scary truth that most of us don’t want to face is that we are exposed to some pretty nasty stuff working in the animal industry. Having said that, most of us much prefer dealing with animals rather than humans in the same situation. A big difference though is that the level of hygiene we practice with humans is usually much more thorough than what we practice with animals. Does that make sense though?

We should always be mindful of areas of high risk and work to minimize them. For example, when was the last time you changed the air filters on the vacuum or HVAC unit? When was the last time you disinfected the mop, the towels or the hoses to your recirculation bathing system? Are you cleaning all your equipment—tubs, cages, etc.—between every pet? Every one of us takes a stab at this, but is what we are doing truly adequate?

Let’s relate this back to the human field…

Would you be OK sitting on the doctor’s table, wearing that “special gown,” right after the patient before you if the staff didn’t clean the area or change the paper? Would you be OK going to surgery if the air vent was growing hair? Or how about taking a bath in the same recirculation system that you are presently using, not knowing (or worse, knowing) about all the dirt, dead skin, hair and who knows what infections the people/animals before you had? Grossed out? Maybe it is time we start looking at some of our procedures with a more critical eye…

I’m not saying our salons should be like a sterile surgery suite, but having visited many salons and ran my own, I think we all could do better. Every little bit helps, and we need to realize this is not just for our pet clients’ health, but also for our staff, our family and ourselves.

The first step is to evaluate our potential risk areas and create a plan to address them appropriately. I find the best plan includes a task list that has a timeframe; some things need to be done between every pet, others daily and some may be monthly. I also find that things which are written down get done. Assigning tasks to specific people and having them sign off is crucial for success. The most important task though is the accountability of someone checking and verifying the list. If this process is not done completely, in my experience, the process typically fails. A day turns into a week, which turns into a month, and it never gets done.

The second part of the process is evaluating and training what needs to be accomplished to achieve maximum results. Details are important. If I change the air filter, is it sufficient to just change the filter, or should I vacuum and wipe down the area surrounding the air vent also? If it is overly dirty, should we consider changing it more frequently?

We also need to make sure our procedures make sense. A very important concept to understand when we clean is the difference between cleaning and disinfecting. We don’t clean with disinfectants, and we don’t disinfect with cleaners. Basically, cleaners have organic matter to break down and remove; disinfectants have ingredients to control or kill bacteria, viruses and fungus. Then, some companies confuse things by mixing the two, often with less-than-ideal results. The bottom line is, it is always better to remove the organic material and then disinfect. This is pretty easily done on hard surfaces, but porous surfaces and any tubing become a different challenge.