Bissell Pet Stain Eraser PowerBrush Plus Portable Carpet Cleaner

 Yep, here we are reviewing yet another Bissell product.

Honestly, out of all the manufacturers, Bissell seems to know things about pet accidents, and has a whole line of pet products that actually work. They also donate money to pet causes, so woot.

Anyway, we've all been there with puppies, or dogs that horka on the carpet, and we've been there during the senior years of accidents. 

You could drag out the big steam cleaner, fill it with water and the fluid stuff, drag it to the spot and suck that mess up.

You could also drag the spotbot to the spot after you fill it, put in the cleaning solution and let it do its thing... but... all of that is a lot of overkill for a small pee spot. Unless your pet Oxen unleashes gallons of pee on your carpet, you just need a fast and easy way to suck about a half cup of pee and spray some cleaning solution on it (and suck that up) so here's the tool:

CORDLESS URINE SUCKER!

The Bissell Pet Stain Eraser Powerbrush Plus!

Did I mention it's CORDLESS!!!!

Yep, you plug it in and let that sucker charge up, grab it when you need a clean up, dump it out, plug it back in. It holds enough charge to get at that pee spot jiffy quick, done in seconds. Even has the little rotating brush thing on it to get that deep down urine sucking.

Keep it upright, it will leak out the top (that's enjoyable), and cleaning out the pee container is a bit... yuck, but what steam cleaner isn't a joy. It's really easy to deep clean the bits, parts come off easily and go back on easily once you read the manual. 

Totally saved our sanity this puppy-time around, and will be there for the senior years if it meets Bissell's usual lasts forever business model.

TOTALLY worth it for the cord free thing. Just grab it and go, suck, dump, done.

Even works for those times you dump a full cup of coffee on the carpet, not that we've ever done that... ever... nope, not us.

Buy it. Just BUY IT!!!

Available of Amazon (of course)

HIGHLY Recommended.

100% Waterproof Mambe Furniture Cover for Pets and People

Looking for a cover for your bed, sofa, or a dog bed to help with life's little spills?

For kids, clumsy adults, or pets with issues, you kind of want something other than putting plastic on all of your furniture to keep stains and stink off of expensive things, so what do you buy?

We've had great success with the Mambe Furniture covers.  Mambe has a full line of different blankets and covers that can be used to cover beds, couches, or dog beds that are stylish, liquid-proof, and don't make your furniture look dreadful.

Some liquid-proof covers have plastic innards that crackly and aren't comfortable.  They also tend to slip around the outer soft blanket and end up all crumpled up and just plain stupid.

The Mambe doesn't crinkle, slide around, or get plain stupid.  Its like a normal blanket.

Machine washable and you can throw it in the dryer as well.  Easy to clean, easy to use, nice to look at.

From experience, unless you have an industrial sized washer and dryer, you should avoid the King size blankets.  They are rather HUGE and take forever to dry.

Mambe blankets are made in the USA and guaranteed for life.

Comfortable, stylish, liquid-proof, easy to wash and dry.  We've had three of the Twin/Loveseat size for years and they show absolutely no wear or tear.  Well worth the price.

Available on Amazon and from the Mambe site.

Highly recommend

Serta Orthopedic Dog Beds

If you are like me, you've purchased about a zillion dog beds.  If your dogs are like my dogs, they've probably hated most of them.

From the cheap, to the extremely expensive, there's just something wrong with them (according to your dog) and they end up thrown in a back room or tossed out.  Money down the drain.

There has been only one dog bed that has lasted about 10 years in our house and hasn't lost it's comfort level, is easy to clean, and the dogs fight over it... so now I have three of them.

The Serta Orthopedic Dog Beds have been nothing short of the PERFECT dog beds in our house.

• The cover is removable and machine washable.
• The foam is very supporting and comfortable (I've even slept on the X-Large when one of our dogs was very sick)
• The large size will fit a 60lb Siberian Husky.  The X-Large will also fit a 60lb Siberian Husky stretched out to full length, and a 5' 6", 130lb human
• The Pillow top is very comfortable and allows the foam to breathe
• If you follow the washing instructions, it won't shrink.  If you don't follow the drying instructions and throw it in the dryer on low, it'll dry faster and still won't shrink (just sayin).

Even after all of these years of hard sleeping by very dedicated sleeping huskies, the foam hasn't developed the usual squished down look, its as springy and supportive as the day we bought them.

