Disinfecting dishes.

Hello Marie,

I am contacting you again to ask a question about a part of my cat cleaning protocols that I recently set up to prevent and manage diseases such as parvo and upper respiratory diseases such as calicivirus. I tried calling my local vet but he is way too busy to answer a question in depth. My question is about dishes protocol.

For dishes: I have heard that soaking dishes in a 4:128 dilution of bleach is best after dishes are pre-cleaned with dawn dish soap. However, wouldn't that require getting a tote big enough to completely soak litter boxes and bowls in and adding enough water for that purpose? I can arrange for that, but wouldn't that require 5 gallons of water and 25 ounces of bleach? Just want to be certain.

What I am doing alternatively (let me know if this actually is a good idea or not) is pre-cleaning dishes then I spray them with a power washer that is attached with a 1:32 bleach sprayer. I bleach all the dishes and let them set for 10 minutes then I rinse them and let them dry for several hours. Occasionally I will wet them again before rinsing if they dry too fast.

The bad thing is the humane society I work for have a very tight budget so I usually clean 50-70 cats per day in addition to dishes, sweeping and mopping and more alone, so time is a factor if you think of a more time efficient and cost effective method or can tell me the one I'm using now is appropriate.

Thank you much!