Alpha Tech Pet Blog

Going Green With Your Sanitization Practices

sales@alphatechpet.com — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 11:00:00 -0600

Natural components are used to make eco-friendly cleaning products, making them free of any harmful or poisonous chemicals. Green cleaning products are the best option when you are looking to clean your clinic, kennel, or animal care facility without any harmful chemicals.

Remove Pet Hair and Debris Fast and Easy

sales@alphatechpet.com — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 11:00:00 -0500

The FURemover Broom With Built-In Squeegee is uniquely designed to help you keep your facility as fur-free as possible. Here are a few reasons why the FURemover Broom is a great addition to your clinic.

Keep Your Staff Safe With a Hand Sanitizer Dispenser

sales@alphatechpet.com — Sun, 25 Sep 2022 23:00:00 -0500

With little to no interaction, an automatic hand sanitizer dispenser is a great alternative to the conventional ones. They allow for quick sanitization for your clients and your staff in your clinic, helping to reduce the risk of germs and diseases entering your clinic.

How Does Your Pet Care Facility Rank On Sanitation?

sales@alphatechpet.com — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 06:29:17 -0500

It is essential to have proper programs in place designed to protect pets under your care, to protect your facility from damage, and to care for the safety of your employees. So, how do you properly clean and sanitize animal care facilities?

Why ENCORE Washers and Dryers Are Great For Commercial Animal Facilities.

sales@alphatechpet.com — Wed, 27 Apr 2022 10:32:00 -0500

Clean laundry is required in animal hospitals, clinics, kennels, and stables, just as it is in human hospitals. To limit disease transmission and speed up healing, towels, bedding, lab coats, horse blankets, and other linen must be sanitized.

Sanitize Your Animal Care Facility Using Wholesale Pet Cleaning Supplies

sales@alphatechpet.com — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 12:35:00 -0500

Wholesale pet cleaning supplies can be instrumental in keeping your animal care facility clean and fresh while saving your facility money. Your vet clinic, kennel, animal hospital, or animal shelter has the potential to become a breeding ground for dangerous microorganisms like germs, bacteria, and viruses. The spread of disease and infection among pets and humans alike can harm their health. It can also have adverse effects on your business.

That’s why you must ensure that you and your staff members regularly disinfect the surfaces, floors, walls, and medical devices in your venue. Keep reading to find out what types of wholesale pet cleaning supplies you can use to sanitize your pet care facility. Find out where you can get high-quality cleaning products for your animal care business.

The Big Three of Wholesale Pet Cleaning Supplies

1. Pet Odor Removers

It is natural for dogs, cats, and other animals to leave behind unpleasant smells and stains because of regular bodily functions. But they can also become stinky because of unexpected encounters with skunks and even disease. These foul odors will make your vet clinic or animal shelter a distressing place to work for your team, as well as an unattractive place to visit for your clients and guests. Pet odor and stain removers are specially designed for animals and will rid your facility of obnoxious aromas caused by animals.

Pet odor removers typically come in spray and concentrate form. Make sure to choose brands that feature a bio-active, non-toxic formula and natural extract ingredients to protect the well-being of animals because these odors also cause stress in animals.

2. Kennel Cleaning Products

Crates and fabricated kennels are essential equipment for pets since they keep cats and dogs cozy, comfortable, and protected. Nevertheless, they need to be disinfected daily to remain a conducive, healthy shelter for animals.

Ordinary cleaning supplies may not be effective for kennels so you should go for veterinarian-formulated kennel cleaning supplies. Professional kennel cleaning supplies are suitable for animal hospitals and vet clinics since they are potent enough to eliminate fungi, viruses, and bacteria from kennels. They are also designed to reduce the stress in animals who are forced to be grouped in these situations.

3. Veterinary Disinfectants and Cleaners

The constant traffic of pets and people in and out of your animal care facility can cause a gradual accumulation of dirt, germs, and bacteria. Aside from implementing a regular maintenance routine, you should use veterinary sanitizers to keep your place free from viruses and bacteria. Select wholesale pet cleaning supplies that are particularly designed for animal care facilities since they are powerful enough to protect pets from sickness and infection caused by harmful microorganisms.

Find Wholesale Pet Cleaning Supplies at Alpha Tech Pet

Maintaining a clean, fresh environment is important for your vet clinic, animal shelter, kennel, or animal hospital. It is a vital way for you and your team to show that you prioritize the health and well-being of pets and humans. Despite your busy routine, you should set aside time to disinfect your venue using safe yet powerful veterinary cleaning supplies.

Start sanitizing your animal care facility today using wholesale pet cleaning supplies from Alpha Tech Pet.

How to Properly Clean and Sanitize Veterinary Equipment

sales@alphatechpet.com — Mon, 07 Feb 2022 11:38:00 -0600

Start the year off right by getting your veterinary equipment cleaned up for your sanitary needs. Disinfection — particularly in equipment — is a crucial step to ensure the safety and cleanliness of any animal facility. Often, veterinary staff are often unaware of the proper way to sanitize and clean veterinary equipment and may end up using the wrong products and procedure. In this blog post, we answer one of the most important questions when it comes to animal facilities: How do you properly clean and sanitize veterinary equipment?

Why is it Necessary to Clean Veterinary Equipment?

With so many animals coming in and out of your facilities, it's best to be prepared for all kinds of health issues. As a veterinary practice, many areas can become a breeding ground for bacteria, diseases, and viruses. Therefore, it's imperative to have the right kind of pet-safe sanitizer along with other products to keep each piece of equipment clean and sanitized.

Maintaining Clean Equipment

To make sure that all your equipment is free from bacteria, viruses, and harsh chemical residue, it’s best to disinfect every piece multiple times throughout the day as standard practice. While it might be important to clean equipment that’s been used, it’s just as important to clean other items, as well as surfaces, around your facility. Having a clean veterinary clinic won’t just keep your patients healthy, but it will also keep their owners happy to know that their beloved pets are being treated in a spotless and safe environment.

Providing a Safe Space

Facilities where animals are kept need to be as clean as possible to provide the best treatment for every patient. It also helps to eliminate any additional anxieties or fears about the kind of disinfectants used. Environmentally friendly options are a great choice since these can break down into oxygen and water, making them safe to handle without the need for personal protective equipment. These will not only destroy pathogens but will also have no harmful effects on animals and staff.

Choose Alpha Tech Pet

At Alpha Tech Pet, we carry specifically formulated products to help you clean and sanitize both the equipment and rooms in your facility. We have a huge range of products: from portable cleaning systems and washers to ozone generators and electrostatic sprayers. With our expertise in cleaning products, your facility will be able to keep doing what it does best: keeping beloved pets healthy while providing a safe environment. Our cleaning products and equipment can be used on the following:

Kennels
Floors
Counters
Runs
Fabrics
Exam tables
Reception areas
Stethoscopes, otoscopes, etc.
Computer keyboards/mice
Doorknobs
Phones
Scales
Light switches
Curbs
Concrete pillars
Door jams

Any animal facility, whether a kennel, veterinarian, animal hospital, or animal shelter, will need thorough cleaning every day. With our products, you'll be able to make disinfecting quick and painless. For veterinary cleaning equipment, you can count on Alpha Tech Pet to keep you safe and clean.

