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I am an uncle who has been hired to take care of animals residing in two nephew's homes. Since I have to travel some distance to the homes, the plan was to stay at one of the homes for the days while the nephews are away. However, my older nephew has a family with three kids and two of the kids have come down with pink eye and bronchitis. Although they have been to the MD and received antibiotics, the plan is still to leave and my pet/house sitting is to start this coming Friday and last 5 days. Since I don't own pets myself, I'm not sure how to decontaminate the house once they leave as there's no way I'm staying there with these possible infectious bacteria on the surfaces and floors. If I were home, I'd spray lysol or bleach and wipe up surfaces later, or even use a germicidal lamp, but with the dog, two cats, fish, turtle I'll be pet sitting, I don't think I can just start spraying everywhere. So..... how should I go about decontaminating once they have left and without harming the pets? It's a pretty big house, so had hoped to keep things simple. I was also thinking that maybe I could wear something to keep from getting sick. Thanks in advance.
When my wife passed three years ago, I was fairly regularly attending invited dinners at both nephews homes during the first year without her. It was a nice gesture, but I got sick, mainly with colds, nearly ten times over the first year and 3-4 times the second, as they had invited me during that year too though not as frequently. It took me a while to figure out why I kept getting sick, then one day it struck me that it was the kids. The three little ones were often more sick than well and I would pick this up. Since I've been away from there now, except maybe twice a year for meals, I haven't gotten sick and don't want to again. That being said, I'm not sure just using wipes on the surfaces will be sufficient. The kids are all over the place, not just at the table, but on the couches, bathroom, etc. Now at my home, with no pets, I'd just spray everything with Lysol and then leave for a while to let it dry, but with these pets I just can't do that. So, what about the furniture, rugs, etc as they will carry bacteria too?
You can mop the floors with a disinfectant like Lysol or Mr Clean, and throw the rugs in the wash if they are small enough. If they aren’t, spraying them with a disinfectant would help. Toss a clean blanket over the sofa to minimize contact with the germs or give it a good spray. Make sure the disinfectant spray is fabric safe before you use it!
With my dogs, everything is easy to keep clean, a simple wipe down cleans leather sofas and bare floors are easy to mop. It is harder to clean if the house has a lot of fabric, furniture, rugs, drapes, but it can be done.
First, relax. Remember, to get sick, you need 3 things:
1) Presence of the bacteria/virus
2) Transmission of the bacteria/virus
3) Sufficient bacterial/viral load to establish itself even against your immune response.
If they received antibiotics, then the doc considers the infections bacterial. Most bacteria don't live very long on surfaces. Also, you don't have to disinfect EVERYTHING; just focus on the surfaces that you touch frequently and known germ magnets like phones, remote controls, light switches, fridge handle, etc. If there are that many animals in there, there is NO way to "decontaminate" the house. The reason you got sick visiting previously is likely because of the people there, not the surfaces you touched. Google a little bit to get peace of mind on illness transmission, and then keep up your own immunity with plenty of fluids, a healthy diet, fresh air, etc.
The dogs and cats won’t be harmed by a little Lysol or other household cleaner if you want to spray everything down. The biggest risk might be the fish. If they have an air filter, disconnect that or turn it off while you’re actively spraying things so it doesn’t suck any of that into the tank and cover the tank while you’re spraying and they should be fine.
I hope you can get it clean enough for your own peace of mind so you’re not sitting there for five days afraid to touch anything!
I think you’re over reacting, but you can use Clorox wipes to disinfect hard surfaces. All you need to worry about is the high touch areas: door knobs, light switches, remotes, phones, fridge/stove handles... pretty much anywhere that gets touched a lot.
Wash your hands and don’t touch your face. Use can use Lysol spray on surfaces you can’t use wipes on, but that’s overkill.
First, relax. Remember, to get sick, you need 3 things:
1) Presence of the bacteria/virus
2) Transmission of the bacteria/virus
3) Sufficient bacterial/viral load to establish itself even against your immune response.
If they received antibiotics, then the doc considers the infections bacterial. Most bacteria don't live very long on surfaces. Also, you don't have to disinfect EVERYTHING; just focus on the surfaces that you touch frequently and known germ magnets like phones, remote controls, light switches, fridge handle, etc. If there are that many animals in there, there is NO way to "decontaminate" the house. The reason you got sick visiting previously is likely because of the people there, not the surfaces you touched. Google a little bit to get peace of mind on illness transmission, and then keep up your own immunity with plenty of fluids, a healthy diet, fresh air, etc.
I disagree. The sickest place I worked was the place without the sink in the locked working area. Everyone was touching the doorknobs/etc after sneezing, blowing their noses, etc. and they could not wash their hands. The hand sanitizers were often out. Dirty doorknobs/handles absolutely contribute. Onetime we had to bleach the handle down because there was BLOOD on the handle- I kid you not. High touch surfaces like keyboards, knobs, phones, remotes, faucets, etc. have lots of germs. Usually you are instructed not to touch the doorknob when exiting a public bathroom if at all possible for a reason. It absolutely does help. I also wipe down my tray area in an airplane when I sit down and this helps me not to get sick.
I suppose you could just wear disposable gloves and refrain from touching your face if you are terrified. When you are out in public it's not too likely to be less germy than your nephew's house. Wipe down the door knobs with Lysol wipes. Wipe the remote. Clean the kitchen counters. Wipe the handle on the toilet and fridge and microwave. Consider it good.
Unless you get sick yourself you most likely will not be bringing any viruses to the other house. Frequent handwashing and not touching your face are the best preventative to not getting sick from the kids, but can happen. Little kids have a tendency to spread germs .
Are you concerned of bringing illness from home with kids to animals? You didn't ask that but since you posted under the pet section maybe you are. From what I know colds and flus and such for the most part don't cross species. Although I did hear about a dog that was re infecting people with strep throat so dog tested positive.
Last edited by Izzie1213; 01-25-2020 at 04:45 PM..
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