How to clean and disinfect a dirt/gravel pet area after dog use?

Question

I have a20 by 10 dirt and gravel floor bulding attched to my house that a privous owner had kept there dog in for quit a wile ...whats would be the best way to clean and disenfect the ground and make it safe for animals agin

Anna M., DVM · Accepted Answer

Hello, and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. This is a great question, and it's good that you're thinking about how to keep your animals safe. The difficulty comes from the fact that dirt and gravel are, by nature, nearly impossible to truly disinfect. We can talk about disinfecting hard (non-porous) surfaces with bleach, which is really the only disinfectant that is effective against parvovirus....but nothing will truly disinfect dirt and gravel, because you can't saturate and soak all sides of every piece of dirt & rock with the bleach solution, and parvovirus can remain in the environment for months to even years. So, with a big grain of salt to consider that it still won't be truly disinfected, but to do your diligence to try to sanitize the area as best as possible, I recommend thoroughly spraying the area with copious amounts of water first (the goal here is to dilute and wash away any remaining microscopic fecal matter). Let it dry, then I'd spray the top layer of dirt & gravel with a dilute bleach solution of 3/4 cups bleach in 1 gallon water. Also spray the barrier/walls. Allow that to dry. If possible, it may be worth buying enough gravel to add another layer on top of what's there, that you know is clean. That way, you know the surface that your pet is primarily in contact with should be safe and free of contamination. I hope this helps!

How to clean and disinfect a dirt/gravel pet area after dog use?

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