Dogs are very particular when it comes to settling for a poop area. Using the best mulch for dog poop areas has a great impact on your pet’s pooping habits.
Dogs hate getting their paws wet. Although they like to scent mark territories, they’ll avoid smelly areas. Furthermore, they feel at home in a place where they can dig with their paws. That brings us to the characteristics of a good mulch for a dog’s poop area: absorbent, good smelling, and soft. A mulch should also be biodegradable and easy to clean.
Nevertheless, settling for the best mulch is not as easy as ABC. It’s a tricky process that requires some bit of research and patience. To find out the best mulch for a dog poop area, read on!
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Best Mulch for Dog Poop Area
There’s no one-size-fits-all product when selecting the most suitable mulch for a dog’s potty area. Nevertheless, some try to address your needs and the dog’s needs satisfactorily. Let’s look at the best.
100% Natural Cedar Chips Mulch
Cedar chips are shreds of wood from the cedar trees. Though used extensively as mulch in farming, they’re also widely used as animal bedding materials. They’re renowned for their strong natural scent that keeps harmful insects away from your pet.
Cedar is digestible. It won’t hurt your pet’s digestive system if it decides to ingest it.
Nonetheless, it’s always important to keep an eye on the behavior changes (if any) of your dog when you lay out the cedar chips. If your pet is restless, then it might be allergic to cedar. Remove it and seek the services of a veterinary officer.
What I Like
- Bug repellant: Red cedar has insecticidal properties that keep insects away. Thus, your pet stays free from skin infections and discomfort.
- Attractive appearance: Cedar’s natural red appearance appeals to the eyes and looks attractive when spread on the dog’s poop area.
- Great aroma: Cedar chips have a pleasant smell that may make your pet love the covering.
- Digestible chips: The dog’s digestive system can break down cedar particles in case it ingests them and poses no threat to its health
- Odor control: Cedar can absorb the foul smell and leave your yard smelling fresh.
What I Don’t Like
- Skin reactions: Some dogs’ skins are allergic to cedar.
Amish Aromatic Cedar Wood Shavings
Amish Cedar Wood shavings are such a remarkable sight when neatly poured around your dog’s bedding and pooping area. The natural red color of cedar wood blends perfectly with the green color of your lawn.
Additionally, the shavings keep your pet comfortable and free from harmful insects. The Amish Aromatic Cedar Shavings keep bad odors at bay. Besides, they provide comfortable bedding and pooping places for your dog.
Ultimately it’s eco-friendly. It’s readily broken down into fine particles since it comes from pure Cedar with no additives or preservatives. It doesn’t pollute the environment.
What I Like
- Nice scent: Naturally, cedar smells good. The smell will make your dog’s pooping area friendly to your nostrils.
- Easy to use: Cedar wood shavings
- Eco-friendly: Cedar is 100% natural and poses no environmental threat.
- Appealing natural aroma: The shavings have an appealing scent that keeps your pet’s popping area fresh and fragrant.
- Insect repellent: Cedar has natural insecticidal properties. It can keep harmful insects like fleas away from your pet.
- Odor control: The natural scent of cedar absorbs foul smells from the bedding of your pet and leaves the place smelling fresh always.
- Chemical-free: Cedar contains no toxic substances harmful to your dog’s skin.
- Dust-free: The Amish Cedar wood shavings are professionally collected and packaged and are free from debris and dust. Dust can expose your pet to respiratory problems.
What I Don’t Like
- Scanty Cedar scent: Due to possible errors in drying the shavings, some packages have very little fragrance. If the aromatic scent is one of your top reasons for buying the shavings, this feels like a rip-off.
- Small packages: The Amish Aromatic shavings come in small packages. It’s misleading to call it a “large box”.
- Presence of sawdust: Some packages mix the shavings and sawdust, which inconveniences the buyer looking for pure cedar shavings
Cedarcide Granules (1 Bag) Insect Repelling Cedar Mulch
Cedarcide granules are small particles—products of virgin Cedar wood oil. The wood gets its insect repellent qualities from the oil ingredient.
You scatter the granules over the poop area by hand or by the packet that carries them for proper application. After dispersing them evenly, spray some water over them to push them down and keep them from piling on the surface of the poop area.
The rule of the thumb is, if you can smell it, it’s working. If the scent has dwindled, then reapplication is needed.
What I Like
- No toxic chemicals: The granules are made from natural cedar shavings and thus don’t pack harmful chemicals. When used on a dog’s poop area, they pose no threat to the pet or your children playing around.
- Insect repellent: Cedarcide particles ward off harmful insects from your pets.
- Sweet-scented: Since the granules are processed from cedar, they have the characteristic fragrant scent of cedar trees.
