Sanitizing toys?

[Jarka, Monty & Auggie]

I have never thought about this before and now in preparation of bringing the new puppy home I have questions. Do you guys sanitize your dog's toys? I have washed some of Monty's stuffed toys before, but never really paid too much attention. Most of his toys are rubber squeaky toys. How should I sanitize those for the new puppy?

Also, there is only one area where Monty goes potty on the side of our house. It's all rocks. How would I sanitize that area to make sure it's safe for the puppy? We just spray the area with water from time to time, but is there a better way? Monty was diagnosed with Giardia today and is on medication. Even though we still have three weeks before the puppy comes home, how would I treat the area to get rid of harmful bacteria in the future?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

If Monty has giardia, you must spray the areas where he poops with a bleach solution; one part bleach, 9 parts water. That's the only way to kill the giardia cysts and prevent infection or reinfection. You'd have to do that even if you didn't have a new puppy coming home.

I wouldn't worry about sanitizing toys. They are going to be in each other's faces (and other body parts, lol) all the time anyway, and there's not much that could be passed by a toy that's harmful. Even with JD's compromised immune system, I've never had a problem with fosters here who picked up his toys in their mouths.

[Jarka, Monty & Auggie]

Thank you, Karen!

[Katie and Sophie]

The only sanitizing of toys I really do is running the kongs through the dishwasher.  I also wash the stuffed toys in the washing machine when they get taken outside and get dirty.  

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

Just to reiterate.  You need to disinfect (with bleach) the area where Monty poops everyday after every poop to keep him from reinfecting himself.  I would also wipe his behind with disposable wipe very thoroughly every time he poops .  Then wash your hands.  It's a pain in the....., but doing two with Giardia will be worse. 

 

Don't worry about the toys rugs etc.  Give any bedding a wash in hot water (and bleach if you can) frequently also and just before the puppy comes home.

 

 

[Doris, Knox & Flash]

Poor Monty! :(

[F, Calla & Luca]

Everybody has given you good advice. I'm just sorry to hear about Monty.

[Christine & Camus]

It may be unnecessary, but I clean all of Camus stuffed animals in the washer & dryer and all of the rubber toys in the dishwasher, every couple of weeks.  His bed is covered with a dog blanket which is washed every week, same for the bed blanket in his crate.  The reason I put all of his rubber toys in the dishwasher is because I read that plastic dog bowls are not good because of bacteria, just carried the line of thought through to his toys.

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

we wash the stuffed toys in the washer and dryer when they get stinky and crusty with doodle slobber (yumm).  We don't have a whole lot of non-stuffed toys other than bones.  We do use kongs and those get washed in the sink.

Once Monty is rid of the giardia, you can use a kennel spray to keep the potty area smelling fresh.  We have a section of pet turf where our 2 doods take care of business.  I asked DH to spray it down weekly, but tend to have to hound gently remind him to take care of it.  The bottle just attaches to the hose which makes the process fairly quick and easy and keeps any smells from building up.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

So sorry to hear that Monty has giardia.  Hopefully the meds will get rid of it and he'll be fine when the puppy comes home.  I recall throwing away the cloth toys and washing the rubber ones in a bleach solution, but that may have been a bit extreme. 

[Wendy and Sully]

Like the other posters, I also wash toys in the washing machine and kongs in the dishwasher. In addition to my ALD, I currently own (and have for many years) a couple of Rhodesian Ridgebacks. There is a recipe for disinfecting the yard that has been passed around the ridgeback forum for years. I've found it works great and doesn't kill the lawn. Here it is: use a 2 gallon garden sprayer; add about 1/2 bottle of Listerine (largest bottle original formula - it's brown. I usually buy the generic from Walmart); add about 2 ounces of Palmolive Green dish soap (this is the only kind the works well); fill the rest of the sprayer with water from the hose to bring it up to the 2 gallon mark. I use the sprayer every day to eliminate the odor and find that it works better than anything else I have tried in the past.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'm not sure that mixture would kill giardia, though. To my knowledge, the only thing that will kill giardia cysts (which can survive freezing winter temperatures) is bleach.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

What bad timing. I'm sorry Monty. Your tummy must be miserable.