my cats like bleach!

That is strange. I think it best to keep locking them up when you mop the floor or use Murphys oil soap which is much less harsh.

We have one of those swiffer bleach mop things. I've started not using the bleach dispenser since the kittens came in the house. Now I still use the swiffer, just not the bleach part (its reserved for corners and tough stains), and now I just spray down Citrusolve. This is supposed to be environment friendly as far as the skin/ingestion goes and it works wonderfully for cleaning! I would then finish up with plain water afterward just to be on the safe side.

My cats love bleach too. When I do a load of whites, Spirit will bury herself in them while I fold them. I clean everything with bleach and then wipe it down afterward, but they still roll in it. I continue to use bleach because it is cheap and kills more virus's and bacteria's than anything else out there.

Unless your house is in the middle of an emergency room I dont think you need to use bleach. May be its becaue I live in NYC but I am not to germ concerned. Anyone that can hold on to the pole in the subway and then eat a hot dog from a street vendor is not germ conscious. LOL. Anyway IMO it is unnessary to use bleach in your house excpet for possible the bathroom floor.

I do alot of fostering with kittens, so better safe than sorry, we have had some feline distemper breakouts this year.

The cats should be vaccinated for distemper. This should protect agaisnt the spread of any disease. I really dont think bleach is necessary unless you have a lot of animals and still I would think the vaccinations should protect all your animals.

Bleach is one of the cleaning products I use all the time. I keep the cats out of the rooms while using the bleach, because they will get into it, roll in it and play in it. I have started hand-drying the floors and counters which helps a great deal.

When I take in a pregnant momma, I cannot vaccinate her while she is pregnant, and the earliest I will vaccinate kittens is a half dose at 4 weeks.

Bleach is the greatest thing for getting off lime deposits, stains, general grunge. It even cleans burnt pans. And it's cheaper than all those other products. It gets coffee stains off the cups.

My cats love Comet cleanser. They act like it's catnip. Whenever I am cleaning with bleach OR Comet I shut the door of the room I am working in.

I also always use bleach, and pine-sol to clean.When I mop the kitchen floor........I use the pine-sol so I don't have to worry about Blaze getting in it.I use the bleach to clean the bathroom floor and all.I keep the door locked so she can't go in there.I honestly CAN'T imagine NOT using bleach to clean.I don't like the smell, but I feel safer that it is thourghly cleaned.

Sunday goes berserk over bleach - or anything with bleach in it. After I've cleaned the bathroom she always rubs herself madly all over the doorway and has a little love-attack. I think it must be like ultra-concentrated catnip to them! I've taken to shutting her in the bedroom until the smell goes because I'm sure it's not good for her. The others aren't interested, but Sunday is like a rabid addict!!

It's the ONLY thing that will get the grout in our 50 year old bathroom white !

Chlorine bleach is the same thing (chlorine dioxide , vastly diluted of course) that's used for water purification purposes in municipal water supplies.

Pine-sol is a definite NO when it comes to a house with cats in it. The cat's system cannot handle the phenols that Lysol and Pinesol contains and over time, liver problems can and do occur

I wont use any chemicals around my cats. I use murphys oil soap to mob floor because it is very mild. Dont listen to the chemical compnaies propagnda. Not everything has to be as clean as a hospital.

I use bleach to get rid of mold. It's the most effective product for the job. For general cleaning I use a variety of other non soapy products. For someone living in a high humidity place like the Carribean, I'm sure mold is a concern and so bleach is an appropiate product to be using.