- Eco-friendly: The granules are 100% organic. They’re pure cedar products without additives. They won’t “burn” your lawn and are safe for spraying around your dogs and children without any adverse effects.
- Non-Irritant: Cedarcide granules won’t irritate the skin of your dog. However, if your dog is allergic to Cedar products, you may need to consider using the granules.
What I Don’t Like
- Small particles: The Cedarcide granules are tiny and can fit into a puppy’s paw. Your pet will remain uncomfortable with a foreign material under its paws.
- Overpriced: Some users wish the 8-pound package could cost a little less to get more value for their money.
Kaytee Small Animal Pine Pet Bedding & Litter
Though not as absorbent as cedar, Kaytee Pine mulch is an excellent pick for comfortable and fresh bedding for your dog. The mulch, made from pine shavings, is 100% natural and will thus break down without polluting the environment.
It’s a good choice for mulching your dog’s pee area due to its ability to repel harmful insects that bother pets. Furthermore, it makes it stay fresh due to its aromatic pine scent.
With this mulch, you don’t need to worry about dust allergens for your dog. Kaytee Pine mulch is professionally packed and is 99% dust-free.
The shavings are highly absorbent and suck your dog’s urine and thus protect your lawn. Pine shavings can absorb liquids up to 3 times their weight.
What I Like
- Aromatic scent: The shavings have the natural pine wood cent and help mask the foul odor from your dog’s waste. The fragrance keeps the poop area fresh and fragrant.
- Value for money: The shavings are worth the money you pay for.
- Biodegradable: Kaytee Small Animal shavings are organic. Hence, they don’t pose cleaning challenges as they gradually rot away and blend with the soil.
- Soft shavings: Pine is softwood. Pine shavings are thus soft and comfortable for your dog.
- Insect repellent: Pine has a natural property that wards off harmful bugs from your pet.
- Attractive color: The Kaytee Small Animal Pine shavings come in an attractive brown color that decorates your compound.
- Kiln-dried: The shavings are dried in a kiln to avoid possible reactions to the pet’s skin.
What I don’t Like
Dusty shavings: Sometimes, the collection experts harvest the shavings in less-than-ideal settings. That causes some packages to have less than perfect pine shavings due to mixing with dust.
Light-weight shavings: Cedar shavings are naturally light and can be blown away by a strong wind.
Small package: The package is sometimes small, especially when mulching a sizeable pet poop area.
Small Pet Select – Jumbo Aspen Bedding – 113L
Aspen bedding is wood shavings shaved from aspen logs. Aspen shavings are soft textured. With zero additives, they provide one of the most effective and comfortable poop area covers that you can easily get.
Furthermore, they possess excellent absorbent abilities. If you’re worried about your pet peeing all over your grass and destroying your lawn, you need to consider Jumbo Aspen shavings.
If you’re looking for a pet mulch without any scent, this is the product.
What I like
- No additives: Aspen bedding is 100% natural. Once the wood processors plane the shavings from the aspen logs, they’re dried and packed without adding any preservative.
- Kiln-dried shavings: The shavings are dried in a kiln to drain all the sap. Some pets are sensitive to wet shavings.
- Absorbent: They soak up urine and poop from your dog such that they don’t ruin your lawn.
- Eco-friendly: Aspen shavings can be recycled. Furthermore, they are compostable and provide an organic mulch that is friendly to the environment.
- No toxic chemicals: The aspen log sap is not reactive. However, for pets whose skins are sensitive, the shavings are completely dried before packaging.
- Compact package: The Packaging of the Jumbo Aspen Bedding involves stuffing the shavings into small bags that are easy to carry.
- Biodegradable: Aspen is 100% wood. Thus it can be decomposed by micro-organisms and blend perfectly with the soil without causing any harm to the environment.
What I Don’t Like
- Dust content: Sometimes, the shavings are collected and packaged carelessly. This results in dusty shavings. Dust allergens are deadly to some pets.
Kaytee Aspen Small Animal Bedding
If you’re looking forward to mulching your dog’s poop area, then a dry, clean, and odor-free habitat must be on top of your list. Kaytee Aspen Small Animal Bedding is a unique mulch that absorbs poop and pee and keeps your pet’s habitat odorless and fresh.
Additionally, the aspen shavings made from the non-scented aspen logs contain no aromatic oils. If your dog struggles to keep up with scented mulches, you’ll need to consider this mulch.
On comfort, this Kaytee Aspen Bedding leads the pack. It’s dressed from the soft textured aspen wood. Unlike other pet mulches, the curled shavings are uniquely prepared and free from dust and debris. Thus they tenderly support your dog’s body and encourage it to spend its time where the mulch is—training it to deposit its poop here and nowhere else becomes much easier.
