A commercial kennel run with a concrete floor and a floor drain after cleaning.

Kennel Run and Turf Odor: What to Mix, How Long, What ZAPS IT Costs

September 18, 2026

For kennel runs and an artificial-turf potty yard at a boarding facility, mix ZAPS IT™ at about 12–14 oz per gallon (1:9) while you bring the area under control, apply it at closing as a coarse wet spray after normal cleaning, and let it air-dry overnight. Once it reads clean, hold at 4 oz per gallon (1:32) — about $0.70 per mixed gallon from the $89.29 case.

ZAPS IT™ is a Care Labs concentrate of bio-active beneficial strains with protease and amylase enzymes — an enzyme and bacteria odor eliminator, not a disinfectant. The label says those strains degrade organic wastes and digest residues of urine, feces, vomit, blood and food wastes, eliminating the source of persistent odors. It is not EPA-registered and makes no kill claim.

Why kennel run and turf odor comes back two days after you clean

Odor is not in the air; it comes off organic residue that worked down past the surface you cleaned. On turf the urine runs past the pile into the backing and infill; on concrete it soaks into the pores, the grout lines and the cove joint. A hose-down never reaches it. That is why a yard reads fine on a cool morning and smells again on a hot afternoon.

What to mix, and the cost per gallon at each rate

The label sets the outer limit: ZAPS IT™ may be diluted up to 1:32 for economy in large areas. Our guidance is a progression inside it.

Full strength on source spots — the accident, the post base, the drain collar. Straight from the jug: a treated gallon costs $36.99, or $22.32 from the case.
About 12–14 oz per gallon (1:9) to bring an area under control. Care Labs guidance — where we tell a boarding yard to start. Exactly 1:9 is 12.8 oz per gallon; crews pour a generous 12–14, so one concentrate gallon makes 9–10 mixed gallons — about $3.70 to $4.11 each from a single jug, $2.23 to $2.48 from the case.
4 oz per gallon (1:32) once it reads clean — the label's economy maximum. $1.16 a mixed gallon from a single jug, $0.70 from the $89.29 case.

Ratios are written the way the label writes them — a dilution factor, not parts of water. 1:32 means about 4 oz of concentrate per gallon of water, so one concentrate gallon makes about 32 gallons of working solution ($22.32 a gallon ÷ 32 = $0.70).

Artificial turf and potty yards

Scoop the yard; the label says remove solid waste first. Then your normal cleaning — ZAPS IT™ goes on after it, never instead of it.
Shake the jug — "Shake Well Before Use" is on the label; the actives settle.
Mix at about 12–14 oz per gallon while you bring the yard under control. If you need that rate exactly, measure it into a tank or bucket — a hose-end unit will not meter it. A Hydro Sprayer tip meters the leaner rates: yellow 2 oz/gal, green 4 oz/gal (the 1:32 rate), white 8 oz/gal; with no tip it still dilutes, at its strongest metered rate, which is what we use on heavy areas. Sprayer, not foamer.
The label is explicit: "Do not mist into the air. Apply only in a coarse wet spray." No fogger, no pressure washer. Wet the pile until liquid reaches the backing and infill.
Step the borders up: corners, post bases, the fence line and gravel or decking edges take more traffic. Full strength on any spot still reading after two nights.
Do it at closing. No rinse.

Concrete kennel runs

Same product, one extra step. Strip the run, remove solids, do your normal detergent clean, and if your protocol includes an EPA-registered disinfectant, run that step per its own label and let it finish. Never layer ZAPS IT™ wet-on-wet over fresh disinfectant: you are asking a bio-active product to survive in a solution designed to end bio-activity. Squeegee standing water to the drain; damp, not flooded.

Cover the field, then hit what a mop never reaches: grout lines, the cove base joint, door tracks, cage-bank pan lips and seams, the drain collar. Leave it wet. On a ward with history, run the heavy rate nightly for a week before you judge it.

What ZAPS IT™ will not do. It will not disinfect or sanitize and carries no kill claim: it is not EPA-registered, and does not address parvo, kennel cough or anything infectious. The label prohibits misting it into the air, so it works only where the liquid lands. It will not reach residue deeper than your application soaks, does not replace picking up solids, and will not fix a drainage failure or a slab pulling moisture from below.

Parvo and Bordetella are a different product: Biocide Plus

Pathogen control is a separate product, used in sequence. Care Labs' registered disinfectant is Biocide Plus (EPA Reg. No. 10324-155-56669), state-registered in Texas, Minnesota and Ohio only. Its EPA-accepted insert lists Bordetella bronchiseptica at 1 oz per gallon, 10 minutes visibly wet, and canine parvovirus (CPV type 2b) at 4.5 oz per gallon, 10 minutes — a different rate for a different organism. Both rates are on hard, non-porous surfaces, established in 400 ppm hard water with a 5% soil load. At $117.88 a case ($29.47 a gallon) that is about $0.23 per mixed gallon at 1 oz, about $1.04 at the 4.5 oz parvo rate. The concentrate carries the signal word DANGER; the label directs a potable-water rinse on hard, non-porous food-contact surfaces — bowls, feeders and waterers — after application, and states the product is not for use on medical device surfaces. See the animal-facility organism table on our Biocide Plus page for pet facilities. On a kennel floor: clean, disinfect, then ZAPS IT at close.

How long do I leave it on?

Leave ZAPS IT™ on kennel runs and turf overnight, undisturbed. Apply at closing, let it air-dry, bring the animals back in the morning. That is efficacy timing, not a safety re-entry hold: no ZAPS IT label, SDS or datasheet states a re-entry interval. A bio-active product needs undisturbed hours on a wet surface; nobody has to stay out.

Will it hurt the turf, the backing or the infill?

We have no turf-manufacturer compatibility testing on file, so follow the label's rule: ZAPS IT™ is for surfaces not harmed by water, and you pre-test fabric and carpets for colorfastness. Test a hidden square foot at your working rate, let it dry, look at it in daylight. The SDS gives the concentrate a pH of 7.0 to 8.0; the test square matters more than any number we publish.

Do I have to rinse it off?

No — ZAPS IT™ is not rinsed off after odor work. Apply after normal cleaning, saturate, let it air-dry. Stains are a different sequence: saturate, allow ample contact time, agitate, rinse and blot. Once the odor is gone, clean the area to remove ZAPS IT residue before heavy use.

How much will one yard take?

We publish no square-foot coverage figure, and you should be suspicious of one — it depends on pile height, infill and compaction. Measure it once: mix a gallon of solution, spray until the pile is visibly saturated, note how far it went. That number is yours from then on.