Three disinfectant classes cover almost every surface in a cattery, and each one has a fixed dilution and a fixed contact time. Get the ratio wrong and you either waste product or irritate skin; cut the contact time short and you clean without disinfecting. The workable defaults: chlorine at 1:32 for 10 minutes, quaternary ammonium at 1:256 for 10 minutes, and a peroxide blend at 1:100 for 10 minutes, all followed by a clean-water rinse and a room kept cat-free until every surface is dry.
Nothing here replaces a vet's advice on a specific pathogen, and none of it is a reason to breed more litters than you can house and screen for.
Three classes, and what each one is for
Most catteries need 3 products, not 12: 1 chlorine product for hard non-porous surfaces and drains, 1 quaternary ammonium product for daily wipe-downs of floors and carriers, and 1 peroxide blend for the maternity pen and anything a kitten has soiled. Rotating between 3 actives also limits the resistance pressure that comes from using 1 chemical every day for years. Buy concentrates, not ready-to-use sprays: a 1 liter concentrate at 1:32 makes about 32 liters of working solution, which is 4 to 6 weeks of cleaning in a 6-pen room.
| Class | Dilution | Contact | Working ppm | Use on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chlorine (5 to 6% hypochlorite) | 1:32 | 10 minutes | 1,500 to 1,900 | Hard floors, drains, litter trays |
| Quaternary ammonium | 1:256 | 10 minutes | 400 to 800 | Walls, carriers, daily wipe-downs |
| Peroxide blend | 1:100 | 10 minutes | 1,000 to 3,000 | Maternity pen, soft furnishings |
| Steam (no chemical) | None | 5 to 10 seconds per point | 100 C at the nozzle | Grout lines, seams, wooden frames |
Class 1: chlorine at 1:32, mixed fresh
1:32 means 1 part bleach to 31 parts water, not 1 part to 32. In a 500 ml spray bottle that is 15 ml of 5 to 6 percent hypochlorite plus 485 ml of cool water, which lands near 1,600 ppm available chlorine. Mix with water at 20 to 25 C: above 30 C the solution loses strength within 2 hours. Make it fresh each morning, label the bottle with the date and time, and pour out whatever is left after 24 hours, because potency drops by roughly half in a day in a warm room. Chlorine is the right choice for parvovirus and ringworm risk, and the wrong choice for anything porous, since 1 sponge or 1 wooden shelf absorbs it and holds organic load that neutralizes it.
Class 2: quaternary ammonium at 1:256
At 1:256, 1 capful of concentrate in a 5 liter bucket gives a working solution of 400 to 800 ppm, which is enough for routine floors and wipe-downs and far gentler on hands than chlorine. Two rules matter more than the ratio. First, pre-clean: quaternary ammonium stops working in visible organic soil, so a surface with 1 gram of feces needs the solids removed before the wipe. Second, never mix it with anionic detergent, which is most dish soap; the two cancel each other and you get a cloudy bucket that disinfects nothing. Keep a dedicated 5 liter bucket that has never held soap.
Class 3: peroxide blends at 1:100
A stabilized hydrogen peroxide blend at 1:100 gives 1,000 to 3,000 ppm and breaks down into water and oxygen, which makes it the easiest class to use around a maternity pen and soft items that cannot take chlorine. It also lifts biofilm from plastic trays better than the other 2 classes. The cost is price: 3 to 5 times chlorine per liter of working solution. Reserve it for 1 pen and 2 trays, not for the whole room, and check the label for the required contact time, because some blends are labeled at 5 minutes and some at 10.
The 10-minute contact time is the whole job
Disinfection is a chemistry clock, not a wipe. A surface must stay visibly wet for the full 10 minutes; if it dries at 6 minutes, you applied too little and the clock stopped. Budget 8 to 12 ml of working solution per square meter for a non-porous floor, which is 1 spray bottle per 4 square meters. At 3 pens and 2 trays per pen, that is roughly 10 minutes of wet time and 4 minutes of handling, so 1 person can finish a 6-pen room in 25 to 30 minutes. Two rounds a day in the maternity room and 1 round a day elsewhere covers normal turnover.
Four safety rules
Rule 1, air: ventilate for 15 minutes before and after, and never work in a closed room under 10 C or above 30 C. Rule 2, skin and eyes: nitrile gloves plus sealed eye protection, and change gloves between pens so you do not carry 1 pen's organic load into the next. Rule 3, never mix: chlorine plus ammonia or an acid cleaner releases chloramine gas, and chlorine plus quaternary ammonium is both corrosive and weaker than either alone; 1 product per bucket, always. Rule 4, cats out: every cat leaves the area before the first spray and stays out until the surface is fully dry, which is 45 to 60 minutes at 20 C with airflow.
Rinse clean, keep cats out until dry
Contact time ends with a rinse, not a towel. Rinse every surface that a cat will lie on or lick with clean water, twice, changing the water between passes; chlorine residue at 1:32 is enough to cause paw pad irritation and mild salivation in a cat that grooms a damp floor. Then let it air-dry completely, with cats kept in another room until the surface is dry to the touch, at least 60 minutes at 20 C and 90 minutes in a cool room. A cat walked back onto a damp floor at minute 5 undoes 10 minutes of work and picks up the residue on 4 paws. If a cat does lick a wet surface, offer water, watch for drooling for 2 hours, and call a vet if vomiting starts.
What goes on the wall chart
Log 6 fields for every disinfection: date, room or pen, product class, dilution, start and end time of contact, and who did it. Six fields take 20 seconds and they answer the only question that matters later: was the pen actually done, at the right ratio, for the full 10 minutes. Keep the chart for 12 months, alongside the vaccine dates in your vaccine schedule, and file it with the rest of the cattery records. Consumable cost runs 8 to 20 dollars a month for 6 pens, which is small enough to see on a cost sheet without a separate budget line.
Five steps for this week
- Buy 1 concentrate per class and 3 labeled bottles, one color per class.
- Pre-mark a 500 ml bottle at 15 ml and 485 ml so nobody measures by eye.
- Time 1 pen with a phone stopwatch and confirm the surface stays wet for 10 minutes.
- Post the 4 safety rules at the door, including the no-mixing line.
- Start the 6-field chart today and review 7 days of entries on Sunday.
Frequently asked
Can I use one product for everything instead of three?
You can run a cattery on 1 chlorine product at 1:32 for 10 minutes, plus a rinse and a full dry, and many small catteries do exactly that. The cost is surface damage and hand irritation over months, and no rotation of actives. Adding a quaternary ammonium at 1:256 for daily wipes and a peroxide blend at 1:100 for the maternity pen buys 2 things: less wear and a second chemical mode of action.
How do I know the 10 minutes was enough?
The surface has to stay visibly wet for the full 10 minutes; if it dries at minute 6, the clock stopped and the work does not count. Apply 8 to 12 ml per square meter, which is roughly 1 spray bottle per 4 square meters, then set a phone timer. Wipe only after the timer ends, rinse twice with clean water, and keep cats out until the surface is dry to the touch.
When can the cats go back in?
Only when every surface is dry to the touch, which is at least 60 minutes at 20 C with airflow and up to 90 minutes in a cool room. Rinse all cat-contact surfaces twice with clean water first, because 1:32 chlorine residue irritates paw pads and causes salivation. A cat that returns to a damp floor at minute 5 picks up residue on 4 paws and grooms it off.