Biocide Plus is an EPA-registered disinfectant cleaner for kennel runs, cages, exam tables and floors. It mixes at 1 ounce per gallon of water, held visibly wet for 10 minutes — about 23¢ per mixed gallon out of the $117.88 case. Canine parvovirus and rabies are the exception: 4.5 ounces per gallon, about $1.04 a mixed gallon. That gap is the whole point. A label does not have one dilution — it has a dilution per organism, and the front panel is not the parvo rate. Here is the arithmetic, at both rates.
The short answer: about 23¢ per mixed gallon
Biocide Plus (EPA Reg. No. 10324-155-56669) is a concentrate. The 4 × 1-gallon case is $117.88 — $29.47 a gallon. The label's general rate is 1 ounce per gallon of water, held visibly wet for 10 minutes. A gallon of concentrate makes 128 mixed gallons, and $29.47 ÷ 128 is about 23¢ per mixed gallon. A case makes 512.
That rate is not a stripped-down setting. On the EPA-accepted insert it carries Bordetella bronchiseptica — kennel cough is a syndrome, not an organism, so the claim to look for on any label is Bordetella bronchiseptica itself. The same rate carries canine distemper virus (VR-128), canine coronavirus, canine influenza virus (H3N8), feline calicivirus (ATCC VR-782), Staphylococcus aureus including MRSA, Salmonella enterica, Trichophyton interdigitale (athlete's foot and ringworm fungus) and Candida albicans. Canine influenza H3N2 is not on our label — the canine influenza on it is H3N8. SARS-CoV-2 is the only two-minute row in the insert's dilution table: same ounce, same 23¢, less dwell.
The outbreak rate is a different number, and we are not going to hide it.
Canine parvovirus (CPV Type 2b) and rabies virus require 4.5 ounces per gallon, 10 minutes visibly wet. A gallon of concentrate then makes about 28 mixed gallons — 128 ÷ 4.5 = 28.4 — so $29.47 ÷ 28.4 is about $1.04 per mixed gallon. Nothing on our label at 1 ounce per gallon covers parvo. If another label claims parvo, compute from its own parvo row.
The method: price × ounces per gallon ÷ 128
There are 128 fluid ounces in a gallon, so the formula is short:
cost per mixed gallon = (price per gallon of concentrate × ounces used per gallon) ÷ 128
At the general rate: $29.47 × 1 ÷ 128 = $0.23. At the parvo rate: $29.47 × 4.5 ÷ 128 = $1.04. Same product, same jug, same day — 4.5× apart, because the organism changed.
Two places this goes wrong. People use the case price instead of the per-gallon price — divide by four first. And, more expensive, people use the front-panel dilution. The front panel is a general-use rate. The organism rows are where the real rate lives. Find the organism you are trying to control and compute from the ounces and minutes on that row. On our label every organism is at 1 ounce per gallon except two.
Biocide Plus cost per mixed gallon at every label rate
| Task | Rate | Contact time or interval | Mixed gal. per concentrate gal. | Cost per mixed gallon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daily disinfection — kennel runs, cages, kennel floors, examination tables | 1 oz / gal | 10 minutes visibly wet | 128 | about $0.23 |
| SARS-CoV-2 — lobby and counters | 1 oz / gal | 2 minutes visibly wet | 128 | about $0.23 |
| Mold and mildew control — Aspergillus niger | 1 oz / gal | 10 minutes visibly wet; reapply every 7 days | 128 | about $0.23 |
| Canine parvovirus (CPV Type 2b) and rabies virus | 4.5 oz / gal | 10 minutes visibly wet | about 28 | about $1.04 |
Rates, organisms and times from the EPA-accepted Care Biocide Plus insert; prices from carelabs.store, September 2026. Mold and mildew is a control claim, not a kill claim.
Which number belongs in a boarding kennel's budget
Both, weighted the way your building runs. A parvo or rabies protocol is an event: a suspected case, an isolation area, a defined set of surfaces, a start and an end. Daily disinfection is everything else — runs between occupants, gates, cages, exam tables, carts, floors, the lobby. Budget the work that repeats at 23¢ and carry the $1.04 as an event cost, not a run rate. And it is one jug either way — no second product, no second SOP, just a different measure.