Pet Safe Cleaning Products

sales@alphatechpet.com — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 10:58:00 -0600

During the pandemic it is even more important to be vigilant about cleaning your place of business. As they continue to visit and support your facility, it is only right to repay customers by prioritizing their health and safety. Unfortunately, though, many widely used cleaning agents and products are not safe to use around animals. Here’s a list of safe alternative pet cleaning products from Alpha Tech Pet that will ensure your place of business is clean and safe for both humans and animals.

Ammonia

Ammonia is a popular ingredient in both commercial and residential cleaning products like floor and multi-surface leaners. It is effective in breaking down stains, grease, and grime. Ammonia, however, causes severe itching, redness, and irritation when it comes in contact with an animals’ skin and eyes. In severe cases, it may even cause blindness. Ammonia also irritates the throat and digestive tract, causing coughing and a burning sensation.

Pet-safe Alternative: Orange Degreaser

Orange Degreaser from Alpha Tech Pet is a heavy-duty cleaner that easily dissolves as it deep cleans grease, grime, soils, and more. As an all-purpose cleaner, it can be used to clean and eliminate stains and oils from walls, floors, equipment, and even machinery and will not affect the health of the pets in your care.

Bleach and Chlorine

Bleach is another widely used and effective disinfectant and cleaning agent. However, it is also one of the most toxic pet cleaning products available. Watch out for chlorine, too, which is an ingredient for making bleach and has the same disruptive properties. Bleach has a strong and highly irritating odor, even for humans. In some cases, the smell of bleach may cause breathing issues among pets. If animals ingest bleach or chlorine, it can cause burning sensations in the eyes, nose, mouth, and throat. It can also lead to vomiting, diarrhea, and death.

Pet-Safe Alternative: Alpha Bio-Drain Cleaner and Maintainer

Our Alpha Bio-Drain Cleaner and Maintainer is an animal-friendly alternative to using bleach or chlorine in cleaning and deodorizing drains. Pouring bleach down a drain, even when diluted, can cause toxic fumes to come out of it. Our Alpha Bio-Drain Cleaner and Maintainer is a biodegradable and enzymatic drain cleaner that’s perfect for commercial and industrial drains. Not only can it ensure the drains are clean, but it also helps maintain flow and remove odors.

Phthalates

Phthalates are a group of chemicals that make plastic more flexible, thus, often linked to plastic products. However, it is also used to add artificial fragrances. Phthalates are present in many all-purpose cleaners, laundry detergents, and odor-reducing products. Evidence suggests that prolonged exposure to phthalates may cause cancer in both animals and humans. It is also linked to issues in the kidney, liver, and reproductive systems.

Pet-Safe Alternative: OdorPet Concentrate

Our OdorPet Concentrate Stain and Pet Odor Remover is a pet-safe and vet-approved complete stain and odor remover. It has a bio-active, enzymatic formula and is a trusted cleaning partner of commercial businesses such as kennels, pet resorts, groomers and more. Thanks to its near-neutral pH level, it is gentle while effectively handle unpleasant stains and smells. After removing the odor, it leaves behind a pleasant lavender or black cherry scent while remaining safe for pets.

A Reliable Partner for Pet Safe Cleaning Products

Alpha Tech Pet pre-mixed pet cleaning products are not only non-toxic and effective, but they are also extremely convenient to use, especially in large spaces. Maintaining a clean kennel, store, veterinary clinic, or grooming salon is important. Ensuring the use pet-safe cleaning products maintains not only cleanliness and health but also your customers’ trust.

If you have any questions about KennelSol, please feel free to contact us at 800-222-5537 or fill out our contact form with your information.

Speed Up Sanitizing with Electrostatic Sprayers

sales@alphatechpet.com — Fri, 30 Jul 2021 12:14:00 -0500

Pet business owners like you need to sanitize your vet clinic, kennel, or pet grooming salon on a regular basis. Using a sanitizing spray is necessary for the safety of pets and pet owners.

However, the traditional sanitization process can be too time-consuming and inefficient. Using an electrostatic sprayer like our PX300ES Protexus Backpack Electrostatic Sprayer allows you to save time so you can focus on other aspects of your pet business.

How the Protexus Backpack Electrostatic Sprayer Can Help You Save Time

Fast Results

Our Protexus Backpack Electrostatic Sprayer is an enhanced disinfectant applicator that empowers you to speedily disinfect your business facility. Because it utilizes advanced electrostatic charged particles, it enables deep surface distribution and penetration of disinfectants in your workplace.

High Coverage

While you can use other regular backpack foggers, our Protexus Backpack Electrostatic Sprayer is a better option because it offers 3x the coverage compared to others. That’s because it has an attractive force that is 15x more powerful than gravity. As a result, it provides you with 360° of magnetic coverage. All you need to do is to spray the front of the item being disinfectant and the charged particles will automatically spread to the back of the unit, as well.

Easy to Use

You don’t need to be a sanitizing expert to disinfect your kennel, vet clinic, or office with our Protexus Backpack Electrostatic Sprayer. This effective, powerful machine is quick and easy to use. Did you know that you can cover a whopping 3,200 sq. ft. per tank in only 20 minutes with the help of this electrostatic sprayer? You will save an impressive 70 minutes!

Versatility

Because our Protexus Backpack Electrostatic Sprayer is versatile, you have the option to use various types of disinfecting solutions and sanitizing sprays in your workplace. These include SteriCide, PurTab 13.1 G tablets and Stabilized Aqueous Ozone (SAO).

EPA Registered

Finally, you can be assured of the quality of our Protexus Electrostatic Disinfectant Sprayers because it is EPA registered. It can help you effectively prevent the spreading of germs, bacteria, and diseases in your business facility.

Boost Your Pet Business with the Help of Alpha Tech Pet

As fellow animal lovers, we understand that you created your pet business to protect the well-being of animals such as dogs, cats, and more. We recommend that you use our Protexus Backpack Electrostatic Sprayer to sanitize your workplace so you can have more precious time to focus on the heart of your business: pets.

Visit our Alpha Tech Pet website to discover more environmentally friendly animal care solutions. Check out our Alpha Tech Pet blog to read more helpful tips that can enhance your pet business.

For more education information contact Tom Bissanti: Tom@AlphaTechPet.com or visit our pet industry education website.

Top Tips to Clean Your Veterinary Office

sales@alphatechpet.com — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 12:07:00 -0500

As different types of pets and pet owners go in and out of your veterinary office or animal care facility, keeping it safe and clean can be challenging. Whether you’re a vet, day care operator or a groomer, you need to take part in creating a safe and conducive space for these lovable pets, their animal parents, and your staff.

Fortunately, we have some valuable tips to maintain the cleanliness of the whole area, which we will discuss below, so keep reading!

Don’t Forget Ventilation

While it’s important to focus on cleaning the floors and other surfaces of the veterinary office and animal care facilities, make sure to include an efficient ventilation system. Remember that , especially in veterinary practices, animals tend to produce an unwanted odor because of pets’ various conditions. So, ensure proper air circulation throughout the kennels, examination rooms, and bathrooms.

Eliminate Unnecessary Items

If you dispose of unnecessary clutter, you’re helping reduce dust and dirt. Keep rarely used fabrics, documents and equipment in a safe storage area. Going paperless is also recommended, such as creating online portals for documentation.

