A320
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Time Pressure; Communication Breakdown; Physiological - Other
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Hazardous Material Violation; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Smoke / Fire / Fumes / Odor
General Flight Cancelled / Delayed; General Release Refused / Aircraft Not Accepted
Environment - Non Weather Related; Company Policy
Inbound aircraft to make up our flight had a companion dog that vomited and defecated multiple times. Stench quickly traveled throughout aircraft. Dog defecated in jetway as it was deplaning. Cleaners attempted to disinfect and cleanup the problem. When my crew boarded the aircraft; the fumes from the cleaning fluid were very intense. Flight Attendant thought she was getting a headache from the odors. My evaluation of the situation was that the fumes were way too strong to allow passenger operations. The cleaners had used a cleaning product called 'Aero Clean X-200.' The label on the bottle says in part; 'Vapors may cause central nervous system depression; headache; and dizziness...' I had to refuse the airplane for passenger operations. While all along the company kept lying to me saying there were no other aircraft available in a maintenance base and major hub; at night with multiple overnight airplanes. When I refused the airplane; amazingly there was another airplane available. Unnecessary 2 hour delay.
A Companion Dog on an A320 became ill and loose boweled; requiring a potentially toxic cleaning agent to clean up. The crew refused aircraft for flight because of fumes.