*This is going to be very long, due to my thorough testing of various brands, but the information learned is worth it if you want to save money/save environment/save yourself a ton of trouble* Two factors that lead to my experiments with various brands of pee pads: 1.I’m poor, and I wanted to find the most economical/“bang for my buck” brand and 2. I work long hours and have two VERY large dogs that normally get taken out to potty, but are also trained to go on pee pads if nobody is home and they have to go. Let me tell you- these guys produce as much urine per pee as a large beer-drinking adult male lol. Needless to say, I’ve tried many different brands to see if they’re up to the task, and I’ve had to clean up SO many overflows, even if I do 2 or 3 layers of disposable pee pads. So far, the Simple Solution “All Day” variety (NOT the regular kind) have been the absolute best at absorbing the largest quantity of urine without leaking for their size. I’ve also done my own tests to measure the max limit of cups of water each brand can absorb, and the “All Day” pads by Simple Solution far out-absorb their competitors. I could get a full 8 cups before it started overflowing or leaking. The next best brand was Four Paws “Wee Wee Pads”, but their normal pads and their “extra absorbent” pads had VERY little difference in the actual quantity of water absorbed. 2.5-3 cups in regular vs 3.5 in the extra absorbent. Psh. But they did perform better and prevent more leaks than a bunch of other lower end pads I tried. After a few months of buying pee pads and seeing how many trash bags I filled up each week, tossing them out each day, I felt so guilty for the constant amount of plastic waste that it was producing, and I also got tired of paying for another box of pads each week! So I forayed into the world of washable pee pads. There are an endless number of brands and some are labeled for people (bedwetting children or the elderly, etc) and some labeled for pets, but as far as how they function and their absorbency, THERES NO DIFFERENCE except the ones for pets may have a cute bone pattern. (Some claim they have an attractant, but my dogs peed on whatever I put in the area they were used to having pee pads in, so I can’t verify). I tried multiple brands of reusable pads, with a wide variety of quality and absorbency (some were just complete trash) but the absolute BEST one that I found was the IMPROVIA reusable underpad. Unlike others I tried, it has special channels that wick the wetness to the outer edges, where the fabric ALLOWS THE WATER PORTION TO EVAPORATE. WTF!? I was skeptical as always, but after putting it out during the day, when I came home it almost felt dry! Not soaked and heavy like the other brands I had tried. Not only that, but it didn’t stink of pee in the house, either! It blew my mind! Now of course, it has its limits, but so far I’ve even had the dogs use it for a few days in a row before washing it, and it’s blown me away with its absorbent capabilities and the evaporation function. And after washing in the machine, it air dries in an hour (as opposed to other brands, that come out heavy and soaked and take days to air dry). I’m not a bot, nor do I get paid for any of this info (but once again, I’m poor, so hey, Improvia, if you want to send a little money my way for raving about you to every pet owner I run into, that would be great! Lol). But really, I’m just a pet owner who wants to pass on some helpful info, and also encourage others to pick something more environmentally friendly than disposable pee pads. You don’t have to be a hippie to want to help the planet that you live on- every little thing you do counts! So I say, give the reusable kind a try. If you hate them, no big deal- it’s Amazon- just return them! But you might find that they’re actually better than the disposables, and will save you so much money! And if that happens, all I say is “pass the message along”! (And mark this review as ‘helpful’ so it can be seen by more people) :D TLDR: Best disposable- Simple Solution “All Day” variety. Better option- IMPROVIA reuseable pads (last all day and then some!) Will save you hundreds of dollars in a short amount of time, and will also help the planet :)