Create a Checklist

Maintaining your animal clinic and veterinary office’s cleanliness requires solid rules and cleaning tasks. Write down the instructions for specific jobs, who will perform such responsibilities, and which facility setting they’re assigned to. For instance, add reminders on how to disinfect operating or exam rooms and how to properly clean kennels. Place these checklists in visible areas so your staff can easily read and follow them.

Pick High-Quality Products

Choosing premium veterinary cleaning products is vital for keeping your animal facility and veterinary office clean and germ-free. Environment-friendly veterinary cleaning solutions, like the ones Alpha Tech Pet offers, also make a difference. For example, you can safely use KennelSol for effective daily disinfecting, StayFresh APS for air purification, and SteriCide for the quick and efficient microbial kill.

Maintain Proper Hand Hygiene

Practicing proper hand hygiene is also crucial in preventing infection or contamination within your veterinary office, grooming facility or kennel. This includes washing your hands with soap and water, wearing gloves, and using reliable alcohol-based hand sanitizers. For instance, emCare contains 72% alcohol and removes 99.99% of bacteria and germs.

Maintain a Cleaner Veterinary Office

While maintaining the sanitation of your veterinary office or animal facility can be a difficult task, it gets easier with the right steps and veterinary cleaning solutions. Check out our educational page to learn how you can clean your veterinary office wisely and effectively.

For more education information contact Tom Bissanti: Tom@AlphaTechPet.com or visit our pet industry education website.

How an Electrostatic Sprayer is Better Than a Regular Sprayer

sales@alphatechpet.com — Mon, 03 May 2021 11:06:00 -0500

Spraying down an area in order to clean and sanitize it can be, at the very least, a huge pain. There’s often no alternative, though – especially if you want to keep your facility as clean and sanitized as possible. This requires a lot of work on your part – mixing up potentially toxic cleaning solutions, taking your time spraying down entire rooms with a slow handheld sprayer (sometimes with a respirator mask to keep the fumes at bay!), and then waiting forever for the sprayed-down room to dry so it can be used once more. It’s really not that great a system, but for years that’s what animal care professionals have had to deal with.

Well, not anymore. Thankfully, there’s a better way out there – using an electrostatic sprayer instead. These systems, such as the Protexus electrostatic sprayer, use the power of static electricity to charge the particles of the cleaning solution that leave its nozzle. You won’t believe how much better using an electrostatic sprayer can be when you compare it to older methods – it’s truly a revolution in the world of disinfectant sprays to be sure. Here’s what you need to know.

Easier Operation

Operating an electrostatic sprayer is, by and large, so much quicker and easier than other sprayers. That’s because they tend to be lightweight and ergonomic. The Protexus only weighs 4.5 pounds, for example, and that’s when full! It also offers daily, uninterrupted disinfecting thanks to its cordless battery, providing 4 hours of run time from just a one-hour charge. Finally, it offers a whole 800 sq. ft. of coverage per tank in just five minutes.

Better Application of Spray

Thanks to how these sprayers provide an electrostatic charge to the cleaning solution before leaving the nozzle, spray application of disinfectant is much more efficient. Smaller droplets provide better dispersal, offering 3 times the coverage of traditional sprayers. Those electrostatically charged droplets attack microbes quickly and deeply, providing 360 degrees full coverage at 15 times the force of gravity.

Safer to Use

Electrostatic sprayers offer much higher levels of safety than traditional disinfectant sprays. Designed for heavy use in animal care facilities such as veterinary offices, animal hospitals, kennels, and animal shelters, these sprayers use cleaning solutions based on safe, non-toxic formulas that clean, disinfect, and sterilize without the use of harsh chemicals. Electrostatic sprayers are also fast drying, minimizing the disruptions to staff, animal patients, and their owners when it comes to keeping work environments safe.

Better for the Environment

In addition to electrostatic sprayers being more efficient, more powerful, and safe to use around humans and animals, they’re also better for the environment. The same specially formulated cleansing solutions used by electrostatic sprayers are bio-degradable and completely earth-friendly, so you can rest assured that any solution that ends up absorbed into your living area will not have a negative impact on that environment. This is one veterinary hygiene product that ticks all the boxes for sure.

For more education information contact Tom Bissanti: Tom@AlphaTechPet.com or visit our pet industry education website.

A Sample Cleaning Protocol for Animal Shelters

sales@alphatechpet.com — Mon, 15 Feb 2021 10:00:00 -0600

Animal shelters are some of the most high-volume animal care facilities out there, and that means they can be breeding grounds for animal-borne pathogens. It’s all too common for parvo, kennel cough, or even more contagious diseases to rip through a dog shelter, for example, making it even more important to keep an animal shelter clean.

This is, of course, easier said than done. Knowing that you need to clean an animal shelter isn’t the same thing as knowing the best way to do it. That’s why we’ve developed some sample cleaning protocols for animal shelters to help you adapt and design your own. Here’s what you need to know.

What Needs to Be Cleaned

It might be tempting to think you just need to keep your kennels and communal habitats clean, but the truth is that your entire animal shelter needs to be kept as clean as possible. This includes not just high contact surfaces and areas that many animals will come in contact with but also high-risk ones, such as those that will come into contact with juvenile animals or those who have yet to be protected by vaccinations. Low-risk and low-contact areas will still need to be cleaned regularly, of course, but the attention needs to be on these higher risk areas first.

Cleaning Order – Who Gets Cleaned First

Begin with the healthiest animals in your shelter first, as this limits the possibility of community spread. Then, continue to intake or stray holding areas, and finish with quarantine or isolation areas. It’s also a good idea to prioritize cleaning spaces where young or juvenile animals are kept. This adds up to more work, but it’s the best way to keep the animals in your care as healthy as possible.

Cleaning Products to Be Used

There are a number of animal shelter cleaning products that can be used to keep your facility clean and disinfected. These include:

Soap/detergent

A non-corrosive, animal-safe soap or other cleansing agent will remove organic waste and physically clean your animal shelter.

Disinfectant

Clean and disinfected are two different things. Veterinary disinfectants are specially formulated to kill the kinds of pathogens encountered in animal care facilities and do so without posing toxicity risks to animals.

Degreaser

For especially stubborn stains and messes, a degreaser is often the last, best option left to you.

Sample Cleaning Protocol

Here’s a sample cleaning protocol that you can begin with and adapt for the needs of your own animal shelter. Remember: work from areas with the healthiest animals to those that are less healthy and ensure that high risk and high activity areas also receive priority.

Mechanically Remove

First, mechanically remove anything that needs to be taken from the space. This can include soiled bedding, animal waste, or even things such as toys and food and water bowls.

Clean Using A Detergent

Clean all surfaces in the area with a pet-safe detergent designed for animal shelter cleaning. Also, clean loose objects that belong in the space that you might have removed, such as food bowls and toys.

Disinfect

Using a veterinary-grade disinfectant, treat the entire area according to the directions on your packaging. Disinfect any items returning to the area; once the area has dried you can repopulate it with animals and any accessories. Place new, clean bedding, for example, in place of old or soiled ones.

For more education information contact Tom Bissanti: Tom@AlphaTechPet.com or visit our pet industry education website.