I also use Bleach and Sibohan Loves it... I lock her out of the bathroom while i'm cleaning and wash my hands afterwords but the slightest smell on my hands and she's "snuddleing" (sniff/cuddle) my hands all night long even when i'm trying to sleep as you may imagine it's kinda anoying

My cats love to lay on the bleached whites when they come out of the dryer.
I also clean with bleach....but it is diluted , as it does`nt take much to sanitize.
If I get my hands into bleach water for anything...even though I rinse really well and dry, Toby will try to lick my hands.
I don`t "get it" either....I wonder "why" they are attracted to the smell???
Linda

Yikes Bleach! I do have a bottle, but it is only used to disinfect the kitchen cloths once a week. I used to do a lot of swimming when I was younger, so I can't stand the smell now, and I am always worried about breeding Bleach-resistant germs by over using it. I just use normal household cleaner, preferably Jiff, as it is fairly natural and safe for kids. I stopped using harsh cleaners once I had my daughter 10 years ago, just in case she would ever get into the cleaning cupboard. My cat isn't too bothered by me cleaning, he just hates the vacuum cleaner. A couple of germs have harmed no-one. Quite the opposite, apparently excema and asthma has become more common since we are protecting our kids from too many germs.
I would use bleach though, if the cat is ill.

I can confirm this; my dear lost kitty Pie went nuts for bleach, but I sort of thought it was a fluke, though I'd heard about it vaguely.

Just tonight though, I found out differently.

My sister-in-law's cat Cheese (8 months) adores the tub. Every time one of us goes into the bathroom we always have company. He jumps in and rolls around and does this sort of a crazy thing that we call his "tub dance". We just thought it was an odd quirk; he liked the coolness of the porcelain or the smooth texture or something.

Anyway, tonight, another of our cats, Circe, vomited on one of those hard plastic things that protect carpets from office chairs (very considerate of her, actually) and I cleaned it up with some household cleaner that we normally use in the tub.

Well, Big Cheese went crazy, rolling around on the spot, rubbing, pouncing, etc., just like cats do when there's catnip on the floor. And we put two and two together. It was really funny.

I certainly don't want to encourage carelessness with bleach or anything, but I wouldn't panic over using bleach for normal cleaning with cats around. Like I said, our dear Pie had the bleach addiction and took it a whole lot farther than Cheese. She actually licked some bleach I was using to disinfect a floor once. I'd been unaware of the cat/bleach connection and figured the cats would avoid the bleach as they do with most strong smelling products. Anyway, I freaked out (and would have taken her to the vet immediately but it was the middle of the night) and tried to make her drink water and watched her all night but she was fine. By the way, when I said Pie was lost I mean she got out (she was an indoor cat as they all are) and never came back. She didn't die of chlorine poisoning or anything.

Anyway, I thought I write and say I don't think you need to nix bleach altogether. Use for regular cleaning is really safe with a little caution.

After all, I've often been advised to use bleach for all sorts of animal dishes and living areas (rabbit cages, frog habitats, etc.). Indeed, I really only trust bleach when dealing with sick animals - we recently had an epidemic of feline diarrhea that they kept passing back and forth and was very hard to knock out, even with medication.

As long as you rinse the floor, tank, litter box, whatever, you shouldn't have any problems. I never have and I've had many, many pets.

I also use bleach products to disinfect and clean the bathroom as well as Maia's litter box ( I know some are cringing at this). I also make sure I clean up any hint of bleach product after using it! We all know it is hazardous for us as well as our loved ones, and it stinks, irritates my eyes and skin when I do use it. That is why I keep Maia clear of when I do use it to clean once a month, and make sure I clean any residue of it up afterwards!

My cats also love/maybe hate the smell of bleach? Whenever I clean with it, even hours later they try to lick and rub all over my hands, even chew on my fingers, getting way in the corners of their mouth where its extra stinky! On the other hand it also seems as though it's more of a aphrodesiac reaction? BTW I have a male and a female and they both react the same way.

Im leaning more towards the smell causing some kind of heightened reaction. In the past whenever I have had acryllic finger nails put on, both of them will try and get one of the nails into their mouth and if I let them get it too far back they'll use their molars to try and bite it off? Those also have a really strong chemical smell to them especially when they are new or recently filled.

