Kennel Smell/Cleaning - Page 1

I have some outdoor 10x10 kennels for the dogs during the day and they have rubber horse mats for flooring. I noticed this week that they are starting to smell even though I scoop and wash daily. I was told to put lime around the kennels...but I want to be sure that it wouldn't be harmful to the dogs or to see if someone has other suggestions for cleaning and for the smell.

Vinager and Baking Soda mix.....

I read previous message posts about Rid-X, OdoBan and Diatomacious Earth.
I have OdoBan on hand and will use it direct on the mats themselves and then try the lime around the kennels themselves and see if this works.
Maybe at a later date I will try the Rid-X but for a 50lb bag of Lime is less than $8 and no one seems to know about the "DE" in my area.
I am still curious for other ideas people may have....

How does the vinegar & baking soda work and how much, etc.?

I use trigene, I dont know if you can get it in the US, but it works v well and kills parvo,vets in the UK swear by it,

I use this stuff to disinfect all the kennel areas and wash bedding and I don't get any nasty smells at all. i

Its on the expensive side but well worth, it as its a concentrate. I think the dilution rate is 1 -200 I get  5 L and that lasts around 6 months .

the other thing i use is zoflora and this also works really well and is cheaper.

for truly stinky kennels  flood the area with water and zoflora and leave it for a couple of hours then pressurewash  with trigene.

an industrial Karcher(sp?) pressure washer was my best investment and mine has a detergent tank its bloody marvelous

don't like the sound of lime as it is corrosive

best of luck

Tracie

www.freewebs.com/incubusgsds

My favorite kennel flooring will always be pea gravel. It's high maintenance compared to a hard surface, but it doesn't generally hold the odors like rubber or cement.  You might have to pick up those mats and flip them over from time to time to exposure their undersides and the ground beneath to the sun. Did you put down anything before you placed them or are the directly on top of the soil?  Putting down a base of gravel or sand might help if you haven't already done that.

Never used the vinegar/baking soda mix, but it sounds like something that should work on the soil. I don't think lime would be harmful either as long as it's not where the dogs can eat it. Maybe covering only a portion of the kennels with the mats and putting down gravel on the rest would encourage the dogs to relief themselves on the gravel?

I think you're going to have an on-going odor problem unless you figure out a way to provide some drainage beneath those mats.  They are probably retaining the odor and I'll bet it's wet underneath them. They are nice for giving the dogs a good footing, but I'm not so sure I'd want an entire kennel floor covered with them.

I use this in the horse stalls , some have used it in there kennel areas.  Vinegar and baking soda also.

http://www.sweetpdz.com/

Blitzen
 

Why no vinager and baking soda?  I have been using it to cut through the odor, between of course, the bleach and powerwashing.....seems to work, and doesn't seem to harmful to the dogs(unlike when I try to commit suicide by bleach

As far as DE goes, I use it in my mulch when I put down fresh mulch.  It is also, if you get food grade, a great wormer and seems to stop diarrehea in it's tracks(so far anyway).  And, yes it is safe to eat, just don't inhale it.

I have used a variety to "enzymes" on the yard, and don't particularly care for the results, but occassionally, try it again, anyway....

Well, off to the shower, since I just finished pressure washing the deck and concrete....then off to lunch with a dog!

I'm off to try vinager and baking soda right now.

DT, read my post again, I didn't say don't use it. I said I never  used it, but it should work.

I like it. I switch around what I use is whatever I have on hand. Bleach, Simple Green, some crap made for cleaning kennels and a yard deoderizer. I liek the fact that the vinager and baking soda is natural and wont hurt the dog an anyway if I don't rinse it well enough. Since my run off goes in my flowers and grass, I don't want to kill them either.