Beyond Mop and Bucket Cleaning for Floor Care at Your Animal Facility

sales@alphatechpet.com — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 10:35:00 -0600

Keeping your animal care facility clean is always important, as it provides better health and safety for your animal patients as well as your human staff and visitors. In a post-COVID environment, keeping your offices and exam rooms as clean and sanitized as possible is even more important, and many animal care facility managers are looking for ways to make their cleaning and sanitation regimens as effective as possible.

Yet at the same time, as seriously as you might take keeping your animal facility as clean as possible, you might still be relying on the old mop-and-bucket approach. However, the truth is that old-fashioned approaches to mop and bucket cleaning might be doing more harm than good. Here’s what you need to know about how newer, better, and quicker cleaning technologies can help you say goodbye to the mop and bucket for good!

Takes A Lot of Time

Let’s face it: cleaning a floor with a mop and a bucket is likely one of the most time-consuming things that you can do. It’s bad enough when you’re mopping your floors at home, but when you’re tasked with cleaning the floors of an entire animal care facility, the time sink grows even deeper. Factoring in that you have to wait until these mopped surfaces are dry before you can walk on them, traditional mopping needs to be scheduled at times so that it’s not disruptive to the normal function of your care facility.

Wet Floors Are Prone To Accidents

Another reason why mopping can be problematic is likewise related to the wet floors mopping leaves behind. Wet floors can cause people and animals to slip and fall, leading to a higher incidence of accidents. Some of these accidents might even lead to serious injury. This is especially dangerous on floors that look dry but are still just wet enough to have less grip than normal or floors near stairwell landings or similar places.

Causes Soil and Germ Spread

Just because your mopped floor looks clean doesn’t mean that it truly is. Mops tend to push around a lot of contaminants on a microscopic level, such as soil and germs, giving you a false sense of security. Remember: clean isn’t the same thing as disinfected or sanitized.

Newer and Better Alternatives

While the humble mop and bucket might never be eliminated from cleaning and sanitation, there are still many better alternatives, such as using a veterinary disinfectant that can break down pathogens much better than simple soap and water on floors and other flat surfaces. Methods for keeping floors safer and cleaner, such as floor scrubbers that clean, disinfect, and dry your floor all at once, are all better options when it comes to providing the safest and healthiest environment for your animal patients, your staff, and your visitors.

Strategies To Prevent Dog Shelter Disease Outbreaks

sales@alphatechpet.com — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 13:22:00 -0600

Dog shelters are some of the most important animal care facilities out there, performing the needed service of keeping dogs safe and healthy off the streets. However, with shelters constantly taking in animals with uncertain backgrounds, the risk of disease outbreaks inside dog shelters can be much higher than in other facilities.

Any animal care facility needs to manage infection risk. Yet even kennels or boarding facilities, all of which run a higher than normal risk of spreading canine diseases like parvo and kennel cough, can pale in comparison to how quickly an infection can tear through even the cleanest and well-maintained dog shelter. Here are some strategies and animal shelter cleaning systems for preventing the worst of these dog shelter disease outbreaks in your own facility.

Population Management

Infection and disease is often a numbers game. The higher the population of any shelter, the more likely it is that an infection brought in by a single dog can spread through the entire facility. Lower-population shelters minimize the spread on a sheer numerical level while also providing fewer opportunities for dogs to come in direct contact with one another – crowded shelters put dogs in closer proximity, making it easier to pass contagious diseases back and forth.

Limiting Length of Stay

The longer a dog is in your facility, the more opportunity it has to spread any infections that it has. Likewise, the longer you have a dog in your shelter, the more likely it is that it might pick up a disease from another dog that is already infected. Keeping lengths of stay as limited as possible minimizes the possibility that healthy dogs will either be exposed to contagious ones and vice-versa.

Vaccination

If there’s one strategy that can go the farthest when it comes to protecting the healthy dogs in your facility from being infected, it’s ensuring that the dogs that are brought to your shelter are current on all of their vaccinations. This won’t prevent the spread of diseases that you can’t vaccinate against, but it does significantly cut down on the overall number of contagions that you’ll have to worry about on a day-to-day level.

Cleaning and Sanitation

While you might not have much control over whether the dogs in your shelter come in while sick or not, you do have control over how clean you keep your shelter. There are dozens of animal shelter cleaning products that are safe and effective in not just keeping kennels and common spaces clean but also in disinfecting and sanitizing hard surfaces, which helps contain and control the spread of infectious disease. It’s a challenge to keep your shelter as clean as possible to be sure, but with the alternative being the spread of illness through your dog shelter, it’s more than worth it to keep kennels, toys, and food and water bowls clean and sanitized.

Importance of Hand Hygiene In Infection Control at An Animal Facility

sales@alphatechpet.com — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 15:00:00 -0600

As anyone who works in an animal care facility knows, proper hand hygiene plays a crucial role in keeping the spread of pathogens between animal patients to a minimum. Now, in the post-COVID environment we all inhabit, the importance of sufficient hand washing as an infection control tool has been even more underlined. As a result, today it’s hand hygiene, along with a strong veterinary disinfectant, that is perhaps the best weapon animal care providers have for infection control.

Creates a Safe Working Environment

First and foremost, hand hygiene provides higher levels of safety, and not just for the animals in your care. Proper hand washing aids in creating an overall safer working environment for you and your coworkers, as clean hands don’t spread pathogens from one person to another (or, in this case, from one animal to another). A working environment, with a strong hand washing policy, is one where you and your colleagues can rest assured that your chances of picking up an infection is being managed as carefully as possible.

Prevents Diarrhea and Intestinal Disease

There’s nothing more debilitating and potentially even life-threatening than intestinal diseases. Ailments like diarrhea, caused by infections like salmonella, E. coli, and norovirus are routinely passed after coming into contact with even minuscule amounts of fecal matter, often passed on after changing a child’s diaper, using the bathroom, handling raw meat, or, in the case of animal care, cleaning up after animal patients. This makes proper hand washing absolutely imperative to prevent the spread of intestinal disease through staff and patients alike.

Prevents Transfer of Germs to Surfaces

Diligent hand washing prevents the spread of pathogens from hands to hard, non-porous surfaces in high-traffic areas of your facility. It’s often inefficient to constantly be disinfecting door handles, desktops, workstations, diagnostic tools, and kennels with as often as they would need (which is after coming into contact with anyone or anything new), so practicing hand hygiene diligently prevents these pathogens from transferring in the first place.

Why You Need a Pet Safe Sanitizer

Washing properly, and regularly, with soap and water is just one part of the hand hygiene equation. Proper wearing and disposal of gloves and other hand protection is another part, and it’s one that’s backed up by keeping effective hand sanitizer on hand. A normal office doesn’t have to be picky when it comes to their choice of sanitizer, but animal care facilities need to rely on a pet-safe veterinary disinfectant.

Animals are often much more sensitive to chemicals that a human can tolerate, and it’s crucial to ensure that your desire to control the spread of infection in your facility doesn’t come at the cost of an animal patient having a toxic reaction to the pet sanitizer you use to clean exam rooms and kennels. Together, with a pet safe sanitizer, a strict hand washing routine can and will keep infections to a minimum in your animal care facility.

Is a Single Cleaning Protocol Enough for Different Rooms at Your Vet Clinic?

sales@alphatechpet.com — Fri, 09 Oct 2020 10:28:00 -0500

It’s important to have strong veterinary cleaning protocols in order to protect the health and wellness of the pets receiving treatment at your animal care facility. From simple check-ups to surgeries and beyond, there are countless opportunities for illness and infection unless your facilities are kept clean and disinfected.

