HOCl for Kennels, Crates and Litter Areas

This page is about surfaces and odor on surfaces: kennel floors, crates, litter areas, and the containers that hold bedding. It is not a guide for anything applied to an animal. Do not spray, wipe, or bathe a dog, a cat, or any other animal with the solution you make. Do not put it in food or water bowls, and do not use it on skin, fur, paws, or wounds. If you have a question about an animal, ask a veterinarian.

HOCl for kennels, crates and litter areas, in the sense used here, means a tested batch you apply to those cleared surfaces after you have removed solid waste and visible dirt. The machine this site walks through is the Eco One, which makes a 1-liter batch. HOCL LLC sells machines only; it does not sell bottled HOCl.

What this routine covers — and what it does not

Covers: hard crate interiors, kennel or run floors, litter-box exteriors and the floor around them, scoop and brush handles, and plastic or metal containers that hold bedding between washes.

Does not cover: the animal; bedding fabric itself as a substitute for laundry; litter that is still in use in the box; food or water; any product intended for use on an animal.

Wash bowls with your usual dish routine, and wash bedding in the laundry. Empty litter into the waste you already use, and wash the empty box as a surface — after it is emptied, not as a treatment of the litter.

Clear the surface first

Odor on a crate or a kennel floor is often leftover soil. Scoop solids, pick up litter scatter, and wash off urine or mud with detergent and water. Rinse or wipe until the surface looks clear. Only then apply HOCl.

A dirty crate will not get cleaner because you sprayed over the dirt. The first pass is mechanical: scoop, wash, rinse. Keep a cloth or mop that is only for these surfaces, and launder it rather than dipping it back into your storage jug.

Never mix HOCl solution with ammonia, bleach, strong acids or other cleaners; mixing with ammonia can release chloramine gas, and mixing with strong acids can release toxic chlorine gas. Add only the vinegar or additive your manual specifies, in the amount it specifies. If someone breathes in fumes or swallows solution, call Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222 (poisonhelp.hrsa.gov). If you used a different product on the previous pass, rinse that surface before HOCl goes on.

A checklist you can follow

1. Move the animal to another room or run before you start. This is a surface job, and the crate or kennel should be empty.
2. Remove bedding, toys, bowls, and litter. Set fabric aside for the wash. Empty the litter box completely.
3. Scoop and wash the crate, floor, or empty box. Take visible soil off first.
4. Make or pour a tested 1 L HOCl batch (see batch planning below).
5. Spray or wipe the cleared surfaces until they are wet. Wipe with a clean cloth, or mop a floor, then let the surface dry before you return bedding or litter.
6. Recap the bottle. Wash your hands with soap and water when you are done handling waste and cleaners.
7. Return clean, dry bedding and a fresh litter fill only after the surfaces are dry.

If you are working through several crates, finish the wash pass on each one before you start spraying, so you are not carrying dirty water onto a surface you just sprayed.

Batch planning with a 1 L Eco One run

The Eco One makes 1 L at a time in a 1.5 L pitcher; fill only to the 1 L line. A standard cleaning liter is the 200 ppm recipe in How to Make Hypochlorous Acid at Home: 2 g of food-grade, non-iodized kosher salt, 1 teaspoon of 5% distilled vinegar, the lid fitted, Setting 3 run twice (16 minutes), then a check of ppm and pH. The target pH is 5–6.

How far 1 L goes depends on how many crates or how much floor you have, and on whether you are spraying or mopping:

• One or two home crates, plus a litter box and a small floor patch, are often inside a single liter if you use a spray bottle and a cloth.
• A bank of crates or a kennel floor will use more. Plan a second liter before you start the wash, rather than stopping mid-job with an empty bottle.
• An 8 oz PET spray bottle holds a little under 0.25 L, so one Eco One liter fills three bottles and still leaves some in the jug for a mop bucket or a top-up.

If you regularly need several liters at once, the Hypo 7.5 makes a 7.5 L (2-gallon) batch. Specs and when to step up in volume are on Choosing an HOCl Generator and compare. For a home or a few crates, the Eco One is the usual starting point.

Testing and storage, in brief

Test every batch before you pour it. Read concentration with 10–200 ppm paper and pH with separate pH paper, as in HOCl PPM and pH Basics. Do not use or store a batch below pH 4.

Store what you do not use that day in a closed, light-protected container, at room temperature or cooler, in HDPE, LDPE or PET. Re-test after storage. The full conditions and the Eco One manual’s storage statement are in HOCl Storage and Shelf Life. A crate-side spray bottle is a working bottle: cap it, keep it out of heat and sun, and refill it from the closed jug.

Label the jug “HOCl” with the date, ppm and pH, and keep it well away from animal food, treats and medications so it is not mistaken for any of them.

Odor is a surface problem in this guide

This routine deals with odor by removing the soil that holds it and then cleaning the cleared surface. It does not mask odor with perfume, and it does not claim to treat an animal’s skin or ears. If odor remains after a thorough wash and a dry, clean surface, look again for soil you missed — under a crate grate, in a floor seam, or in bedding that should have gone to the laundry — rather than applying more solution to the animal.

What not to do

• Do not apply HOCl, the Eco One’s potassium hydroxide cleaner, or any other made solution to an animal.
• Do not describe this routine as a treatment, a bath, or a spray for use on dogs or cats.
• Do not mix HOCl with other kennel chemicals.
• Do not skip the wash pass.
• Do not leave an open pitcher or an uncapped bottle where an animal can reach it.

The potassium hydroxide cleaner the Eco One can also make is a separate, strongly alkaline degreaser. It is not part of this crate routine unless you have a greasy utility surface to wash, in a space the animal is not in, and you follow the cleaner directions in How to Make Hypochlorous Acid at Home. Wear gloves, and never mix it with HOCl.

For the first liter, use the Eco One and the how-to. Keep the job on the crate, the floor, the empty litter box, and the bedding container — not on the animal.