Sometimes dogs or cats need an indoor place to go potty. You might be house training a baby kitten or puppy, getting an outdoor cat used to being and going potty indoors, or perhaps you have an elderly very-housebroken pet who won’t use pee pads and isn’t making it quickly enough to the outside. There are many great reasons you might need an indoor live-grass potty to help keep you and your pet healthy and happy! There are pre-made fake grass indoor pet potties you can purchase, but some pets won’t use them or pet pee pads either. In big cities, there are even live-grass pet potty delivery services! But if you only have an occasional need or don’t have (or can’t afford) a grass delivery service, you can make a Do It Yourself grass potty area using some inexpensive items. Here’s how:
- Get the grass! The grass will be one piece of sod that is used for making new lawns. Try your local nursery, big box home improvement store, or garden supply store. Some only get sod deliveries on certain days. In some climates, local stores may not have sod available year-round, so you may need to mail-order from online.
- Measure your sod, and decide on the size you need for your pet’s potty. For a small dog or cat, approximately 22″ x 16″ is a good size. From where I get my sod, the one you see in the photo above, that’s half of one piece. Each piece of sod costs me $2.16.
- For a hard surface area like a tile floor, first put down a layer of pet pee pads that is just slightly larger than your piece of sod. The pee pads I have right now are 20″x 22″ and my pets that are using it have small bladders. If you have a more prolific pee-er, you might want to extend the potty pads farther out using more than one pad. The pee pads are to catch any overflow from the next layer. You can also try the pan method…CARPET: If you have carpet, you may want to add a 3rd waterproof layer: a pan. The pan should have the lowest lip possible, like 1/2″ or 1″. It can be difficult to find a pan the right size if you’re using a bigger piece of sod, but ask in your hardware store for a “refrigerator pan” or you can find pet potty pee pans online.
- Next, on top of the pee pad, layer a garbage bag that is at least as big as the piece of sod, but not bigger than your potty pad. The garbage bag helps prevent the potty pads from wicking all the moisture out of the sod’s dirt.
- On top of the garbage bag, put the sod. That’s it, you’ve made your indoor grass pet potty! In my testing, my former outdoor cat went and instantly used the grass! I’ve had it in my bathroom for almost week, and it is time to replace it — I can just now start to smell the cat pee smell. How often you’ll need to replace the sod will depend on how often your pet uses her new indoor grass pet potty.