Litter Box/tray For Dogs?

[Roquen]

Hi all,

Ok, so I want to know if anyone here has successfully used an indoor litter box/toilet for their dogs? If so, which one and how much was it?

I'd love to be able to get my 2 doggies something to use inside, as its sometimes hard to get them outside when they need to go, ie tonight when there is bad rain/storm coming :-)

Any suggestions/thoughts?

Thanks!

[Garloch]

Hi Roquen,

Don't know just how much use this reply will be, but when my bitch is in heat, she is locked up safe, and thats always inside the puppy palace, completely seperate from my other animals. She has a "tray" that I clip puppy wee pads inside, and this is what she uses. I think it came from K-Mart and was about $15. Take out the wee pads, wash the plastic tray and start again! Not an indoor toilet as such - but it works for us.

I've seen the indoor toilet advertised in mags and they are a plastic box lined with some fake grass (over a slightly raised closely meshed platform that a pup cant get a foot stuck in, and it must be very stable as a pup won't walk on anything wobbly). The idea is that any wee drains thru the plastic grass, the poo stays on top, and the whole lot is very easily washed and hygenic. About $300 was the price I saw, but if you are handy and have a hankering to go to Bunnings, you could make one fairly easily, as long as you can find a suitable height and sized plastic tray.

I think I remember a thread fairly recently about toilets, so if you put "indoor toilet" into the search box, you might just get a thread pop up. Hope this helps, Goodluck with your search.

Garloch

[Freckles]

the pet loo not sure how much you are willing to spend but have a look at this set up roquen. There are a few places near you that stock them too.

[Poodle wrangler]

My dogs are used to going outside and the younger is 6 months, so still remembers what "wee wee" (as in now) means :p . I just towel them off a bit when they come back in after rain++.

I think it's preferable to teach them to go outside ASAP. It means going back to rewarding them for peeing on cue, much as you do when toilet training pups.

[Falling_dawn]

I have a clip mat thing cant remember what its called but got it at pet stock 20$ you clip the mats into it only problem is mats are expensive if you use them alot

[Roquen]

My dogs are completely housetrained - its not that they don't know they need to go out, its that I go out a lot and on pouring wet freezing days it would be nice if they could stay in and not have to wait for me to let them out :-)

Thanks for the suggestions so far, will look into it :-)

[Angel Dust]

My dogs are completely housetrained - its not that they don't know they need to go out, its that I go out a lot and on pouring wet freezing days it would be nice if they could stay in and not have to wait for me to let them out :-)

Thanks for the suggestions so far, will look into it :-)

Hi I also wanted an indoor doggie toilet, but I was not prepared to pay $399 for one of those fancy ones mentioned above.....they look great, but way too expensive.....So, on with the thinking cap....my solution was a $15 plastic crate from the Reject shop,the type that slides under the bed. It is just the right height for my fluffies. I put newspaper in it and change it each time it is used....Problem solved and money still in my pocket.....My Fluffies use it daily. :p

[mita]

I haven't done it yet.....but I've been considering training the small dogs to use something like a very large kitty litter tray.

I'd like to find a really big but shallow tray (that I'd put on a plastic tarp from the El Cheapo shop). Then I'd fill that tray with something like Breeders Choice kitty litter, which is composed of soft papery pellets.

I've heard of other people doing something similar, but using artificial turf on the top, instead of kitty litter. Can be bought by the metre at places like Bunnings & easily hosed off.

[TigerJack]

Petloos are very expensive and I have made my own using the offcuts from when I had the back yard done in fake grass. There have been posts on this a few times in the last couple of months and I described how I made it there. Do a search and see if you can find it, otherwise ask again and I'll tell you what I did again.

Jo

[DistinctivelyTish]

I was looking into the PetLoo for my pup as we live in an apartment. However, I can't justify $400 for one! I began thinking about alternatives, like making my own petloo. I ended up trying to grow grass in large trays on the balcony, lol. In the meantime, I'm using crystallized kitty litter (it seems like it absorbs things quicker) in a large shallow container I picked up from Big W for $6. Morgan tried digging at first, but she knows the "toilet" command, so it didn't take long for her to use it solely for that purpose. It's located outside on the balcony, so she just heads over to the door everytime she needs to go (I have it shut in winter, it's too cold to leave it open now!). I was using newspaper and pee pads before the kitty litter but newspaper doesn't absorb very well and pee pads are a bit pricey over the long run.

