Got the Tidy cats Breeze and love it!

enuja

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Originally Posted by Ms.Blackie

Well i noticed with the pad the smell was ok up to 3 days but after
that you opened the drawer and the smell was getting stronger by
5 days it stunk pretty bad in my opinion. Yes the pad does have
pad with a baby smell to it when wet but after 5 days pee is overpowering.
The tray doesn't habitually sit open, so it doesn't matter much what the tray smells like when open; it matters what the box smells like when the tray is closed. I do agree that the urine-soaked pad has a noticeable and unpleasant odor when you yank out the tray and sniff the pad after about 4 or 5 days. However, I have been waiting to change the pad until it's full, not until it smells a bit when sniffed. My cats seem to be happy with the situation, and (as long as I keep the grid up top clean), the box doesn't smell bad, even with a fairly old urine pad in it.

The pads end up only costing about $1 each, though, so they can be changed fairly often for those who'd like to do so.

How do you take a urine filled styrofoam tray out of the bottom of the Breeze without spilling it? The plastic tray doesn't slide very smoothly for me, and there isn't much space under the Breeze, so I'd be very worried about spilling urine as I cleaned it.
 

ms.blackie

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Originally Posted by Enuja

The tray doesn't habitually sit open, so it doesn't matter much what the tray smells like when open; it matters what the box smells like when the tray is closed. I do agree that the urine-soaked pad has a noticeable and unpleasant odor when you yank out the tray and sniff the pad after about 4 or 5 days. However, I have been waiting to change the pad until it's full, not until it smells a bit when sniffed. My cats seem to be happy with the situation, and (as long as I keep the grid up top clean), the box doesn't smell bad, even with a fairly old urine pad in it.

The pads end up only costing about $1 each, though, so they can be changed fairly often for those who'd like to do so.

How do you take a urine filled styrofoam tray out of the bottom of the Breeze without spilling it? The plastic tray doesn't slide very smoothly for me, and there isn't much space under the Breeze, so I'd be very worried about spilling urine as I cleaned it.
I empty the urine 2x per day so that is usually like 3 pees each time,
so its not to full, I would not be able to empty 1x per day, it would
get to full with current tray. My tray system takes some care
and you could dump into another container right at the box before carrying
if necessary. My tray comes out with care and little jigger but not too hard.
I might try the pads again for a week and turn the pad in 3-4 days
for the 1 week change and see how it goes again and maybe go back and
forth with tray 1 week and pad next. I'm just playing with it to see
what works the best for me and my cat. I was just letting people know
the tray thing can work on collecting pee since cats only pee in one spot.
How often are you cleaning grid and with what? I wiped it off
at 7 days with paper towel and soap/water on end she pees on.
How often are you replacing pellets? I was going to replace pelllets every 14 days, they stink at 10 days, I added some baking soda / A&H litter treatment to help to make it to 14. No way going to 30 days.
Anyone washing those pellets, how did it go?
 

enuja

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Other people who use the Breeze: How often do you change the pellets?

As I said before, I changed the pellets in one box, with no washing, after about 3.5 months, and that was too long. I've rinsed the pellets in the other box, but they don't use that box nearly as much for urine.

I transitioned from Yesterday's News, which gets positively rank after a week (because it's not scoopable) so the Breeze, even the way I've been treating it, is comparatively odorless. I don't see my cats using the box with the newer urine pad more often than the box with the soiled urine pad, so it doesn't seem to bother them, either.

Originally Posted by Enuja

It sounds like your cat is transitioning very, very quickly! Don't worry if it takes a while for her to use the box for #2; it sounds like she's going to transition very well indeed.

I just replaced the pellets for the first time (I started transitioning to the system in mid-May, so that's three and a half months), and that was too long. Just a few days before I switched the pellets, the Breeze had started to smell; when I took out the old pellets (and I needed to sacrifice a chopstick to get some fractured pellet pieces out of the grate) I found quite a bit of dried urine on the sloped plastic around the grate.

I'd say you should simply sniff the Breeze once a week when you change the urine pad, and wash it off (even without changing the pellets) if it smells of urine. I rinsed my whole home-made Breeze + pellets, and, while the pellets take some time to dry completely (like, a day) there isn't anything wrong with them slightly wet. So you could remove pellets, rinse litter box, and replace the pellets, or simply rinse the whole thing. Just follow your nose (and your cat's behavior).