The beds provide good support for orthopedic issues or creaky old dog issues.  You can even cover them with incontinence blankets or pads for dogs with leak issues.  The padding is thick enough to keep a rather large amount of urine from absorbing into the pad if caught early.

Serta has a wide variety of their orthopedic beds, even some that look like a couch.  They are available from a wide range of places, even Amazon.

My dogs HIGHLY recommend these beds!

Aerodawg

While I hope you never need one, at least you now know of an aerosol chamber that actually works!

Recently one of our Gimpy Dogs members needed to administer aerosol medication to her pup and purchased an Aerodawg Canine Aerosol Chamber from Amazon.

Sarah L writes:

"I don't know that there are many people on here with dogs who have respiratory issues, but I ordered this last week and it is perfect. I was afraid it would be flimsy, but it is just as sturdy as the one I have for myself and the seal around the inhaler is snug. A little desensitization training, lots of treats, and Bandit is getting used to it quite quickly.

Bandit has COPD and recently got kennel cough, which has been difficult to deal with.  Thankfully the inhaler is helping a lot.

The directions are easy to follow, but it is exactly like a chamber for a human to use.  The inhaler goes in one end and the mask goes over the dog's nose or nose and mouth.  You depress the inhaler and hold the mask in place for 6 or 7 breaths.

There are pills you can give that help open the airways, but they do not act quickly and can't really be only used as needed.  This stops the coughing fit within just a minute or two.  I am asthmatic, so I know how quickly an inhaler works and thought it was a better choice long-term for Bandit."

Because it is a sturdy, medical grade aerosol chamber, we are giving this item 4-paws up.

It can be purchased from Amazon and comes in different sizes.

Duralactin

If you own older dogs, you are probably always on the look out for supplements that may give those creaky old bones some relief.

There are a lot of supplements out there, most contain Glucosamine and/or Chondroitin, but a friend of mine happened to be looking at a product called Duralactin.

Click here to go to their site

I hadn't hear a lot about it, so I asked on my Gimpydogs Facebook group to see if anyone had tried it, and of course a few had!

As with all supplements, some may work for your pup, and some may not, so the view expressed here are from people that have used it, and have had success.  Your experience may vary.

Janine L writes:

"When our Pepper was declining with spinal stenosis, her vet at the time suggested Duralactin.  I just thought they were trying to selling me something else.   But in speaking with their receptionist who had a very old poodle that could barely walk and now was walking thanks to Duralactin, I said I would think about it.

I went home and ordered it on line.  It took several weeks to work, but she started to show improvement and after several months she was moving a lot better.  We had her on it for years.  She was 16 when we had to euthanize her.

It is a milk product, so dogs who can't handle milk products won't be able to use it.  It smells great, vanilla flavored.   Pepper loved it."

Karen K writes:

"I used this for Dave when he was very senior.  It seemed to help.  I was able to give it to him because unlike so many other products, it was safe to "mix" with his other drugs.  Also, as it was at a stage where it was hard to get him to eat, he liked them.  Frankly, the chewable tablets smell like really good vanilla ice cream."

We're going to give it a 4-paws up based on user experience.  It seems to help, it's tasty, and it doesn't appear to cause any harm.

Duralactin is available from Chewy.com

EZWhelp Fab Whelping System

We were asked by EZWhelp to review one of their new FAB Whelping boxes.  Our goal is to bring honest reviews based on buying and using the actual product, but since I don’t have any “expecting” dogs, I reached out to a reputable non-profit that raises and trains service dogs.  One of the people in their breeding program agreed to provide a review and in return EZWhelp gave this person a discount on the FAB system.

Overview of the FAB System Whelping Box:

Designed for professional breeders, the system is totally modular, expandable, and easy to clean, fold up, and store.  The box itself replaces the tried and true “kiddie swimming pool” that most breeders use for their litters.  Additional components can be purchased to add on to the system include an internal rail, add on room (for when the puppies can get out of the box, but you don’t want them running loose), even a corner seat, as well as other components.

Review by the breeder:

The FAB Whelping box and pen were very easy to set up.  I put the whole system together without looking at the instructions, except for the cloth sides, which did require guidance from the instructions.  The instructions themselves were easy to understand, and in large print, which was very helpful during the setup process.

We love the height of the pen for stepping over as opposed to using 2-3 foot tall puppy fences to contain the puppies.  There have been so many times where I’ve had my hands full, and been sleep deprived and nearly tripped and fell while stepping over the puppy fences.  Additionally, the FAB system is well-made with heavy gauge metal, so there’s no worry about puppies knocking over the pen, like there is with puppy fences or baby gates.

