Cattery biosecurity is mostly boring repetition: one door, one pair of shoes, 21 days of quarantine, and a bleach bottle mixed fresh. The four things that actually decide whether an outbreak spreads are a separate intake room, a written traffic order from youngest to oldest, FeLV and FIV testing done twice, and disinfection with a real contact time instead of a quick wipe.
The 21-day intake quarantine
New cats get their own room, litter box, scoop, bowl, and no nose-to-nose contact for 21 days. Three weeks covers the incubation of feline herpesvirus and calicivirus at 2 to 10 days, the shedding window of panleukopenia at 3 to 14 days, and most early ringworm lesions at 7 to 21 days. Feed and clean the newcomer last, then leave, then wash. A negative rapid test on day 1 does not clear feline leukemia virus: the antigen can take 28 to 42 days to appear, so retest at 4 to 6 weeks, and add a provirus PCR when a healthy cat tests positive on the rapid test.
Hands, shoes, and traffic order
Shoes come off at the door, or get a dedicated pair that never leaves the cattery. Feline panleukopenia virus rides on soles and survives for months, which is how it walks into clean rooms. Hands get 30 seconds of soap and water between cats, with alcohol gel as backup rather than the main method. Work youngest to oldest, healthy to sick, and never the reverse. Queens in the last 3 weeks before queening and kittens under 8 weeks get a dedicated smock. One scoop per group, stored upright, disinfected weekly.
Cleaning that actually works
Household bleach at 5.25 percent is mixed 1:32, which gives roughly 1,500 to 1,600 ppm of available chlorine, and it fails on a dirty surface, so clean with detergent, rinse, then apply. Contact time is 10 minutes wet, then air dry; a 30-second wipe does almost nothing. Mix fresh every 24 hours in a ventilated space, never combine with other cleaners, and store it out of reach. Accelerated hydrogen peroxide is easier on metal and stainless steel and works just as well against enveloped viruses. Steam and a laundry cycle at 60 C handle bedding and towels that bleach would ruin.
Scenario, product, contact time
| Scenario | Product and dilution | Contact time |
|---|---|---|
| Routine litter boxes, floors, bowls | Detergent, then bleach 1:32 | 10 minutes wet |
| Ringworm room and equipment | Bleach 1:10, or enilconazole; discard porous items | 10 minutes, then vacuum with a HEPA filter |
| Panleukopenia (FPV) contamination | Bleach 1:32, two rounds, all porous items binned | 10 minutes each round |
| FIP coronavirus (FCoV) case | Detergent, then bleach 1:32 or accelerated hydrogen peroxide | 10 minutes; replace all litter and cardboard |
| FeLV positive cat's pen | Detergent, then bleach 1:32; separate scoop and bowl | 10 minutes; no sharing of bedding |
| Hands and skin | Soap and water 30 seconds, or chlorhexidine scrub | 30 seconds |
| Injection and surgical tools | Autoclave at 121 C | 15 to 20 minutes |
After panleukopenia or FIP
Panleukopenia virus is the hard one. It survives 6 to 12 months indoors, including on carpet and wood, so the room gets emptied, porous items thrown out, two rounds of 1:32 bleach at 10 minutes, and then no unvaccinated or unweaned kittens for 6 to 12 months. Feline coronavirus, the ancestor of FIP, is enveloped and fragile: normal cleaning plus a 10-minute bleach contact drops infectious virus within days to weeks, and most catteries rest the room 30 days after a confirmed case, replace all litter and cardboard, and hold breeding from the affected line until testing is finished. FIP itself is not spread cat to cat the way panleukopenia is; it develops in a cat already carrying a mutated coronavirus.
Vaccination and queen isolation
Core vaccines go to every kitten at 8, 12, and 16 weeks, with a booster at 1 year, following a schedule your vet signs off on. Queens move to the nursery 3 weeks before the due date with their own scoop and bowls, and the room is cleaned before they arrive, not after. Kittens are handled with gloves or after handwashing until 8 weeks, and visitors stay out of the nursery entirely. Set the box up early enough that the queen accepts it, since a queen that rejects the box will pick a corner you cannot disinfect.
Weekly biosecurity routine
- Monday: mix fresh bleach, label the date, discard anything older than 24 hours.
- Tuesday: clean and disinfect all litter boxes and scoops, one group at a time.
- Wednesday: wash bedding at 60 C, dry fully, rotate stock.
- Thursday: check quarantine cats for appetite, stool, sneezing, and skin lesions.
- Friday: restock gloves, shoe covers, and paper towels; wipe door handles and light switches.
- Saturday: review the traffic log and note any visitor who entered a nursery.
- Sunday: inspect the isolation room for gaps, and check the vaccine dates on the board.
When an outbreak starts
Stop all movement the same day: no new cats in, no kittens out, no visitors. Identify the index case, then clean from clean to dirty so you are not carrying virus back into healthy pens. Test every cat that shared air space, and retest FeLV cats at 4 to 6 weeks rather than trusting one negative. Keep a written log of which pen was cleaned with what and when, because in a multi-cat household the log is the only reliable memory.
Testing rules for new stock are covered in FIV and FeLV testing, and every queen's due date should sit next to the whelping box setup plan so the nursery is ready before she moves. Keep the feline vaccine schedule on the wall of the isolation room, not in a drawer.
Frequently asked
Why 21 days and not 14 for a new cat?
Twenty-one days covers the slow end of the common incubation periods: herpesvirus and calicivirus at 2 to 10 days, panleukopenia shedding at 3 to 14 days, and ringworm lesions at 7 to 21 days. It also leaves room for a cat that was exposed on the way in. Fourteen days misses the tail of several of these windows.
Is bleach at 1:32 strong enough for panleukopenia?
Yes, when the surface is cleaned first and the bleach stays wet for 10 full minutes. Fresh 5.25 percent household bleach at 1:32 gives about 1,500 to 1,600 ppm available chlorine, which inactivates feline panleukopenia virus. Bleach mixed more than 24 hours earlier, or applied over dirt, can fail completely.
How long must a room stay empty after FIP?
Most catteries rest the room 30 days after a confirmed FIP case, with full cleaning, new litter, and all cardboard discarded. That is because FIP arises from a mutated feline coronavirus, which is enveloped and fragile outside the host. Panleukopenia is the opposite case and needs 6 to 12 months.