I'll probably end up washing my breeze once a month and changing the pellets once every two months.
 

enuja

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Update on pellets: washing does not appear to work. I'd rinsed them them in past, but the pellets weren't really dirty at the time; they were just mixed up with Yesterday's News. I guess because old pellets are saturated with urine, washing does not make them smell any better. Maybe soaking does, maybe steam cleaning does, but I don't think I'm going to try washing them again; it seemed to have absolutely no effect.
 

jaycee

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Originally Posted by Enuja

Update on pellets: washing does not appear to work. I'd rinsed them them in past, but the pellets weren't really dirty at the time; they were just mixed up with Yesterday's News. I guess because old pellets are saturated with urine, washing does not make them smell any better. Maybe soaking does, maybe steam cleaning does, but I don't think I'm going to try washing them again; it seemed to have absolutely no effect.
Hasn't worked for me either.
 

ms.blackie

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I also washed them in Baking soda & vinegar. Still stinks, urine stinky.
Maybe I could try Natures Miracle or a similar product. I would
only be able to do this when weather is good anyway, not winter.
I'm not sure if its worth it. I am putting down new pellets every 2 weeks schedule at this time.
 

magnoliachat

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After reading this thread and doing a lot of research, I went and got one. It has been 3 days and I LOVE IT. I don't mind buying the pellets weekly, if needed. I show and breed cats, so I have a full cattery. I am going to gradually replace all litter boxes with this. I scooped poop out of it this morning and was so happy. The pellet dry out the poop and it was SO easy. Man, if I can replace all the litter boxes in my cattery, I am going to be one happy guy!

I do have one question, though. I am a little nervous about kittens and if it will work. They have tiny little poops when they first learn to use it, so I don't know if it will work for their poop or not. I will find out soon, since I have 3 that are 8 days old. In a couple of weeks, I should know the answer.
 

nekochan

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I have 3 cats and I've been changing the pellets about every 2-3 weeks. Sometimes if they don't smell TOO much I will sprinkle them with litter deodorizing powder and wait a little longer. I have to replace the pad part more than once a week or it will be soaked through the bottom (yuck!)
The nice thing is though even at first when I tried changing the pad once a week and it was completely soaked, I couldn't smell the litterbox!
 

cmedeiros17

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I love the concept of this box, although there could be some small improvements. But of course they wont do it. I really need either a completely covered box or the sides to be higher. One of my males is a high pee-er lol. So it goes right over the edge and smack against the wall and then travels down to make a nice smelly pool on the floor. I've actually been taping a pad to the wall to help absorb it, but it reeks fairly quickly and it does not look good. If anyone has modified their box because of this problem I would love to know what you did!
Otherwise, I really love that there is no tracking of litter and besides my high pee-er making odor, there is no odor issues from the box itself. I really like it and will be sad if I have to go back to a covered box with the old litter bleh!
 

magnoliachat

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Originally Posted by cmedeiros17

I love the concept of this box, although there could be some small improvements. But of course they wont do it. I really need either a completely covered box or the sides to be higher. One of my males is a high pee-er lol. So it goes right over the edge and smack against the wall and then travels down to make a nice smelly pool on the floor. I've actually been taping a pad to the wall to help absorb it, but it reeks fairly quickly and it does not look good. If anyone has modified their box because of this problem I would love to know what you did!
Otherwise, I really love that there is no tracking of litter and besides my high pee-er making odor, there is no odor issues from the box itself. I really like it and will be sad if I have to go back to a covered box with the old litter bleh!
Man, it is so strange that you posted this. I run a Yahoo group and have been testing this box out for all of them. I am replacing one box with The Breeze every 2 weeks. I JUST gave my 3rd report at about the same time you were typing your post.

I LOVE this thing. I have replaced 2 boxes so far with no trouble. I have a cattery, so it will be a while before they are all replaced. I haven't got to my problem male yet, though. He is so dirty that I had to buy him a big rubbermade box and cut off half the lid, so that he didn't dump his litter all over the place and pee on it. I am very curious as to how he will adapt. He has never liked stepping in the litter. He balances himself around the rim and pees in it from up there. It is pretty amazing to watch him do that. He then will stick one foot in to cover it, while continuing to balance on the other three legs. With that one foot, though, he can throw litter a mile away - that is why he has the rubbermade big box now. He won't do a covered box, because it is harder to walk around the rim and balance himself.

So, he will be a big test. I am wondering if I will have to modify it for him.

Otherwise, MAN I LOVE THIS THING! I have absolutely no odor. I scoop the poop once a day and it is so easy, because it is dried out from the pellets. I haven't reached the one month term on the pellets yet, though. Is anyone going longer than a month?
 

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Hi Everyone!

