Is chlorhexidine safe as long as it's not directly ingested?
Yes it is. it is typically sold in 2% and 4% solutions. I believe (don't use it as such with out consulting a vet) at 2% it is a wound wash and it is used as a human mouth wash for bacterial issues. High level disinfectant it is used at 2% and for general it is diluted 1:20 from 2%.
The surface needs to be free of organic matter and the diluted solution lasts if you use distilled water for 6 weeks (sealed container) and 1 week if diluted with tap water. It needs a contact time of 15 min to be effective. It doesn't kill many (any?) virus or most gram pos bacteria.
All disinfectants need some contact time 20-30 min (specific to the disinfectant) is a good general time period, they also need the surface to be clean before use.
Think of it this way a small amount of alcohol on a cloth cleans oil residue right? If you spill a whole bottle of oil on a counter the same cloth will not clean up the oil you have to remove most of it first. Same thing applies if the surface is dirty it is neutralized faster than all the bacteria are killed.
That is only if it is diluted with distilled water, but yes 6 weeks if you buy the distilled water. Tap water it is only 7 days. One solution is mix small amounts when you need it and use it up. This is the biggest reason why I switched. It is very difficult to manage the time issues of chlorhexidine solutions. For this purpose the diacetate and gluconate are the same.
Originally Posted by Mike41793
Im not joking thats what i use...
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