Depends what has happened.... I only clean them when bad things have happened in there, usually with Pinesol but not when the dog is close by as it is not that healthy. Make sure you rinse well and they can't get to the suds.

 

I normally clean it when she goes outside and tracks mud in with her muddy paw prints are all over the mat then she will lay on the muddy mat like its nothing and then that's results into a bath

 

I use a magic eraser and just climb into the vari kennel. Seems to do a good job. When it starts looking nasty or after a bath.

 

I use Simple Green, and rinse well, air dry....then we're good to go.

 

Were do you buy simple green from ?

 

Vinegar diluted with water and air dry

 

A bucket of soapy water and a scrub brush is an excellent way to mechanically clean a crate. Adding some laundry borax to the bucket of hot soapy water is even better. This won't disinfect, but it will clean -- and that's all that may be needed for a crate used by the same healthy dog. The borax also deodorizes (removing doggie smells).

In crates used by foster dogs, I do a scrubbing, but after that we also spray a 10% bleach solution and let it sit on the crate surfaces. This is for decontamination purposes, since they tend to come out of shelters with all sorts of viral and bacterial crud (kennel cough, etc.). After the bleach has had time to work, we rinse and air dry in the sunshine.

ETA: you mentioned "dog crate mat," OP -- I think a lot of us are assuming that you mean the black plastic crate pan in the bottom? If you are talking about a soft cloth mat, I'd follow label directions regarding laundering. If the cover (or whole thing) is washable, I wash all my dog bedding in hot water with laundry detergent and a scoop of Oxyclean, and I dry on "high heat" to make sure any invisible critters (dust mites, etc.) get killed. If it has a rank doggie odor, laundry borax is your friend -- follow box directions to add to the load or do a pre-soak. I'm about to do that with a comforter that a shelter dog with a bad infection was wrapped in when I pulled him--the comforter still stinks of infection after being washed, so it's going in a laundry sink of borax solution to get the smell out.

 

Most places around here carry Simple Green, Ace Hardware, Home Depot have it, Not sure about Kmart or WalMart. Sure you could get it onlne.