But is a single cleaning protocol enough to cover every aspect of your animal care facility? Can you follow the same standards of disinfection and sanitization for your treatment rooms and surgical theaters as you do for your kennels or waiting rooms? Are there even vet cleaning products that can be applied to all aspects of your offices? Here’s what you need to know.

Cleaning Protocol for the Vet Waiting Room

There are some places in your facility that generally receive more human traffic than animal. Places like your hallways, computer workstations, and reception areas do need to be cleaned thoroughly, but when it comes to keeping these areas disinfected, daily sanitizing is often thought to be overkill. It is not. Your human areas should be as clean as your animal areas.

Cleaning Protocol for Vet Treatment Room, Radiology, and Lab

Any area where a sick or potentially sick animal is going to be treated or examined need much more strict disinfection protocols than places like waiting rooms and reception areas. This is even more important whenever you’re dealing with a particularly infectious case, such as parvo, and it’s important to use veterinary cleaning supplies that have a strong sanitizing and sterilizing capability.

Cleaning Protocol for Kennels

If you’re boarding healthy animals in kennels or cages, or if you have animal patients that aren’t suffering from an infectious disease, spot cleaning is usually enough to keep your kennels in good shape as long as the same animal is occupying the same cage. Between animals, or if you are changing cages, you should fully clean and disinfect to avoid infection. When cleaning, begin with the healthiest animals first and work your way through sick animals, leaving the isolation ward for last. Using different cleaning equipment for each area can help further avoid cross-contamination.

Cleaning Protocol for the Vet Surgical Suite

Vet surgical suites require the most stringent sanitation and sterilization protocols. This includes not just disinfecting hard surfaces but also decluttering these spaces as much as possible. Removing anything that isn’t absolutely required to be on there not only makes cleaning less difficult but also reduces the number of surfaces that could be contaminated. Paperwork, wall posters, desks, chairs, tables – the fewer things in the room, the easier it will be to maintain a sterile environment.

The Last Word on Veterinary Cleaning Protocols

Having a well-developed and adaptive cleaning protocol for your vet facility is ideal for keeping your patients safe and healthy while being treated. When combined with the right vet cleaning supplies that have strong cleaning and disinfecting properties, your cleaning protocols will help keep pets and their owners happy and healthy for years to come.

Innovative Ways Companies Are Disinfecting and Sanitizing Large Areas For Covid-19

sales@alphatechpet.com — Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:36:00 -0500

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced all of us to change our ways, both personally and professionally, to keep ourselves safe and uninfected. Disinfection and sanitization of surfaces and larger areas has become crucial for not just disease prevention but also for keeping the machinery of our world running, especially for those who don’t have the luxury to work at home and self-quarantine.

Luckily, the world’s smartest minds have risen to the challenge. Disinfecting and sanitizing larger areas has become increasingly easier and more efficient thanks to new technologies and innovative approaches, and companies large and small have adopted these techniques to make it safer to do business. Here are some of the most noteworthy ways companies have begun to combat the coronavirus using safe and innovative methods.

Drones

The fewer humans you put in harm’s way while cleaning and disinfecting, the better. Yet you often still need a human calling the shots, and that’s where the idea of an unmanned drone comes in. With both the professional and personal quadcopter drone market booming and being used for everything from aerial photography to package delivery, it was only a matter of time before enterprising companies designed drones that could deliver disinfectant payloads over large areas without necessitating the risks associated with people being present.

Robots

What’s even better than a remotely-operated drone that can limit human exposure and still disinfect large spaces? Autonomous robots that do the same for indoor spaces are now being deployed to help clean and disinfect places where drone use isn’t feasible. These overgrown robot vacuums don’t just spray disinfectant, either; they create a visual record of where they’ve been and what spots they might have missed to make it possible for their human operators to double-check and ensure that there are no nooks and crannies that haven’t been accounted for.

Electrostatic Sprayers

Handheld disinfectant sprayers are nothing new, but the way they’ve been adapted to provide the highest level of coverage and effectiveness certainly is The Protexus electrostatic sprayer, designed for use in veterinary clinics, is one example of this technology. It electrostatically charges disinfectant droplets as they are sprayed, which produces charged droplets with attractive forces up to 15 times stronger than gravity to ensure consistent application across all surfaces.

UVc Light

There’s an old saying: sunlight is the best disinfectant. It turns out that this is actually true in many situations, especially when it comes to certain wavelengths of ultraviolet light, which can penetrate the cell walls of mircoscopic organisms like viruses and destroy its nucleic acids. This either makes it impossible to reproduce or even kills it outright by disrupting its DNA structure. UVc light sterilization has been used in dental offices to great effect already, and rolling out more large-scale options for UVc sterilization is certainly one way to provide additional disinfectant options to the table when needed.

Just the Tip of the Iceberg

As the coronavirus pandemic rolls on, it’s only natural that more advanced and effective ways of keeping large spaces clean and disinfected will continue to emerge. Innovations such as drones, robotics, electrostatics, and ultraviolet light sterilization are likely to spread far and wide, both by themselves and together, providing safer and more infection-free spaces in the future for us all.

5 Cleaning Mistakes by Vet Clinics & Animal Hospitals

sales@alphatechpet.com — Wed, 13 May 2020 12:07:00 -0500

In the post-coronavirus landscape that we all now find ourselves in, there’s a renewed interest in cleaning and sanitation. This is only natural: COVID-19 has shown us all how important it is to keep our homes, our workplaces, and ourselves clean and free from pathogens.

Most institutions and organizations that require sterile environments, such as health care providers, are already ahead of the curve. Even most veterinary clinics and animal hospitals practice good cleaning and sanitation practices. Yet there are some mistakes that even the most attentive vet clinics and animal hospitals might make. Here are five of the most common of those mistakes.

1. Having a Disorganized, Cluttered Environment

We get it: running any animal care center can be hectic. That being said, not keeping workspaces clear of clutter and organized is just asking for problems that you could easily avoid. It’s much harder to keep any workspace clean and sanitized if it’s cluttered, not just one that involves the medical care of animals; the fact that you are indeed providing veterinary care complicates issues even more.

Do yourself a favor and keep your workspaces free from clutter. File paperwork immediately and properly, break down and dispose of the shipping and packing materials your supplies arrive in, and simply keep your offices organized and tidy. This way, when it comes time to clean and disinfect your environment it will be much easier to do so.

2. Not Having Clear Protocols in Place

When it comes to sanitation and disinfection, you need to have clear protocols for staff to follow in order to maintain a uniform level of cleanliness. Without proper direction, you can’t guarantee that you’re doing your best to avoid the types of contamination that could make your veterinary patients sick.

Establishing clear and easily understood cleaning protocols, including explicit directions on how to clean and disinfect tools and locations and which cleaning products to use, makes a world of difference. Don’t let a lack of organization and planning lead to the possibility of dangerous or even tragic contamination events!

3. Confusing “Clean” for “Disinfected”

Wiping down exam tables, kennels, and countertops to keep them clean in between uses isn’t the same as ensuring these surfaces have been adequately disinfected. All too many pathogens are invisible or otherwise undetectable, and that means a contaminated area of a veterinarian clinic might look identical to a disinfected one.

