I've owned this potty for about 3 years now, purchased it direct from the manufacturer for twice this price. I know all the ups and downs by this point and would like to share them with you.
History:
Originally we used potty pads in a litter box. They were very expensive. Our male dog would miss half the time and the pee would get underneath the pad (gross). Overall a disaster.
So we bought a PupHead indoor potty. Well the grass that came with it stunk to high heaven! Not only that, it was a nightmare to clean. After that waste of money, we searched for something that would seem to make up for the PupHead's downfalls. We came across the Pet Loo.
The good:
* The design is actually better than a lot of the potties out there that don't have any kind of container to drain the pee into. The drain container is by far the nicest part of this potty and the only saving grace.
* I'm going to be honest. We don't follow the directions. We do not clean or empty this thing every day. However, we have two dogs and they fill the pee container within 4 days which is nice because that means 4 days of not having to deal with their pee.
The bad:
* When the pee container is at least 1/3 full and the dogs jump off of the potty, the pea will splash into the inside of the potty causing a headache to clean! Bad design.
* The grass is a very horrible design/quality. It has a rubber bottom with a hole here and there so the pee soaks into it and you cannot ever get the smell out after that.
* The grass bottom disintegrates after a month or so of use and wash.
* The pee container gets very gross no matter what you do.
* The plastic diversion grid under the grass becomes stained and gross.
The hard learned tips:
* Buy yourself some Glad Press and Seal plastic wrap and coat the entire pee container. Every time you empty the container, replace the plastic wrap. It keeps the container like new and it's dirt cheap compared to the plastic ones you can buy!
* If you want, you can even coat the pee grid under the grass with plastic wrap (do it like roofing a house).
* Throw away that garbage grass. Go to pupgear corp (the makers of PupHead potty) and purchase the synthetic dog grass. You'll have to cut the grass to fit the potty. IMPORTANT: Make sure it does NOT have the "Natural Attractant" because it smells WORSE than the PEE!!!
* When you do a full wash of your potty grass (from PupHead), first rinse all of the pee out of it (because it has amonia which is bad to mix with bleach) and once the water runs clear, soak it in water with bleach. The bleach will remove all smell!
* I put the potty up against the wall. I have a male dog that likes to pee against the wall as a target. I bought a sheet of plexy glass from Home Depot. They cut it to my specs. I put one edge in the potty and the other is resting against the wall. Now when he pees against the wall the pee instead hits the plexy glass and this diverts the pee into the potty instead of behind it.
This tip is not a must but might help those with dogs that have aiming problems.
* I bought a water diversion base for a clothes washer and put it under the potty. My male dog misses (they just can't aim to save their lives), sometimes he also thinks he's on the potty just because his front paws are on there and his entire back half is on the floor. If he does miss, instead of going on the floor, it goes into the water basin which is a lot easier to clean than tile (The grout acts like a channel and carries the pee all over the room). This can be found at hardware stores like Lowes or Home Depot.
I hope this helps those of you who have put forth a bit of money on this very imperfect potty system. If it does help or you have more tips, please leave comments.
I have 3 chihuahuas (2 boys and 1 girl) and I live in a condominium. Prior to the Pet Loo, they were trained to use potty pads while I'm out. This was fine when i had one chihuahua but as I added my other 2 kids, buying the pads became costly. Also, when they use the pads, they get their feet wet or the wee will flow out of the pad on to the bathroom floor. So my fiancee and I looked for an alternative and found this.
I let the dogs inspect the product first then put them on the grass. Then, I took one of the soiled pee pads and rubbed it on the grass. I then removed all the pads and placed the Pet Loo where the pads where. I put the dogs on the grass again one by one making sure they smell the pee that I rubbed on it. By the end of the day, they were using the pad to pee. It took them a 3-4 days more to figure out it was safe to poop on it too. I was so proud and happy because they love it. oh and the boys will pee on it too even if they're used to lifting their leg, they do a combination of squatting and lifting their leg.
PROS:
1. Unlike the other products like the Pet Loo, the plastic foundation is very strong. we travel with it often. it's not flimsy at all and can support the weight of a large dog.
2. It's easy to clean. other products don't have the drainage system that the pet loo has (the cabinet you can remove that contains the wee)
3. It decreases the smell. when using puppy pads, pee is left out in the open and it smells really bad if you don't get to it right away.
4. The dogs don't get their paws wet. since the wee is drained, their feet aren't soaked in it.
5. My dogs found it a no-brainer. they understood what it was, they frequently go on grass so they got it right away. just train them and praise them. don't give up!
6. It's an investment. I don't have to rely on buying pads!
7. Lessens wastage. I don't have to throw away the pads (because I'm not using them) and it lessens garbage (as well as the smell of the garbage)
CONS:
1. You have to buy a separate synthetic grass pad. You must wash the grass and it's helpful to have an extra one to put there while you're drying out the other. BUT this isn't the only reason. the Grass that comes with this order is of poor quality. it just feels like plastic (from thin plastic bags). the separate grass i got from this how ever was nicer and stronger
2. when you first buy it or clean it, the grass will shed quite frequently. I've had it for a while and there's no bald patches but for the first few times, you'll have strands of green plastic falling off
Overall, we are very happy with this product and wish we had it a long time ago. :)
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I have had this pet loo for 3months and I am fed up with this thing! It is too hard to clean and even if I use natures miracle or bleach I can still smell the urine in the synthetic grass. The synthetic grass fell apart when I was cleaning it. The pet loo does have a tray to hold the liquid but the tray is too hard to clean. I followed the full instructions on how to clean the pet loo and it didn't work. I had to purchase another synthectic grass that also fell apart. In full aspect this is a great idea but not fully thought out. It was a really expensive purchase and it worked for the first month but keeping it longer is not an option especially since we are on the go all the time. I spend to much time cleaning this system and messy! Buy the PORCH POTTY it is so easy!!!
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I love this product. When we got our puppy, we decided to indoor train him for our convenience more than his! First we tried the puppy litter box products from recycled newspaper which was a disaster. Then we used training pads...they worked really well, but it was rather nasty to look at yellow-stained pads in the house (we changed them often, but this little guy just saw that as a challenge!). Finally, we bought the Pet Loo and things turned around. It only took our little dachshund about 5 days to fully transition from potty pads to the Pet Loo. It's a great product, but you do have to commit to the maintenance.
First, you have to flush it with hot water each night to rinse out any excess urine. Then, you have to really give it a good hosing off once a week. It's really important for the pad to dry, otherwise you'll have a funky damp urine smell in the house (I should know!).
We bought a replacement pad shortly after getting the Pet Loo. Now, we use one pad all week (with nightly rinsings) and switch them on the weekend so we can wash the dirty one and let it dry before putting it back on the unit. Switching back and forth between the two pads is the best solution to keep the potty area smelling nice in the house.
This has really been a good solution for us and our puppy has never been happier!
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The "grass" is very, very poor quality. It's not grass-like at all, it is actually tied pieces of plastic and sheds easily. My dogs won't go near it. I have tried everything but they refuse to use it. I wonder if the turf was a higher grade, would my dogs use it?
My cat is a 14-year old that has seen it all, done it all. I've spent hundreds of dollars on pads, toys, motivators etc. I have enough left over feathers to rival Fredericks of Hollywood. Most get sniffed and then are ignored until I give them away. This Omegapaws Scratch 'n Massage Bed is one of a handful of items he has loved over the years, currently loves and likely always will love.
