Using Chlorine Dioxide to Effect a Safe, Clean, Disinfected Place for your Pets

Submitted by Drew Kaplan on March 24, 2010 – 2:03

Animal keepers and pet owners are faced with the dilemma of disinfecting and cleaning all animal spaces while at the same time causing no harm to the animals themselves, and the people who work there. Most deaths of pets are premature and unnecessary, according to many veterinarians .

The best answer to date has been to remove pets from their enclosures, scrub the habitat clean, and treat the enclosure with one of a number of nasty (and often expensive) chemicals. It is then necessary to wash everything down, and hope that there is no dangerous contamination lingering from either the pathogens or the disinfectant. The issue is that disinfectants are generally toxic; most good disinfectants are not safe to use around pets.

The newest approach involves the use of Stabilized Chlorine Dioxide. Chlorine dioxide is a truly remarkable substance.!It is a fast acting broad spectrum disinfectant that also destroys almost all of the ‘bad’ bugs on contact!It is difficult to get the performance from other products while still having safety for pets who may be sensitive to more toxic chemicals.. it is extremely powerful, killing bacteria, viruses and fungi. Chlorine Dioxide creates no harmful odors; in fact it is an excellent deodorizer.

Chlorine Dioxide’s chemistry is radically different to that of chlorine by itself. Both products are oxidizing agents. But, because of their fundamentally different chemistry they react in distinct ways with organic compounds, and as a result, generate very different byproducts. Chlorine dioxide does not affect cell walls (which is why it is safe to use around living things), while chlorine tends to react with organic matter by attacking cell walls and creating toxic and carcinogenic byproducts.) Chlorine Dioxide disassembles organic compounds rendering them harmless. It is this difference that explains the superior performance of chlorine dioxide.

The anti-microbial efficacy of chlorine dioxide against bacteria, fungi, viruses and protozoa has been repeatedly demonstrated and documented. It has a low toxicity, as verified by the EPA, is not harsh to you, the environment, or your pets. Chlorine Dioxide is a natural anti-inflammatory, along with the disinfecting properties, making it useful for wound treatment. Veterinarians have found that a mixture of chlorine dioxide and aloe vera is a safe and good approach to healing incisions and wounds. Chlorine Dioxide t is the one true deodorizer for pet owners, one which will eliminate odor, protect the environment, and cause no harm to the owner or his pets. As a product registered by the Environmental Protection Agency to be safe, harmless to pets and people, hypoallergenic, biodegradable, non-staining, non-bleaching, you can know you have selected the best product on the market for you and your pet.

Lawmakers Consider an Animal Abuse Registry

The New York Times

By JESSE McKINLEY
Published: February 21, 2010

SAN FRANCISCO — California may soon place animal abusers on the same level as sex offenders by listing them in an online registry, complete with their home addresses and places of employment.

The proposal, made in a bill introduced Friday by the State Senate’s majority leader, Dean Florez, would be the first of its kind in the country and is just the latest law geared toward animal rights in a state that has recently given new protections to chickens, pigs and cattle.

Mr. Florez, a Democrat who is chairman of the Food and Agriculture Committee, said the law would provide information for those who “have animals and want to take care of them,” a broad contingent in California, with its large farming interests and millions of pet owners. Animal protection is also, he said, a rare bipartisan issue in the state, which has suffered bitter partisan finger-pointing in the wake of protracted budget woes.

“We have done well with these laws,” he said.

Last fall, California became the first state to outlaw so-called tail-docking of dairy cows, where the tail is partly amputated to ease milking. In 2008, voters in the state passed Proposition 2, which gave hens, calves and pigs more room in their crates or cages. That law has upset many in the California egg industry and prompted some agriculturally-minded residents to even talk about seceding from the state.

Under Mr. Florez’s bill, any person convicted of a felony involving animal cruelty would have to register with the police and provide a range of personal information and a current photograph. That information would be posted online, along with information on the person’s offense.

The bill was drafted with help from the Animal Legal Defense Fund, an animal-protection group based in Cotati, Calif., north of San Francisco. The group has promoted the registry not only as a way to notify the public but also as a possible early warning system for other crimes.

“We know there’s a link between those who abuse animals and those who perform other forms of violence,” said Stephan Otto, the group’s director of legislative affairs. “Presumably if we’re able to track animal abusers and be able to know where they live, there will be less opportunity where those vulnerable to them would be near them.”