Soap and water are always a good place to start when it comes to keeping things clean, but their cleansing ability isn’t always the most appropriate pet cleaning products if they’re not powerful enough to kill the types of pathogens you’re likely to encounter in veterinary care. If anything, you should be cleaning your offices and tools and then disinfecting them as well in order to keep them as safe and sterile as possible.

4. Not Using the Right Disinfectants

There’s a tool for every job. That’s true when it comes to providing veterinary care to animals, and it’s also true for cleaning and disinfecting veterinary care centers and animal hospitals. You need to ensure you’re using the right disinfectants for the job, and in this case, you need to ensure that not only are the disinfectants you’re using designed to eliminate the types of pathogens that you’re likely to encounter in veterinary situations but also that these same disinfectants are safe to use around animals when taken the proper precautions.

5. Not Using Disinfectants Properly

Speaking of proper precautions, even the most powerful disinfectant isn’t going to do you much good if you’re using it wrong. In some situations, using a disinfectant improperly might result in little more than reducing or eliminating its effectiveness. In other situations, though, the circumstances could be much direr: misuse of disinfectants can lead to not just promoting the spread of pathogens but even possibly causing harm to animal patients if they’re exposed to these disinfectants.

The Last Word on Keeping a Vet Clinic or Animal Hospital Clean

By now it should be clear how important it is to keep veterinary facilities clean and disinfected. It requires, among other things, a clear understanding of how disinfectants work and where they should be used; the stakes could not be higher, considering how mistakes in your disinfection protocols could lead to terrible consequences for not just your animal patients but for their owners and even you and your staff.

If you have questions or concerns about how to keep your own animal care offices clean and disinfected, use this free sanitation assessment tool to discover what you’re doing right and where you might need more help.

How Do You Know if Your Vet Clinic is Really Clean?

sales@alphatechpet.com — Wed, 13 May 2020 10:22:00 -0500

If there’s one thing that the novel coronavirus outbreak has taught us, it’s that keeping your environment clean and disinfected is the best way to avoid getting sick. The COVID-19 pandemic showed us all how important it was to take steps to that effect, considering that simple hand-washing helped save lives by slowing the spread of the outbreak, and that keeping the places we go clean and disinfected also helped keep everyone as healthy and safe as possible.

Today, we’ve taken these lessons to heart, and we all are much more aware of how important it is to keep places like supermarkets, restaurants, retail stores, and doctor’s offices clean. But there’s one location we may not be thinking of. Ironically, it’s the one place you’d expect there to be a high level of sanitation to begin with: your local veterinary clinic. But how “clean” is your local vet clinic really? The truth is that there’s a big difference between looking clean and being that way.

Looks Can Be Deceiving

We’ve all learned that just because a place looks clean, or if a person looks healthy, doesn’t mean that they still can’t be harboring dangerous pathogens. Asymptomatic carriers of the novel coronavirus were instrumental in spreading COVID-19, and germs can live on the surfaces of high-traffic areas like doorknobs, and countertops, even though they might look clean. That’s because “clean” and “disinfected” are two very different things.

Just like anywhere else, a vet clinic can look and feel clean without actually being sanitized. An uncluttered, well-organized exam room, a kennel free of pet waste, or a front desk that has a shining counter could still harbor pathogens as much as a vet tech, receptionist, or veterinarian could still have a cold without showing any symptoms. This is why you can’t simply trust what you see; unless you have evidence of your vet clinic using actual cleaning and disinfectant supplies, you simply don’t know if it’s been sanitized properly.

When Sanitized Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Safe

Veterinary disinfectant products need to be both simple and effective when it comes to being ideal for keeping pet facilities clean and free of any germs and bacteria. It also goes without saying that veterinary disinfectant also needs to be safe for pets. There are plenty of cleaning products out there that can both clean and disinfect sufficiently to kill viruses and bacteria, but if the end result is that they leave behind potentially toxic residues that could harm or sicken a vet clinic’s patients, then it doesn’t matter how well they clean — they are simply not appropriate for use around pets.

This is why vet clinics need to source their cleaning and sanitation supplies carefully. Providing proper animal care extends further than just giving pets their regular rabies shots and occasionally helping a dog deal with a face full of porcupine quills — it’s also about ensuring that a patient won’t get sick from staying in a kennel overnight that hasn’t been disinfected properly, or one that was disinfected with something that’s toxic for that species. That makes it crucial for vet clinics to exercise care in choosing their disinfectant products.

Making Your Vet Clinic the Safest Place For Your Pets

Working at a veterinary clinic is a labor of love. You get the opportunity to love, heal, and care for all sorts of animals every day, but you also have to maintain strict cleanliness and sanitization protocols to ensure those animals in your care are kept as healthy as possible. No one wants to think they’re responsible for inadvertently getting a beloved family pet sick or injured, especially because you exposed them to an environment they’re supposed to be safe in, only to have it turn out to be the farthest thing from it!

In situations like this, making your vet clinic as safe as possible might feel like an impossible task, especially if you don’t know where to start. You don’t have to feel like you’re in this alone, though. If you’re looking to receive guidance on how to make a vet clinic as clean and safe for you, your pets, and anyone else who walks in through those doors, don’t just guess or gamble. Instead, enlist the help of people who specialize in keeping animal care facilities clean and disinfected, as the best place to turn is always to the professionals. This sanitation assessment tool, created by the experts at Alpha Tech Pet, is the perfect place to start on your journey towards a safer and cleaner vet clinic!

Hand Sanitizer and Pets – A Deadly Combination or Safe?

sales@alphatechpet.com — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 13:07:00 -0500

Thanks to the novel coronavirus outbreak, there’s nothing better for soothing jangled nerves than knowing you’re clean and microbe-free right now. As a result, hand sanitizer has become one of those “don’t leave home without it” items. A little squirt and rub and you can rest easy that you’ve got a measure of protection from getting sick — and that leads to some serious peace of mind.

However, there’s been plenty of talk about how hand sanitizer and pets don’t mix. The thought is that it might be dangerous to have around if you’ve got pets. The truth is that, yes, there are some things you need to worry about when it comes to hand sanitizer and animals, but you’ll be glad to know there’s less to fear than you might think. Since dogs are a significant population, here’s the real deal on how hand sanitizer and dogs interact.

Is Hand Sanitizer Poisonous For Pets? Yes.

Is Hand Sanitizer Dangerous for Pets? No.

First off, let’s address the elephant in the room: if you’ve seen shrill warnings on social media about petting your cat or letting your dog lick you after applying hand sanitizer, it’s time to come back down to earth. Yes, there are ingredients in hand sanitizer that can be toxic to your pets. However, the amount of hand sanitizer a pet would have to ingest for it to act as a poison is a miraculous amount.

Veterinarians say that a medium-sized dog, for example, would have to drink close to a cup of hand sanitizer for it to be fatal. Because of the awful taste of hand sanitizer, there are almost no circumstances where a dog of any size would ingest that much hand sanitizer; yes, we know pets like the taste of their own backsides, but hand sanitizer is simply unpalatable, even for our furry friends.

Are Hand Sanitizer and Antifreeze The Same Thing? No.