Ten minutes visibly wet: contact time is part of the cost
Ten minutes visibly wet is the number we publish for everything on our label except SARS-CoV-2, and it costs labor. A run gate that flashes dry in three minutes has been cleaned, not disinfected — foam it or re-wet it. Foam is what buys the dwell on a vertical surface, which is why there is a foamer in the starter kit.
You will see shorter contact times on other labels. Before treating one as a saving, find the organism row and compute from the dilution printed beside it. Virox's published Rescue Concentrate reference sheet (EPA Reg. No. 74559-4), for one, lists Bordetella bronchiseptica at 1:64, 10 minutes, and at no other dilution, and directs canine parvovirus at 1:16 only, where surfaces are held visibly wet 5 minutes. Those are their own published label facts; we make no cost claim about their product. Run the arithmetic on whatever you pay. Label to label: carelabs.com/biocide-vs-rescue.html.
What the 23¢ assumes: hard, non-porous surfaces
Efficacy was established on hard, non-porous surfaces, in 400 ppm hard water calculated as CaCO3, with 5% soil present. So: pre-clean visibly soiled areas — one step means one bucket, not no preparation. Porous surfaces are outside the claim: our label carries no disinfection claim for turf, rope, bedding or unsealed wood. Food-contact surfaces — bowls, feeders, waterers — need a potable-water rinse after application. Not for use on medical device surfaces. Mix fresh daily.
The concentrate carries the signal word DANGER and is corrosive: goggles or face shield, chemical-resistant gloves and protective clothing when handling. Biocide Plus is state-registered for sale in Texas, Minnesota and Ohio only; orders from other states are refunded.
What to buy for a kennel or veterinary clinic
The 4 × 1-gallon case at $117.88 is the reorder unit and the 23¢ number. The Starter Kit is 3 gallons plus a Hydro Foamer, $162.95 with free shipping. The chemistry still mixes at 23¢ a mixed gallon; spread the kit price across its three gallons and you get about 42¢, because the foamer is inside that number. A 5-gallon pail is $145.00 — $29.00 a gallon, also about 23¢ mixed; call (800) 835-9501 for a freight quote on pails and pallets.
Full organism table, rate and contact time on every row, plus a calculator that runs this arithmetic at your own price: carelabs.com/biocide-plus/. Kennel and veterinary protocol: carelabs.com/biocide-plus-pet-facilities.html.
Kennel disinfectant cost questions
How many gallons does one gallon of Biocide Plus make?
128 at 1 ounce per gallon; about 28 at the 4.5 ounce rate canine parvovirus and rabies require. A 4 × 1-gallon case makes 512 mixed gallons at the general rate.
Does Biocide Plus at 1 ounce per gallon cover parvo?
No. On the Biocide Plus label, canine parvovirus (CPV Type 2b) appears at 4.5 ounces per gallon, 10 minutes visibly wet, and nowhere else; rabies virus is the same. Before you assume a general rate covers parvo, find the parvo row on that label and read the dilution next to it.
Does Biocide Plus work on kennel cough (Bordetella bronchiseptica)?
Kennel cough is a syndrome with several possible agents, not a single organism a label is tested against. What the Biocide Plus insert states is Bordetella bronchiseptica at 1 ounce per gallon, 10 minutes visibly wet, on hard, non-porous surfaces. Canine distemper virus, canine coronavirus and canine influenza virus (H3N8) sit at the same rate. Canine parainfluenza and canine adenovirus are not on our label.
Why does Biocide Plus need 10 minutes when other labels say 5?
Because 10 minutes is what our label states at 1 ounce per gallon, and we print what the label says. Where a label publishes a shorter time, check the dilution printed on that same row and price it. Compare the rate and the time together.
Can I buy Biocide Plus in my state?
Biocide Plus is registered for sale in Texas, Minnesota and Ohio only, today. Call (800) 835-9501 or email stevenh@carelabs.com and we will tell you honestly whether we can register in your state.
Care Labs, Inc. has manufactured cleaning and disinfection chemistry in Missouri City, Texas since 1984. Biocide Plus, EPA Reg. No. 10324-155-56669. It is a violation of Federal law to use this product in a manner inconsistent with its labeling. — Steven Hasty