As a pet parent you want to protect your furry family members. Part of being a responsible pet owner is researching products before you use them. This keeps your pet safe and saves you a lot of time and money visiting the vet! You have most likely done a quick Google search on products that use Benzalkonium Chloride. The first thing you may have noticed was all the warnings about how toxic it is for dogs and cats. Guess what! We’ve been there and done that too.

We spent time researching it too and we saw the same warnings as you did. But we went much deeper with our research during the product development phase. We learned that in higher concentrations, it is very harmful to pets. But in diluted form it is not harmful to them at all. We also followed up the research with lots of testing. Before we ever put anything in our products or on our labels, we made sure it was a safe concentration.

Benzalkonium Chloride is often found on the list of products that are dangerous for pets. When high levels of Benzalkonium Chloride are used, it is toxic. In fact, we would encourage pet parents to prevent their pets from coming into contact with the undiluted substance.

Benzalkonium Chloride is used in many industries, primarily for its antimicrobial, antiseptic, and disinfectant properties. In fact, many industries use it safely in a wide variety of applications. Medical professionals often use it for wound care and for skin disinfection before performing surgery. It’s also used as a preservative in pharmaceuticals like nebulizers, nasal sprays, and eye drops.

Finding the Right Concentration of Benzalkonium Chloride

The key to using Benzalkonium Chloride safely is finding the right concentration. When it is diluted, it can be used as an antiseptic. The key is finding the right percentage of concentration for safe use. PawerLab products contain a highly diluted amount of Benzalkonium Chloride. It is a safe dilution that has been deemed safe after passing the SGS test for toxicity. It also passed the SGS skin test to determine it is hypoallergenic.

Higher concentrations stronger than 0.1% can be caustic and damaging for pets. But Benzalkonium chloride is used in many products such as hand sanitizers and eye drop in smaller concentrations ranging from 0.004% to 0.01%. This is a safe concentration.

We are always concerned about the safety of animals and the products pet parents use on them. PawerLab has always been transparent about the ingredients used in our pet care products. We’ve conducted rigorous and extensive testing, which has not revealed any harmful effects associated with our products. We continue to provide natural, simple, products with minimal ingredients.

Alternatives to Benzalkonium Chloride

When we were in our product development stage, we explored numerous possibilities and specifically looked for alternatives to replace Benzalkonium Chloride. The problem with using alternatives was that we would have to add six more harsh chemicals to get the same effect. We felt this would compromise the core purpose. We are dedicated to using natural ingredients and being straightforward about them.

Benzalkonium Chloride and Other PawerLab Product Ingredients

If you take a look at the ingredient list on our products, take note that the list doesn’t indicate the concentration of each ingredient. Our products contain less than 1% of Benzalkonium Chloride. Distilled water is the main ingredient in our pet wipes to obtain the right level of dilution to make sure our wipes are safe for pets. The second most abundant ingredient in our cat wipes is decyl glucoside, which is a surfactant. Our pet wipes contain the same safe amount of Benzalkonium Chloride. All of our products have passed SGS tests for toxicity.

Benzalkonium Chloride is Safe for Topical Use

We used specific concentrations of Benzalkonium Chloride to ensure its safety. It is a food grade concentration, so it is not harmful to pets even if they did consume it.  With that being said, please do not intentionally let your pet eat the wipes or chew on them as they are not food. Don’t allow them to chew on the wipes or swallow them.

Dedicated to Safe Pet Products

We at PawerLab are pet owners and are dedicated to creating natural pet care products that are safe for pets. Our products are tested to ensure efficacy and safety, and we will continue to hold to these high standards.