Let’s address the other huge rumor floating around that hand sanitizer is made from the same ingredients as antifreeze. This is especially frightening for pet owners, as antifreeze is well-established as both deadly poisonous and attractive to pets due to its taste. Well, we’ve already addressed the taste issue, so you don’t have to worry about that part, but what about the similarities between the ingredients of hand sanitizer and antifreeze?

There’s good news there as well. While antifreeze is absolutely toxic, it’s made primarily out of a toxic alcohol known as ethylene glycol. Hand sanitizer, on the other hand, is made with alcohol as well, but not a toxic alcohol. In fact, hand sanitizer is made with ethyl alcohol, the same type that is used in alcoholic drinks. In other words, hand sanitizer and antifreeze are as different from one another as night and day when it comes to how dangerous they are.

The Final Word on Hand Sanitizer and Pets

It’s time to put your fears at rest: you’re not risking poisoning your pets by using hand sanitizer in your house. In fact, you’re doing quite the opposite: you’re protecting your health and the health of those around you, guaranteeing you’ll be around to care for and love your pets for years to come. So, know that hand sanitizer and pets are ok to be in the same house together. Keep on using that hand sanitizer when you need to, give your pet a hug, and keep up the good work!

SteriCide RTU - 1 Quart, 12/case

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PURELL® ES8 Hand Sanitizer Dispenser

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LaundraPet 64 oz. 4/case

$56.56

Veterinary Hand Sanitizer: Keeping Staff and Patients Safe and Healthy

sales@alphatechpet.com — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 11:19:00 -0500

Medical professionals know the importance of maintaining a clean and sanitary environment. It doesn't matter what medical sector you're in or what type of patients you work on; the need for sanitized environments is real, and veterinarians know this as well as any nurse, doctor, or physician assistant working at a human hospital.

In a perfect world, medical professionals (vets included) rely on vigorous hand-washing with soap to stay sterile. That's not always possible, though — and for veterinarians, that's where veterinary hand sanitizers come in. Believe it or not, the same hand sanitizer your own doctor uses is quite often identical to the kind your veterinarian uses when he or she is examining their non-human patients. Here's what you need to know about how veterinary hand sanitizers works to keep human staff and non-human patients safe and healthy.

The Purpose of Veterinary Hand Sanitizer

The use of hand sanitizers in any medical office, including a veterinary office, is to make patient treatment and examination easier and more accessible without sacrificing the health and safety of medical workers that might be exposed to all manner of pathogens throughout the course of a typical workday. Passing infections from patient to doctor, doctor to patient, or from one staff member to another are all serious dangers.

Of course, in a vet office environment, this is less of a danger, as there are much fewer animal-borne illnesses that can bridge the gap to humans and vice versa. However, there are still plenty of infections that can be spread between animals due to bacteria being borne on the non-sanitized hands of a veterinarian or vet assistant when staff goes from treating one animal to another, which makes it absolutely necessary for either hand-washing or using veterinary hand sanitizers in between each patient. Additionally, human illnesses can still spread between human staff members unless steps are taken to remain clean!

The Best, Safest Way to Keep Pets (and People) Safe

Veterinary hand sanitizer is quite often identical to the kind you'll find in a doctor's office or hospital for human patients. That's because the most effective hand sanitizer ingredient is ethyl alcohol, as it kills 99.9 percent of germs quickly on contact. Now, it's true that ingesting ethyl alcohol can be dangerous for animals, but the danger of this occurring is very low due to two very important facts: first, the amount of hand sanitizer an animal would have to ingest to be dangerous is massive. In fact, a medium-sized dog would have to drink nearly half a cup of ethyl alcohol-based hand sanitizer for it to be fatal.

Second, and perhaps the most important, is that hand sanitizer is simply unpalatable. Common house pets like dogs and cats simply can't stand the taste, and that goes for other animals as well. This means there's no danger of veterinary patients taking more than a couple of tastes before deciding to go elsewhere. This adds to the safety of using veterinary hand sanitizers in a vet office or similar environment.

The Last Word on Veterinary Hand Sanitizer

Hand sanitizers helps save lives in the medical field. Veterinary medical practitioners should be in the habit of washing hands between treating patients, and using veterinary hand sanitizers to provide an added level of safety and security in the practice of veterinary medicine to minimize potential disease transmission.

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PURELL® ES8 Hand Sanitizer Dispenser

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OdorPet Concentrate 1/2 Gallon 4/Case

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Arming Yourself With Sanitation Education

sales@alphatechpet.com — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 10:56:00 -0500

One could dream of pets as clean, spotless creatures emitting aromatic scents laced with lilacs, each one acting as a disinfectant Roomba. However, we all know reality isn't always that sweet smelling.

But, alas, it’s just a dream. Whether you are in the pet care industry or a classic pet owner, you are surrounded by surfaces that need to be sterile, living spaces to be clean and environments that are odor free. So where do you start? Cleaners say they do a good job. So do sanitizers and disinfectants. But where do sterilizers fit in? What if you just pile one on top of the other in the belief that more is better?

Let’s end the nightmare by arming you with the right knowledge to make your clean dream become a reality.

Going Beyond the Look and Smell

Congratulations, cleaning solutions account for 90% of your battle to control disease. And it’s a sure bet that you already use cleaners. It’s that last 10%, however, that is the lingering issue because cleaners leave behind microbial life: viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites. Adding a disinfectant to kill a majority of the microorganism population is a plus, as are sanitizers, geared toward lowering the number of bacteria-only germs to levels that are non-threatening. Full-blown sterilizers, which have the power to kill all forms of microbial life could even be your last line of defense.

But does that mean multiple products on your shelf? If so, which ones? No. Your best bet is a solution that combines many of these sanitation powerhouses, one that you can use with confidence to not harm your animals or caregivers, while eliminating the filth, odor and germs.

Enter KennelSol^®, Balance, and Safety

Shawn Seitz, D.V.M., founder of Alpha Tech Pet, wholesale and retail provider of animal care products including environmentally-friendly cleaning solutions

KennelSol^® is a broad-spectrum germicidal one-step cleaner, safe disinfectant, and deodorizer, created by Dr. Shawn Seitz of Alpha Tech Pet, and designed to be used by both Animal Care Professionals and the average pet owner. Having used his fair share of solutions that claimed they were one of the four main sanitation solvents (cleaner, sanitizer, disinfectant, sterilizer), Seitz developed a formula filled with ingredients that pack a punch and kill off pathogens in one simple step.

“Balance is key when shopping for disinfectants,” explains Seitz, “you must balance ‘safety’ with ‘efficacy’ for products that are exceptional cleaners, capable of killing remaining pathogens of concern, especially the difficult ones, with products that are as safe as possible.”

According to Seitz, it’s not a perfect world when it comes to the use of chemicals. But if you read labels knowing what to look for, you can find products like KennelSol^® that come close to the ideal solution for the majority of needs, including effectiveness against viruses such as canine parvovirus, fungi, and bacteria, and one that is as safe for animals as it is for humans.

Tailbanger’s Pet Resort opening in Dallastown, PA

Barbara Ail Noll, Owner and Operator of TailBanger’s Pet Resort, LLC, learned the hard way that finding the right product is essential when her pet facility had an outbreak of kennel cough and they struggled to contain the culprit.