We appreciate the easy-to-open gate that only requires one hand to open and close.  While it is closed, it contains the puppies and mother, but it can be left open to allow entrance and exit of the mother, and the puppies when they are big enough to get out on their own.  The gate can be left open, and is designed so that once opened, a puppy can’t become trapped or stuck behind the gate.

We love how seamlessly the whelping pen and the additional pen go together.  We may purchase another pen to give us the ability to have an add on pen for the waste pads and additional play area.  We also like the weight and sturdiness of the corner seat, and will be ordering another seat since we can use it for shelves when we are in the pen to keep items we need out of their reach.

The whelping pads are of good quality (Editor note: please see our extensive review of the whelping pads when used as senior dog incontinence pads.  If they can withstand 60lb old huskies, then puppies will not be a problem)

Unlike a kiddie pool, the FAB simply lays flat for storage with just a pull of the long pin, which we LOVE.  We are looking into finding a Rubbermaid™ storage box that the system will fit into for storage and keep it dust and dirt free until the next use.  It would be nice if EZWhelp carried such a storage box in the future.

Overview of Review

The breeder’s only listed con was that a baby pool wouldn’t fit in the box structure, and she felt that it may be difficult for others to move away from the “tried and true” use of them.

The breeder is expecting a litter of puppies in a few weeks and plans on using only the EZWhelp FAB system for this litter and provide additional insight on her experiences.

This review will be updated once we get her feedback.

24 October 2016

The EZWhelp FAB box, now with puppies!

Rug Doctor Spot Cleaner

Remember when I was reviewing all of the Bissell spot cleaners and bemoaned the lack of other manufacturers jumping into a pretty lucrative and much needed spot cleaner market?

Well, look who threw their hat in the ring.

Known for their high end (and very heavy) professional rental machines, Rug Doctor seems to be going into a more affordable home version of their popular steam cleaning equipment.  Will the downsize (and lower price) affect its cleaning capability?

The timing couldn't be more perfect, as the Bissell SpotClean Pro that was pretty amazing, died a horrible death from a severed suction hose only a year into using it (I swear I don't beat these things, or swing it by the hose, or do anything other than suck up foul dog mess) but the general time of death for these things seems to run about a year.

I happened to find the Rug Doctor Spot Cleaner on Amazon and bought it... along with a two-year warranty... just in case.

Right off the bat, who designs the containers?  Most people are only born with two hands, so creating containers that don't stand up on their own makes filling with water, pouring the cleaner in, then screwing the top on a task that even circus performers would have difficulty with.  The clean water/soap container is pretty large, holds a lot.  The dirty water container has two holes at the top, so don't tip it when you walk to dump it out.  Let me repeat that in bold DON'T TIP THE DIRTY WATER CONTAINER IN ANY DIRECTION WHEN WALKING THROUGH THE HOUSE TO DUMP IT.

The bottom of the dirty water container unscrews for easy cleaning.  The instructions say you can stick your whole hand in there... if you have small hands.  I have small hands... I'm not sticking my hand in there, so use a bottle brush to scrub it out (and make sure you store that someplace else so you don't wash your bottles and glasses out with it... euw).

There are two "on" switches.  The top switch turns the suction on.  The switch on the wand turns on the little massaging brushes that will massage the ick out of your carpet.  You use the wand like any other spot remover wand, squeeze to spray, slowly back up to suck.  For dog people, the massaging brushes really do pull up that fur!

For convenience, the machine has a handle to carry it, but it also has wheels and a telescoping handle (like for luggage) to drag it around if you can't carry it.  The cord is pretty long, and the wand and hose loop around the handles easily and stay in the cradle nicely.

I've used it for new "spills" and it only takes one or two swipes to suck everything up.  I've used it on more set in stains and it takes a few more swipes to get it up, but overall it does a great job spraying and sucking up the liquids.  I'm using the Bubba's Steam Cleaner fluid in it.

If I had a choice between the Bissell SpotPro and the rug doctor, I would probably go for the Rug Doctor, even though the SpotPro had better flat bottom containers.  Of course, if the hose rips or it dies in a year, I may change my mind.  Cost is about the same for both, so I guess I have to wait to see just how long it lasts for a full review, but right now, based on the pros and cons, I'd still give it:

4 Paws up.