Patent ID: 7867510

Claim:
An article for application to the body of an animal to provide both absorbency and antimicrobial activity comprising: a water absorbent material comprising a superabsorbent polymer; and a reactive composition comprising at least two separate particles as a first particle of a first composition of CuSO 4 and a second particle of a second composition of KI, the composition of the first particle and the composition of the second particle reacting with each other in the presence of water to produce molecular iodine each of the particles of the first composition being physically separated from all particles of the second composition, each of the particles of the first composition being physically dispersed with all particles of the second composition within the water absorbent material comprising a superabsorbent polymer so that application of water equal to 100% by weight of the reactive composition to the article will cause the at least two separate particles to by carried by the water and react with each other; the reactive composition providing a local concentration of at least 10 parts per million iodine in water carried by the material when the material has 5% by weight of water present in the water absorbent with respect to the total weight of the water absorbent material.