“Regardless of all the cleaning and sanitizing, we could not beat the virus,” said Noll. “We started using KennelSol^® and changed many cleaning procedures and workflows to prevent cross contamination. The staff became thoroughly engaged in fighting the virus. Within a few days, we noticed the building smelled cleaner and the outbreak was quickly declining. KennelSol^® definitely outranks the products that we were using and has made our resort a cleaner and safer place for our daycare and lodging guests.”

Sanitation Safety For All

There are other considerations that Seitz recommends in choosing the right sanitizing solution for pets:

pH neutral so not to damage facilities or harm animals and people
easy to use
able to function in a dirty environment

Designed to retain its efficacy, even when faced with hard water, products like KennelSol^® don’t require unnecessary rinsing and if spilled on surfaces and clothing, which is non-staining, non-corrosive and, of course, a formula that has what everyone in the industry is looking for…odor control that leaves behind a fresh, clean wintergreen scent.

Sterilization Is Part Of The Equation

There is no single solution for proper facility sanitation, especially when you are in panic mode and experiencing a disease outbreak. In moments like those a liquid surface sterilizer, such as SteriCide^®, the only EPA approved liquid surface sterilizer presently available in the USA, should be deployed.

“Sterilizers are like placing surfaces in an autoclave – they kill all forms of microbial life, 100% - leaving nothing left to chance,” says Seitz. “I always recommend a multi-product approach to sanitation: an excellent cleaner/disinfectant/deodorizer, such as KennelSol®, designed specifically for the animal care marketplace, complimented with a sterilizer for the outbreak emergencies.”

Bleach Is A Dirty Word

Part of your sanitation education is to understand the misconception Bleach, is not the peace of mind you have come to believe. According to Seitz, there are many reasons to avoid using bleach, and here are but a few:

Bleach is significantly inactivated by organic debris which means dirt affects the ability for bleach to be effective
Bleach degrades with age and loses about 50% of its effectiveness within 60 days of being manufactured. The EPA requires special labeling stating age degradation
Bleach has a high pH of 11.5 because it needs to be stabilized with lye which is not ideal for use around animals or people, and definitely damaging to surfaces
Because of its instability, bleach solutions also need to be disposed of every few hours else it becomes ineffective
Precleaning is necessary with bleach and must remain on surfaces for 10 to 30 minutes.
Bleach is a very potent mucous membrane, tissue, and upper respiratory irritant – not something appropriate for human or animal health
People often mix bleach with other products in an attempt to enhance cleaning which can be dangerous. If bleach is mixed with acids, toxic chlorine gas will be released.

And these are just a few of the reasons to not use bleach.

Knowledge is Pungent Power

While not always easy to find, pet cleaning products that are both safe, effective and fragrant are highly sought after in the animal care industry and pet homes. By arming yourself with sanitation knowledge, it will save you time and energy, so you can spend it enjoying your furry friends.

Sanitation Program for Kennels, Animal Shelters & Cages

Fri, 31 Oct 2014 16:27:00 -0500

When was the last time you evaluated the sanitation program currently in place at your animal care facility? You should check out Alpha Tech Pet’s Sanitation Program Assessment Tool to see if our recommendations can help you improve upon your current level of facility sanitation.

We are proud to be one of the nation’s leaders in establishing sanitation programs for pet resorts, veterinary clinics, and other animal care facilities; all of our programs are tailored specifically for the needs of each individual facility.

All programs are environmentally friendly, efficient, and will always meet the highest standards of safety for the pets under your care and your employees.

Below, you will find different sanitation program categories we often utilize to help facilities self-access their own sanitation programs, along with example products (that we would recommend) that coincide with the program level a facility would be utilizing in a particular program. We can help you determine which level of sanitation you are currently employing and then how to enhance your level of sanitation by taking it to the next level.

Basic Sanitation Program: These are facilities utilizing only Hard Surface Disinfectants plus some additional supplemental Cleaning Products to assist with cleaning. (HSD) Example products would be:

KennelSol: This is a germicidal cleaner, disinfectant, and deodorizer, perfect for animal care facilities. It is EPA registered and kills pathogens such as canine parovirus.

OdorPet: This is a bio-active odor counteract-ant and cleaner for just about any type of pet mess. It can be used on floors, walls, counters, furniture, and indoor/outdoor surfaces. It is tremendous at breaking down urine, fecal debris, and animal body fats – making cleaning and sanitizing of surfaces much easier to accomplish.

Enhanced Basic Sanitation Program: To take your facility to the next level of sanitation, you should consider adding a Higher Level Disinfectant and/or a Sterilant product to your arsenal of items available for use in your facility sanitation program.

When you’ve got a problem, you want a big gun on hand to turn to. (HSD + HLD/S) Example products would be:

Lotus PRO

LotusPRO Aqueous Ozone: Aqueous Ozone is a powerful natural cleaning, stain removal, deodorizing and sanitizing/disinfecting solution made on-demand by the LotusPRO aqueous ozone generator. Aqueous ozone has an oxygen reduction potential of 2.07 volts, making it 50% more powerful than chlorine bleach (having a potential of 1.37 volts) and 3000 times faster at killing microorganisms.

YGIENE: Is an EPA registered and engineered, environmentally friendly, liquid surface cleaner, disinfectant, and sterilizer for use on hard non-porous surfaces in animal care, veterinary, and medical environments. It’s the nuclear bomb “if you will” for wiping out microorganisms. It will completely sterilize treated surfaces of all microbial life within 20 minutes of application.

Intermediate Level Sanitation Program: To take your facility to the next level of sanitation, simply add Touch-less Hand Sanitizers & Microfiber Products – but use Color Coding of your microfiber products to reduce disease cross contamination (red for isolation wards and blue for general population areas).

(HSD + HLD/S + Touch-less Hand Sanitizers + Microfiber Products)

SystemSURE Plus – ATP Meter

Purell & GOJO: Touch-free hand sanitizers combined with hand soap at all sinks encourages proper hand sanitation. It’s the perfect way to rid pathogens from hands and avoid inadvertent transmission of diseases between animals being handled. Plus it helps keep your employees healthier.

Microfiber Cleaning Products: Use of microfiber cloths and mops provide a generational leap in cleaning ability beyond that of standard cotton alternatives. Plus color coding for usage application (red for isolation wards, etc.) greatly assists in reducing disease cross-transmission throughout your facility.

Professional Level Sanitation Program: With the addition of products capable of treating the air in your facility, plus considering the use of low pressure low flow chemical applicators, you are employing BEST practices for professional grade sanitation at your facility. (HSD + HLD/S + Touch-less Hand Sanitizers + Microfiber Products + APS + Low Pressure Low Flow Chemical Applicators)

KennelSol APS: Since 1988, chlorine dioxide gas has been registered as a sterilant for use on laboratory equipment, environmental surfaces, tools and clean rooms. KennelSol APS chlorine dioxide gas technology is now available for use in your animal care facility. This air purification system safely and reliably releases controlled amounts of chlorine dioxide (ClO2) gas for amazing odor control, thus enhancing your overall sanitation program.

Alpha HydroMAID: This Mobile Automated Integrated Diluter (MAID) is an automatic dilution system for the delivery and application of your cleaning products throughout your animal care facility. It utilizes Low Pressure Low Flow application of chemicals and therefore does not aerosolize microorganisms like is commonly experienced when utilizing high pressure sprayers.

For more information, or to establish your sanitation needs, please give Alpha Tech Pet a call at 800-822-5537.