This safe, effective natural cleaning solution is the perfect way to clean, disinfect and deodorize your fur baby’s cage or crate!

Giving love to your pet is the easy part. Cleaning up their stinky messes, especially in their cage or crate—that’s a different story! Here is an easy recipe for a safe and effective cage cleaning solution that will simplify the process.

Many pets are extremely sensitive to harsh chemicals and odors. To ensure your pet stays happy and healthy, it’s important to find a cleaning solution that is effective AND safe to use.

This non-toxic solution contains natural enzymes that act as a disinfectant to kill bacteria and help break down organic material, without the harsh chemicals and odors. An added bonus to this DIY cleaner is that it can be made at a fraction of the cost of what you would pay for natural cage cleaners at the store.

• Easy to make
• Economical
• Effective
• Eco-friendly

We are HUGE animal lovers. Our family includes a feathery friend named LeFete and a French bulldog named Orvis.

You may not have known, but birds are extremely sensitive to harsh chemicals and odors. Sweet little LeFete is so sensitive to odors we can’t even burn scented candles in the same room! To ensure his safety while cleaning and sanitizing his cage each week, it was imperative to use a safe, effective cleaning solution.

For over three decades (LeFete is actually in his late 30’s) this recipe has been our go-to cleaning solution for his cage—and now we use it on Orv’s crate too! With just two simple ingredients and a spray bottle, we’re able to keep their cages nice and clean—as well as eliminate stress—save money, time and elbow grease.

• 1 clean, dark-colored spray bottle (for storage)
• 1 cup white vinegar OR hydrogen peroxide
• 1 cup distilled water

Each solution has its own disinfection properties. Vinegar is better at killing certain germs and microbes, while hydrogen peroxide is more effective at eliminating others.

Vinegar and hydrogen peroxide are wonderful cleaning/disinfecting ingredients. Unfortunately, they don’t play well together when combined into one solution (they form peracetic acid). They CAN be used back to back when disinfecting.

If you want to clean with both, use two separate bottles to create a vinegar spray and a hydrogen peroxide spray. Start with either mixture; the order doesn’t matter. Mist the cage or surface with the contents of one bottle. Allow it to sit for 2 minutes before wiping with a clean cloth, then repeat with the second spray bottle.

According to the MaidRight cleaning company, disinfecting with vinegar and then hydrogen peroxide is actually more effective at eliminating bacteria than disinfecting with bleach (and it’s a whole lot greener).

You’ll want to store your cleaner in a dark-colored spray bottle. We’ve had a lot of success with dark-colored glass bottles. We’ve used both chalkboard labels and a label maker to quickly and easily identify our cleaners. Why dark bottles? Hydrogen peroxide decomposes to water if it’s exposed to light.

Just like many household cleaners that fill the supermarket shelves, most commercial cage cleaners contain harsh chemicals and agents that aren’t exactly 100% safe to use around your pet. Think bleach and ammonia followed up by a long list of unpronounceable ingredients.

If inhaled or ingested, these toxic chemicals can cause your furry (or feathery) friend to have eye and respiratory problems, as well as gastrointestinal issues. Even after a good rinse, it’s a little scary to think about putting your pet into a crate that just had potentially harmful ingredients all over it.

That’s why we love this DIY crate and cage cleaner and use it often. It provides a safe alternative to harsh commercial cleaning agents.