedicine.com/portal/is_cleaning.shtml
You can google other links to cleaning
animal shelters.

Note that I got into the habit of cleaning my
FeLV+ kittens' isolation room weekly with
Clorox after one kitten developed ringworm.
The other kitten, despite the close quarters,
never caught it.

Gail F.

On Tue, 6 Feb 2007 13:34:00 -0700, Cat Protector wrote:


Well knowing how obnoxious the bleach smell can get I was going to use the
anti-bacterial dish soap to further disinfect the tower and get rid of the
smell.

Use boiling hot water and a shop vac to extract. There are few solvents as
effective as very hot water.

I thought I'd let everyone know that the cat tower was finally brought
inside. The first day I sprayed it down with a bleach/water solution. On the
second day I sprayed it with plain water so that it could get rid of some of
the bleach that may not have evaporated or otherwise left the tower.
Yesterday, I sprayed it off with an anti-bacterial soap solution mixed with
water in order to get rid of any more germs. Finally, I brought it inside.

The cats were very curious about the tower but didn't hiss or otherwise
avoid it. I set two of the cats on the tower just to get their scent on it
and now one of the cats, Icarus is now resting on it. The other two Isis and
Jade aren't but are sniffing around it. I hope to vacuum it this weekend to
kind of fluff things up a little. Hopefully, all 3 cats will end up using it
at the same time. I can see lots of fun ahead for all them so they can get
some much needed exercise.

On Thu 08 Feb 2007 07:58:11p, Cat Protector wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav :

The cats were very curious about the tower but didn't hiss or
otherwise avoid it. I set two of the cats on the tower just to
get their scent on it and now one of the cats, Icarus is now
resting on it. The other two Isis and Jade aren't but are
sniffing around it. I hope to vacuum it this weekend to kind of
fluff things up a little. Hopefully, all 3 cats will end up
using it at the same time. I can see lots of fun ahead for all
them so they can get some much needed exercise.

You've certainly made sure that no kitty nasties are going to remain
on that tower. Kudos. Another fun thing for them that's cheap to
install is a few shelves on the wall positioned so they can jump from
one to the other. I found some unfinished wood shelves in a craft
store that I put up just for my kitties. If you attach some carpet to
the surfaces, they can get a good grip while jumping or landing. I
have fun watching mine "climbing the walls".

--
Cheryl

I'll have to do that at some point. Because of a condo conversion in our
complex, we have to move in a couple of months so maybe I'll get to install
shelves in the new place. Right now my cats are just checking out the tower.
Jade and Icarus are lying on it while Isis is keeping her distance but she
did check it out briefly.

--
Cat Galaxy: All Cats! All The Time!
www.catgalaxymedia.com

Panther TEK: Staying On Top Of Your Computer Needs!
www.panthertekit.com

"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
You've certainly made sure that no kitty nasties are going to remain
on that tower. Kudos. Another fun thing for them that's cheap to
install is a few shelves on the wall positioned so they can jump from
one to the other. I found some unfinished wood shelves in a craft
store that I put up just for my kitties. If you attach some carpet to
the surfaces, they can get a good grip while jumping or landing. I
have fun watching mine "climbing the walls".

--
Cheryl

"AZ Nomad" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 6 Feb 2007 13:34:00 -0700, Cat Protector
wrote:


Well knowing how obnoxious the bleach smell can get I was going to use the
anti-bacterial dish soap to further disinfect the tower and get rid of the
smell.

Use boiling hot water and a shop vac to extract. There are few solvents
as
effective as very hot water.

Hot water won't do diddly for something like Panleukopenia. A 32:1
water/bleach solution will kill even that.

W