Washing Dishes Safely When you Own a Pet

When you feed a pet or several pets every day, dish washing becomes a regular routine. Some folks will suggest that you don't wash pet dishes with your dishes. If anyone has tried that very long, without proper facilities, having to drain the sink of dishwater and fill again and wash the pet dishes separately, becomes a time consuming water wasting chore. It is tough enough to wash all of them, much less go through double work to keep them separate. But I have a solution.

I Mix Dishes When I Wash Them With An Added Ingredient

For years, I have been washing dishes for several pets along with my dishes. While sometimes I wash them separately, they pretty much all go into the same sink with the silverware and glasses and all of that. But I have what I consider a much better way, using anti-bacterial chemicals in the wash water.

My Routine

For years I used dish washing powder along with the usual dish soap. Now the box will warn of fumes etc. if mixing dishwasher soap with certain chemicals, but I have not found that to be a problem in the amounts that I use. I have changed in the last two years to another chemical that I consider a very efficient germ killer

Why use anything but dish soap?

Dish soaps typically have great cleaning power. The foaming soaps and all of the oxy-soaps do a great job. But they lack one thing that you will not find very much on their labels, germ killing power. What you need, in order to keep you healthy and the pets healthy is something to kill the germs when you wash your dishes and the pets's dishes together.

Several Capfuls of Bleach in a Full Sink

I have found that three to four capfuls of bleach in a full sink, or less in a half full sink, increases the germ killing ability of the wash water and puts an end to cross contamation possibilities when washing pet and human dishes together. The bleach fumes, to me, are not any problem in a sink of water. I do not directly mix bleach and soap together but in some water, the fumes are minor, yet the germ killing power is greatly increased.

In Fact It Is a Great Idea Any Time

With all of the germs in our world and their increasing resistance to medications, it is definitely a good idea to lessen their chances of landing on a dish or a pets' dish at any time. Any time you can get rid of that option for germs to attack, you are improving the lives of your family and your pets, and that is what it is all about.