Questions re: Chlorhexidine

Buddy has developed a mild fungal infection in his feet, and the vet has recommended that we soak his paws for 15-20 minutes every other day as part of his treatment.

We were told to use a mixture of 1 part chlorhexidine 0.2% to 3 parts water, which is going to be rather pricey as we need to fill a container large enough to soak all four feet at the same time, and the vet's office charges about $20 for a 2 oz. bottle.

We were looking at Amazon.com, and found this chlorhexidine 2% for horses and dogs for about the same price, but you get a whole gallon.

Is this the same product, just a different concentration for larger animals?  If so, how do we dilute it to get the same chlorhexidine to water ratio that we would have gotten by mixing the 1 part chlorhexidine 0.2% to 3 parts water?  I'm hopeless when it comes to math, as was the vet's office. :-)

You don't need to buy that at the vets office or at Amazon. They sell it at any drug store for $6 or $7 at 4% concentration you will just need to do some math to get it diluted enough. Because it's 4% one squirt should do it for a shallow tub full of water. The bottle will last you forever.

If it's 4% concentration it would be 1 part 4% chlorhexidine to 20 parts water. Divide the % concentration by .2 to get your parts of water. 4% /.2=20 parts water. If you can only find 12% concentration then it's 12%/.2=60 parts water. You should be able to find 4% concentration.

hexiesfriend said:

If it's 4% concentration it would be 1 part 4% chlorhexidine to 20 parts water. Divide the % concentration by .2 to get your parts of water. 4% /.2=20 parts water. If you can only find 12% concentration then it's 12%/.2=60 parts water. You should be able to find 4% concentration.

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Awesome!  Thanks ever so much for all the info!

[emoji]128515[/emoji]

Quote:

hexiesfriend said:

You don't need to buy that at the vets office or at Amazon. They sell it at any drug store for $6 or $7 at 4% concentration you will just need to do some math to get it diluted enough.

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Sorry for such a stupid question, but why is the 0.2% chlorhexidine I get at the vet's office blue, and the 4% chlorhexidine (Hibiclens and generic equivalents) pink?  Is it just to differentiate what has been approved for animals vs. people, some inactive ingredient, or what?  Just curious.

cheeser
There are never any stupid questions, especially when we are taking care of our kitties.

Without seeing the individual bottles, my best guess would be that different concentrations are colored differently to avoid confusion.

That is, if you are used to using the dilute (0.2%) version that is blue, you would not accidentally misread 2% and use it by mistake if it is pink.

cheeser
Without seeing the individual bottles, my best guess would be that different concentrations are colored differently to avoid confusion.

That is, if you are used to using the dilute (0.2%) version that is blue, you would not accidentally misread 2% and use it by mistake if it is pink.

foxden said:

@cheeser
Without seeing the individual bottles, my best guess would be that different concentrations are colored differently to avoid confusion.

That is, if you are used to using the dilute (0.2%) version that is blue, you would not accidentally misread 2% and use it by mistake if it is pink.

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Yep, before I set up a separate medicine cabinet for the cats, the difference in color has been what's kept from me accidentally using the 4% before when I was half-asleep. ;-)

I did see this explanation in Customer Questions & Answers section at Amazon for one of the 2% chlorhexidine products, but thus far, I haven't been able to confirm it anywhere else:

"The difference is that Hibiclens is a 4 % solution that has undergone trials to get fda approval for use in humans and chlorhexidine2% solution has only fulfilled the fda requirements for animal use."