No info regarding Rosemary, I have never witnessed my cats fooling with it in the flower bed. Catnip is hit or miss. They wont play with a toy just because it contains catnip, it must also be made using real fur or feathers to interest them.

I do however have a bigger problem. My male cat Bogey 5yrs old, has decided to poop in both of my kids beds/Crib even? Not sure what to do about that or what he's upset about. My kids are 4 and 1, he's been around them since they were born. We have to keep their doors closed but it can be hard to keep tabs on. Sure enough, if one of them leaves the door open he'll walk past the litter box to do it? BTW, there is no issues with the litter box, doesn't matter if its perfectly clean or a little dirty he does it anyways? Any suggestions other than kicking him outside, that is whats about to happen to him!!! If he doesn't stop, I'll have to find him a new home!!!!

Hi, BadOlPuddyCat! My suggestion to you would be to start a separate thread (behavior sub-forum) regarding the problem with Bogey that you wrote about at the end of your thread. You will then get people who will open the thread and have ideas for the specific problem. Be sure to entitle it something like "adult cat suddenly eliminating in children's bed" so you get attention.

Please try to keep the doors closed to the little one's room in the mean time. Bogey is having some kind of problem - emotional. mental, or physical - and he needs a chance to get it solved - by you. In my view, sending him out of his home because he is going through this bad patch is no better than giving a child away because they are sick or having an emotional/behavior issue.

People here want to help, so please give a new thread a try. I'm afraid that here, on the end of your post on the bleach thread, people who can help you won't see it.

Robin

JUST WANT TO ADD ONE WARNING, NEVER EVER MIX ANYTHING THAT HAS AMMONIA IN IT WITH BLEACH, IT WILL CREATE POISONOUS FUMES THAT COULD POTENTIALLY KILL YOU. I HAD A FRIEND WHOSE MOTHER WAS USING BOTH TO CLEAN HER BATHROOM AND SHE ENDED UP IN THE HOSPITAL WITH BREATHING PROBLEMS, SO NEVER EVER MIX AMMONIA OR AMMONIA RELATED PRODUCTS WITH CLOROX.  LOVE AND HUGS TO ALL!

I thought all cats like bleach, its certainly quite common.    Bleach is a good cleaning product, just make sure that just as you keep prescription drugs and cleaners away from children, you do the same for your cleaning products.  
 

This is a bit misleading.  If you were to use pine-sol on furniture, and wipe it off, the exposure is so limited as to be a non-issue.   The health concern typically comes from pets gaining access to product containers directly, getting it all over them or ingesting it (certain cleaning products for example).   Its simply not in the realm of possibility to get a toxic dose from cleaning a surface with lysol or pinesol when used as directed.   

 

 

 

Edit: Oops, I need to pay more attention to the date of these threads.. hah!

I've never cleaned with bleach before, but after reading this thread, I want to start cleaning my bathroom with it. I generally only clean with all natural cleaning solutions, which I find takes quite a bit longer to clean with sometimes. Maybe next time I clean the bathroom I'll try it. No matter what I'm cleaning with Riley always goes crazy for it and always runs all over my feet and paws at everything 

Even though this thread is a revived ancient, I would remind those cleaning with bleach not to clean up your cat's urine with it.

Cat urine contains ammonia, and ammonia + bleach = bad.

Otherwise, bleach away

I do see this is an older thread but a good one to bring up again. I use bleach too. But it is always dry before I allow my cat's access to the cleaned areas. What I am wondering about is Pine Sol. I have heard so many conflicting stories. And while we are on the subject..... What do you clean your counter tops with that is safe for cat's? Just curious.

I dunno, they are pretty smart and clean critters. Their olfactory system tells them where bacteria, and thus germs, are growing. That's why they bury poop and clean themselves so often.

 

Then again, you don't want to totally sanitize the environment as all life depends on bacteria to build immunities.

 

It's a Catch-22, but I love bleach too!!!