I was searching for info on the Tidy Cats Breeze system and came across this site. After reading all the posts, I ran right out and bought one tonight. Granted it's only been about 3 hours - but I THINK I LOVE IT! Many people love it, some say their cats won't adapt easily. However, one of my cats (not sure which, probably Mooshi, the laid back one) had already peed in it within 15 minutes of putting it next to the old box!!! Then much to my surprise I went back out to check a little while ago and there was a nice healthy pile of #2 in there as well! I think this is going to be such a relief! My cats are very wierd and tend to pee along the walls of the litter box which makes scooping nearly impossible and makes the boxes STINK FAST! If I can keep the urine away I think it's going to be fantastic - thanks so much for all the great info! I'll check back in and see if I can get both cats to adjust!
 

critterlover723

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Well, I followed all of the instructions and, after 4 weeks, my 4 cats just won't use it. I set it up next to their favorite litter box and put some of the clumping litter in the Breeze (so it would have the scent). My kitten laid in it once, but that was all; the other 3 just continued to use the other box. I even tried, after 2 weeks, taking away the other litter box...They just went in the other 2 litter boxes and totally ignored the Breeze.

I'm back to all 4 litter boxes w/clumping litter unless one of you guys has any other suggestions. If not, I guess I'll sell the Breeze on eBay.
 

magnoliachat

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Originally Posted by critterlover723

Well, I followed all of the instructions and, after 4 weeks, my 4 cats just won't use it. I set it up next to their favorite litter box and put some of the clumping litter in the Breeze (so it would have the scent). My kitten laid in it once, but that was all; the other 3 just continued to use the other box. I even tried, after 2 weeks, taking away the other litter box...They just went in the other 2 litter boxes and totally ignored the Breeze.

I'm back to all 4 litter boxes w/clumping litter unless one of you guys has any other suggestions. If not, I guess I'll sell the Breeze on eBay.
Try closing them up in the bathroom for one day with no other choice but to use The Breeze. I had to do that with 2 of mine. Once they used it, they haven't stopped - even though I put it back where the old litter box was. I took up the old one completely.
 

enuja

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My cats had no idea what the Breeze was for until I had slowly added a fairly large amount of the Breeze pellets to my old box. It takes a lot of pellets, and they aren't cheap, but it is very likely to work. I would try to avoid locking them in a bathroom, myself. Just keep adding pellets to your old box, a cup or two every other day or so.
 

magnoliachat

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Originally Posted by Enuja

My cats had no idea what the Breeze was for until I had slowly added a fairly large amount of the Breeze pellets to my old box. It takes a lot of pellets, and they aren't cheap, but it is very likely to work. I would try to avoid locking them in a bathroom, myself. Just keep adding pellets to your old box, a cup or two every other day or so.
It just took one day on my two most stubborn cats in the bathroom while I was at work. By the time I got home, they had both used the Breeze. I then put the Breeze back where there old litter box was and took the old one away. That was all it took as was 3 weeks ago. No problem since then.
 

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I started the "great Breeze experiment" last week with Stan. He has a tendancy to dig all the way to the bottom of the box, pee, and then cover. The problem is that he 1) makes a nasty wide puddle clump instead of a nice pee ball and 2) he tends to drag his butt/foot across the puddle and track it out of the box


DH suggested that we try something with a bottom that drains. So far he uses the box to pee --neither use it to poo, but I don't intend to totally discontinue the traditional boxes, so I'll be happy if he never poos in the breeze...one week down.
 
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mzjazz2u

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Originally Posted by JellyBella

I started the "great Breeze experiment" last week with Stan. He has a tendancy to dig all the way to the bottom of the box, pee, and then cover. The problem is that he 1) makes a nasty wide puddle clump instead of a nice pee ball and 2) he tends to drag his butt/foot across the puddle and track it out of the box


DH suggested that we try something with a bottom that drains. So far he uses the box to pee --neither use it to poo, but I don't intend to totally discontinue the traditional boxes, so I'll be happy if he never poos in the breeze...one week down.
It took mine a long time to start using it regularly to poo. But I'm with you.... I'd be happy even if mine only used it to pee.
 

ms.blackie

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Hi, Mine used the breeze for solid week and half for #1 only, using the
old box to do the #2. Like you folks, not too bad a deal for the owner.
Once I removed the old box she has no problem
doing the #2. She does like to cover like digging to China, with pellets
not so easy. When I hear digging to China and I am home and I just remove
the#2 for her. Good till next day. HaHa. Happy user of the breeze for
more then 3 months.


Brenda
 
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