In addition to sex offenders, California lists arsonists in an online registry, and the animal abusers would be listed on a similar site, Mr. Florez said. Such registries have raised privacy concerns from some civil libertarians, but Joshua Marquis, a member of the defense fund’s board and the district attorney in Clatsop County, Ore., said the worries were unfounded.

“Does it turn that person into a pariah? No,” Mr. Marquis said. “But it gives information to someone who might be considering hiring that person for a job.”

He added: “I do not think for animal abusers it’s unreasonable considering the risk they pose, much like the risk that people who abuse children do.”

One supporter of the proposed law, Gillian Deegan, an assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Botetourt County, Va., says such a registry could also be valuable in tracking people who run puppy mills and animal-fighting rings, as well as hoarders, who sometimes collect hundreds of animals, often resulting in neglect.

“A lot of times these people will just pick up and move to another jurisdiction or another state if they get caught,” said Ms. Deegan, who has written on animal welfare laws. “It would definitely help on those types of cases where people jump around.” One Web site — Petabuse.com — already offers a type of online registry, with listings of animal offenders and their crimes.

Such registries have been introduced in other states, but never passed. In 2008, a similar bill in Tennessee stalled after passing the State Senate.

That legislation was endorsed by the Humane Society of the United States, said Wayne Pacelle, the president and chief executive of the society.

Mr. Pacelle said that the proposed financing mechanism for the California bill, a small tax on pet food, was “an extremely controversial idea” and unpopular with the pet food industry.

Taxes are usually opposed by Republicans in California, and that gives Mr. Pacelle doubts about the bill’s prospects.

“The idea of that succeeding in this climate in California is not high,” he said.

But the bill’s sponsor, Mr. Florez, who recently helped establish an Animal Protection Caucus, which includes Republican members of the State Senate and Assembly, says he is confident that he has the votes to move the measure forward and estimates that the registry would cost less than $1 million to establish. He also said his background — he hails from the farming-friendly Central Valley — will help the cause.

“I think people think, well, if Dean is supporting it,” he said, “it can’t be that off the wall.”

A version of this article appeared in print on February 22, 2010, on page A10 of the New York edition.

Kitten Palooza!

New York City Feral Cat Initiative
Special Announcement

The New York City Feral Cat Initiative, a program of the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals, presents Kitten Palooza!, a series of workshops sponsored by PetSmart Charities:

A Series of Workshops - April and May 2010

Bottle Feeding & Care of Orphaned Kittens
Tuesday, April 6, or Thursday, May 6, 2010 (choose one)
6:30-9:30 p.m.
ASPCA, 424 East 92nd Street (between 1st and York Avenues), 5th Floor, Manhattan

Kitten Palooza! is a series of workshops on working with kittens as part of Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) projects. In this workshop, learn the skills needed to successfully bottle-feed and care for orphaned kittens. This workshop will cover which equipment and formula get the best results, bottle-feeding techniques, and all stages of kitten care.

Instructors: Dr. Tina Waltke, Manhattan Cat Specialists; Valerie Sicignano, NYC Feral Cat Initiative; and Iris Lugo, Animal Care & Control of NYC

Socializing Feral Kittens
Sunday, April 11, or Saturday, May 8, 2010 (choose one)
1:00-4:00 p.m.
ASPCA, 424 East 92nd Street (between 1st and York Avenues), 5th Floor, Manhattan

Kitten Palooza! is a series of workshops on working with kittens as part of Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) projects. In this workshop, learn the process of socializing (taming) young feral kittens into adoptable pets. Features a screening of the Urban Cat League DVD, Tough Love: Socializing Feral Kittens, and kitten trapping techniques.

Instructors: Mike Phillips, Urban Cat League; Valerie Sicignano, NYC Feral Cat Initiative; and Nancy Alusik, KittyKind

Registration
There is no fee to attend the Kitten Palooza! workshops, but advance registration is required. To request a spot, send an e-mail with the name and date of the workshop(s) you wish to attend, your first and last name, organization (if applicable), phone number, and borough, with the name/date of the workshop in the subject line to events@NYCFeralCat.org. Only those who are awarded a spot will receive a reply. If you do not receive a reply, it means we could not fit you in. A limited number of spots are available. Spots are non-transferable -- if you need to cancel, you can not give your spot away; it will go to the next person on the list.