What ppm Actually Matters in a Pet HOCl Spray?
Shop for a hypochlorous acid product and you'll drown in numbers: 100 ppm, 180 ppm, 500 ppm, one brand shouting a bigger number than the next. It looks like a horsepower race. It isn't, and understanding why will make you a sharper judge of every bottle in the category, including ours.
The short answer
For pet cleansing products, HOCl concentrations in the low hundreds of ppm are the established norm, gentle enough for daily use on skin an animal will lick, while still doing the cleansing work you bought it for. But ppm on the label only tells you what was in the bottle on the day it was made. HOCl degrades over time, so the number that actually matters is the concentration months later, sitting on your shelf, which is why stability testing, packaging, and a stated shelf life tell you more about a product than the size of its headline number.
What ppm even means
Parts per million, how many units of hypochlorous acid exist per million units of solution. At 200 ppm, a bottle is 99.98% water and salt. That sounds like almost nothing, and that's the point: HOCl is effective at low concentrations, which is exactly what you want for a product that touches skin, fur, faces, and, inevitably, tongues.
For orientation, the broader HOCl world spans a huge range: human skincare mists run low, wound-irrigation products used in clinical settings sit in the low-to-mid hundreds, and industrial surface applications go far higher. Pet cleansing products cluster in the low hundreds because the job, lifting grime, wax, and odor buildup from skin and coat, doesn't require more, and the daily-use, lick-safe design constraint rewards restraint.
Why "more ppm" isn't "better"
Three reasons the horsepower race is the wrong frame:
1. The job defines the dose. A cleansing wipe-down isn't industrial sanitation. Past the concentration that does the cleansing job, extra ppm buys you nothing except a stronger chlorine note and a harsher product profile, on a formula that's supposed to be the gentle option.
2. The number decays anyway. HOCl is a famously unstable molecule. Light, heat, air exposure, and time all push it back toward plain salt water. A bottle that started at an impressive number and degraded is just expensive saline with good branding. This is the quiet scandal of the category: the label states day-one chemistry, and almost nobody talks about month-six chemistry.
3. Purity beats potency. What else is in the bottle matters more than the headline number. Real HOCl is water + salt + HOCl, full stop. Added fragrance, preservatives, or botanicals reintroduce exactly the irritation and lick-risk questions HOCl exists to avoid. A modest ppm with a clean ingredient list outclasses a big number with additives.
How to read a label like a chemist
Five things, in order of how much they tell you:
- Is a ppm stated at all? No number usually means no measurement.
- Is the pH stated? Skin-neutral pH (roughly 5–7) is what separates true HOCl from bleach-family chemistry. This is the single most important line on the label.
- Is there a shelf life or stability claim? A maker who has solved degradation says so, with a timeframe. Burrow Made's formula tests full-strength 18 months in, and we consider that the real spec, not the day-one number.
- What's the full ingredient list? Should be short enough to memorize.
- What's the packaging? Opaque bottles protect HOCl from light. A clear bottle of HOCl is a countdown timer.
We put all five answers for our own products right on the label: 200 ppm, pH-balanced, water + salt + HOCl and nothing else, in opaque bottles, stability-tested to stay full-strength 18 months in. We'd genuinely encourage you to ask every brand you consider for the same five answers, and to be suspicious of any label that goes quiet.
FAQ
What ppm is Burrow Made? 200 ppm, printed on the label alongside the pH balance and shelf life, because a number you can check beats a number in an ad. It sits right in the established range for daily-use, lick-safe pet cleansing.
Is higher ppm dangerous for pets? Products across the pet range are formulated to be skin-safe. The practical issues with chasing high numbers are harsher product character, stronger chlorine smell, and no added benefit for a cleansing use case.
Does ppm change after I open the bottle? Every exposure to air and light nudges HOCl toward degradation, which is why packaging and stability engineering matter. Store bottles closed, out of direct sun, and respect the shelf life.
How can I tell if my HOCl product has degraded? You mostly can't at home, that's the honest answer, and it's why a stated shelf life from stability testing is the trustworthy proxy. A product past its date hasn't become unsafe; it's just become salt water.
Why do brands advertise such different numbers? Different intended uses, different marketing instincts, and, frankly, an unregulated numbers race. Anchor on pH, purity, and stability first; ppm claims only mean something in that context.
Burrow Made Everyday Mist and Rescue Gel are gentle, lick-safe cleansing products, not medications. Ingredient information here is education about the HOCl category, not a claim about treating any condition.