# Bleach -- a mistake?



## Two Siamese (Aug 20, 2011)

Sorry...I'm new to the forum and have come here with a zillion questions.

It always comes back to the diagnosed giardia that we're dealing with at the moment:

I'm obsessively cleaning the babies' litterbox. I'm scooping it multiple times a day and completely replacing it every other day (I bought a case of hard litter box liners and am using them as their boxes).

Each time I replace the box, I pour some bleach water (1 part to 10 parts water) on the floor, let it sit for a minute, and then wipe it up. Sometimes I follow it with vinegar, sometimes I don't. To be honest, the vinegar seems to smell worse! I don't know how it smells to a little kitty-nose though. The new boxes sit on top of the floor -- no actual bleach goes into the box.

The cats are quarantined to the laundry room. Up until now, there have been no litterbox accidents. Yesterday and today, I've found small puddles of completely clear, odorless liquid sort of inbetween the litterboxes (in a closet) and their waterbowl (outside the closet). There is ZERO odor to it and I can't honestly tell if it's urine or if they've just splashed some of the water out of their dish. I'm replacing the water in their dish (and the actual dish) several times a day due to trying to get rid of the giardia.

I can't tell if it's odorless pee because they're only 15 weeks old (shouldn't it at least have some color) OR if it's just plain old water.

I'm wondering though if my bleach solution is making them avoid their boxes? They seem to be using the boxes too for all purposes, so I'm really not sure.

Do I need to be extra careful cleaning with bleach? Am I asking for litterbox issues if I haven't already gotten them?

Up until this morning, they had one box. They now have two as I'm thinking that's better -- two cats, two different litterbox activities. Probably a better idea....


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## Two Siamese (Aug 20, 2011)

I should have added...I read that mucous can be colorless and odorless, but I really don't think this is that. It's the consistency of water, so I'm hoping that's actually what it is.


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## Greenport ferals (Oct 30, 2010)

That is actually a very strong bleach solution. You can accomplish the same thing using far less - like half a capful to a gallon. 

Hikers use a form of bleach to make their drinking water safe and kill giardia. It is very, very dilute and will do the job and still be safe to drink.


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## Vivid Dawn (May 31, 2010)

When you wipe up this mess, is it totally water-like, or is it just a little bit thicker? Sometimes when cats throw up, they only throw up bile. I have heard it's supposed to be green, but I've only seen green bile ONCE at the shelter I work at with 50 cats. It's usually clear or tinted with yellow... sometimes has foam, sometimes just plain ol'e liquid.

If it's right next to their water dishes, yes it could be that. Otherwise, saliva/bile from puking is the only thing I can think of.


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

Your bleach solution does sound like it's too strong. Rinse out the box well afterward with plain water, and then sprinkle in some baking soda and add a litter water to make a rinse, rinse again with plain water and dry. The bleach smell shouldn't bother them too much....in fact I've found that some cats react to it in the same way they would if it was catnip, by rubbing their cheeks against the box and rolling around. Giardia can be a bit of long haul in getting rid of it, but no doubt you will. Hang in there!


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## Viljaana (Oct 6, 2010)

My experience is that cat urine can indeed be odourless. My late Siamese made occasionally odourless puddles around the house (due to his stress disorder).

I still say you should reconsider your cleaning habits. Using bleach constantly isn't doing any good for you or your cats. In a case of giardia, you really should disinfect the litter box and the surfaces the cats are often in contact with. But do that once. Just once.
We too had giardia a year go, washed the litter box and the climing tree with bleach, sanitazed carpets and bed covers and that's it. We did that only once and the giardia was gone, we got tested .

The bleach you are using is killing all the natural bacteria in your bathroom, were there should be some amount of it. Bacteria around us is very important to are health. When the body (of cat or human alike) is used to cope with low amounts of bacteria, it will fight better against the nasty ones. 
I'm allso a bit worried about the chlorine fumes vaporising from your bleach solution. Chlorine does kill bacteria very effecticly but is allso very poisonous to larges organisms (like humans and cats). The fumes can cause lung damage to you all. Yes, its used to sanitaze drinking water but then the amounts are extremely small. 

I'm not saying you can not clean the litter box or the house. I only say you should consider changing the bleach into something else. There are many environment friendly products in the market that will do no harm to you or your loved ones. But stay away of everything that is promised to be antibactrerial. Those should be used only when needed (like in hospitals and when diseases are issued) not even weekly.

I think your cats would appreciate a bit less cleaning. Skoop as often as you like (you don't want to find your toilet unflushed, right? ), but ease a bit with the cleaning. Cats usually like to find a familiar "toilet smell" (a.k.a their own urine) in their litter box. It tells them, that this is the place I've used before, it's a safe place to use this time. It might help with the with the unwanted puddles. Only rince the box with water and rather wash it with soap once a week than replace it. Try to reuse some of the clean looking litter. You shouldn't be able to smell the litter box but your cats should. 

Good luck!
Viljaana

(Sorry about the misspelling and stuf, English is not my first language)


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## Two Siamese (Aug 20, 2011)

How did you sanitize the climbing tree with bleach? I had the whole cat tree cleaned/sanitized when they did the carpets, but I don't think they did anything to the actual sisal rope posts. They did all the carpeted (actually faux sheepskin) areas.


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## Viljaana (Oct 6, 2010)

I merely sprayed it with bleach solution . But if the giardia hasn't made anencore, you probably don't have to. And we took the blankets and carpets to Finnish sauna, 80*C should do the trick. We would have used that to the tree too, but it was too clumsy to move.


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