[montall]

I use one of those K Mart specials. The one with the tray that you clip pads into but I use newspaper in the tray instead. It's cheaper and they don't rip it up if I clip it in properly. I just put it out at night in case they don't hang on until I get up to them and sometimes they use it and other times not. Mostly they go outside, unless it's raining. My girl was trained to use newspaper by the previous owners so that helps a bit, she is comfortable with the tray. At first I just put paper down by itself and they would rip it to pieces, had great fun. The tray seems to put a stop to that.

[deltron]

Petloos are very expensive and I have made my own using the offcuts from when I had the back yard done in fake grass. There have been posts on this a few times in the last couple of months and I described how I made it there. Do a search and see if you can find it, otherwise ask again and I'll tell you what I did again.

Jo

Hi TigerJack, could you post the link? I tried a search but there are so many euphemisms for toilet that I couldn't find your post!

I am thinking of making my own doogie toilet now! I sketched out a plan and everything.

It involves an underbed storage container: and then drilling a heap of holes in the top for drainage, and then covering the top with synthetic grass.

I've got a container similar to the one in the picture at home, except mine is nicer and has wheels. The lid seems sturdy enough to take a small dog's weight and also has corrugations so hopefully the pee would settle in them and then drain down the drilled holes into the container. The bottom of the container would collect the pee, and could be lined with training pads.

Edited June 20, 2007 by deltron

[DistinctivelyTish]

Deltron, count me in for the experiment! lol. I think I will have to give up on ever getting the grass to grow to desired thickness. Where would you get the synthetic grass?

[deltron]

Deltron, count me in for the experiment! lol. I think I will have to give up on ever getting the grass to grow to desired thickness. Where would you get the synthetic grass?

I'm pretty sure that Bunnings sells it by the metre. I remember them advertising it as a drought proof alternative to lawn for backyards!

I'm going to try making this on Friday. I love making stuff.

[Falling_dawn]

totaly off topic but Charlie looks so cute

[havahug]

Hi TigerJack, could you post the link? I tried a search but there are so many euphemisms for toilet that I couldn't find your post!

Deltron i found it. Search for doggy toilet

Edited June 21, 2007 by havahug

[havahug]

Couldn't find it when i went to check again so I copied it. so here it is

I have my own DIY version of a petloo. They are vastly overpriced in my opinion. I have toy dogs that live almost exclusively indoors and they toilet either on a towel mat on the bathroom floor or else on my home made petloo. I had my back yard done over with fake grass so I kept the off cuts when they were done installing it. I have a large plastic tray and I line it with a couple of old towels and lay the fake grass on top. The dogs toilet on this, no problems. Every day, replace the towels and about every third day I put the whole piece of fake grass through the washing machine and put down a new piece and disinfect the tray and start over.My washing line must be the only one around with grass hanging on it to dry. You can now buy the fake grass material by the metre at Bunnnings. I checked it out and it is exactly the same. Buy half a metre and cut it into smaller bits. When I saw it, a metre was $35. You don't need too much as it is very wide. That cost plus a plastic tray and a few old towels is way less that the cost of a petloo and does the job better.The petloo works by having waste run into a reservoir below the grass which you have to tip out daily. I prefer using towels to absorb the urine as it is less mess, no risk of spilling it on your shoes when emptying and you simply toss the towels into the laundry. I watched a petloo being demonstrated once and the sales person said you just have to rinse the fake grass daily and it never smelled. Don't you believe it! It will stink of stale urine in about a week, even with daily rinsing. In my opinion, you need to keep your grass pieces small enough to fold in half and put through the washing machine. (You lose a few tufts but not many.)I do get some raised eyebrows the first time visitors find a lawn in my bathroom. When I have just laid out a fresh, clean lawn piece for a loo, I often find my big ridgeback cross curled up on it asleep. he thinks it should be a bed.

Thou i would probably use newspaper myself under the grass

Cheers

[Lynlovesdogs]

how much does it cost when u make ur own?

[Clyde]

I haven't done it yet.....but I've been considering training the small dogs to use something like a very large kitty litter tray.

I'd like to find a really big but shallow tray (

Mita, try a kitchen/catering suppliers warehous for a large shallow oven tray.

The artificial turf can get quite smelly.

[DistinctivelyTish]

I never thought it'd be OK to go through the washing machine. Thanks for the suggestions!