Kaytee Aspen shavings have no additives, chemicals, or artificial colors. If you’ve noticed your pet has sensitive skin, you need to settle for this mulch.
Ultimately, Kaytee Aspen mulch is friendly to the environment. It’s 100% organic and is thus biodegradable. It cannot pollute the environment because micro-organisms slowly decompose it until it blends with the soil.
What I Like
- Kiln-treated: The shavings are dried under a lot of heat to eliminate harmful bacteria and molds. Wet mulches usually come with irritants that may make your dog uncomfortable.
- Convenient packaging: The shavings are squeezed in tiny bags to take us less space and thus make them easy to carry.
- 100% aspen: Kaytee Aspen Small Animal beddings are products of pure aspen wood. They have no artificial colors, additives, or chemicals. The product is fully safe for your pet.
- Absorbs fluids: Aspen mulch sucks up urine and other fluids from your dog’s poop area keeping it dry and comfortable.
- Biodegradable: Wood shavings are not detrimental to the environment. They gradually decompose to fine particles and blend in with soil particles.
What I Don’t Like
- Small shavings: Kaytee Aspen shavings are small as compared to other brands. That means they come with too much dust that may affect your dog’s respiratory system.
- Poorly dried shavings: Some shavings come slightly wet and with a scent that may cause respiratory problems to your pet.
Factors Buyers Consider When Looking for the Best Mulch for Dog Poop Area
When you decide to buy some mulch for your dog poop area, then there are crucial factors you cannot overlook. Essentially, such mulches should protect your dog and your lawn too. So, what should you look out for?
Level of Toxicity of the mulch
Always go for a mulch whose toxicity level is zero or so low that it’s harmless to your dog. It’s heartbreaking to mulch your dog’s poop area, only to wake up to a lifeless pet.
For instance, if your dog ingests cocoa-based mulch, it will vomit, have diarrhea, and at worst, lose its life. The theobromine ingredient in cocoa also causes cardiac problems and seizures in dogs.
Although cocoa mulches are visually appealing with their aromatic scent, their hazards far outweigh the good attributes.
Non-edible mulches
Dogs are different. Some won’t put their mouth on any mulch, but some will chew anything that comes their way.
If your dog is fond of eating mulch and anything else they find, you should avoid mulches like large cedar chips that come in large pieces. They might choke your dog to death. Furthermore, dog experts discourage black mulches made from recycled tires. They say that they contain carcinogens like benzene, which are toxic for your dog if it ingests them. The good thing is that most dogs won’t get tempted to munch on rubber. I’ll leave you to decide since you know your pet better than I do.
Absorbency of the Mulch
An absorbent mulch soaks up all the urine and poop and keeps your lawn in good condition. Further, your dog will always avoid a poop area that’s wet no matter how good you are in potty training. Thus, it’s important to go for that mulch that will suck away any fluid as soon as possible.
Bug Repellent Property
A poop area is likely to attract insects, some of which may be harmful to your dog. It would be wise to consider a mulch with bug repellent properties unless you have another remedy for the harmful insects.
Ease of Cleaning and Maintenance
A good mulching material is easy to keep in condition. Materials that clump together and don’t drain well are hard to maintain, and you should avoid them.
FAQs
The most common questions that dog keepers ask about a poop mulch are:
What Kind of Mulch Is Best for Dogs?
Cedar mulch is the best pick for many dog keepers due to its bug repellent qualities. Furthermore, cedar fibers aren’t harmful to a dog’s digestive system if it ingests them. However, cedar is quite costly.
If your budget cannot accommodate cedar, you can opt for pine or aspen mulches which are less costly but with almost the same efficiency as cedar.
- What Dissolves Dog Poop in The Yard?
If you wait for dog poop to completely decompose, you may wait for more than ten months. The waste matter “burns” your lawn, looking brown and patchy.
To decompose dog poop faster, you’ll need to sprinkle gardening lime on it. It vanishes in days.
- Can My Dog Pee on Mulch?
Dog urine contains urea which has ingredients that can dry your lawn grass and plants. Further, the salts in the dog’s urine can alter the soil’s pH level in your home garden. To avoid falling victim to these adverse effects, dilute the urine with water within 7 hours of excretion.
Conclusion
So what’s the best mulch for the dog poop area? All the mulches that I have reviewed are safe for your dog. However, your preferences and those of your dog are the key determinants in going for the best pick. For instance, if you and your dog hate strong scents, there’s no point in going for a cedar-based mulch.
On the other hand, it’s important to look for that mulch that matches your budget. It’s frustrating to go for a mulch whose quantity is too little to cover the designated poop area.
