In The Wee Small Hours... (Vitax Scent Off Pellets)

Member Name: Sarahjh

Product:	Vitax Scent Off Pellets
Date:	11/12/08 (152 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A safe animal repellant

Disadvantages: none

A nice green lawn doesn't go hand in hand with owning a pet. When our dog is let out into the garden during the day you can guarantee that he will head for the greenest part of the grass to go about his business.
We walk our dog twice a day but it would be nigh on impossible for him to perform to order!
Of course as we open the back door and let him into the garden he goes in search of something attractive to `cock his leg` on.
More often than not he chooses to go where the earth has been recently turned over, this means that he constantly ruins anything that has been newly planted.
Earlier this year we had to dig a good sized strip of our lawn up and re-turf it, its not only down to cost but the lawn had large yellow patches where the urine had badly discoloured it.
There is a lot of nitrogen in dogs urine, plus a high PH level, so as the dog urinates in one spot concentrated nitrogen is `poured` onto the grass, this mixes with the nitrogen already in the ground, it affects the balance of the soil and the affected grass dies off but the halo of grass around the outside remains green which emphasises the problem.
We also get our fair share of visiting cats and though we are great animal lovers it would be good to have a lawn that looked half decent.
A friend came around for coffee and she advised us to take the watering can and liberally water the urinated area, this would dilute the urine and lessen the problem.
Obviously the dog is only doing what comes naturally so it would be really unfair to blame him in any way.


The local pet shop are always full of good advice and when I went in to buy his worming tablets I was telling the assistant about the problem, she immediately told us that it was a common problem and one that we might be able to do something about.
By then we were ready to try anything! the newly laid turf was also beginning to look pretty sad too.
She passed me the packet of Vitax pellets to have a look at, I must admit I was a little bit sceptical, after all the problems we had been having it seemed highly unlikely that a few pellets were going to make any difference.
But I bought a 50g packet for £1.95 to take home and try.
So in for a penny in for a pound...


The instructions on the leaflet state that the grass must be free of all animal droppings and as far as possible be free from any animal urine/faeces smell.
This can be achieved by adding a tiny amount of biological detergent to some water and watering the area thoroughly.
Then when the pellets are used they must only be applied to the turf, don't let them drop on any plants because they contain naphthalene ( Naphthalene is the foul stuff that's in mothballs!)


So the turf is clean and as odour free as you can possibly get it.
Then you have to wait for your poor unsuspecting dog to venture out to `cock his leg`.
As soon as he goes out then sprinkle the pellets on the area where he has just urinated.
So then smell given off by the pellets confuse the dogs sense of taste and smell. The grass doesn't smell inviting any more, considering it stinks of mothballs then no wonder!
So on his next visit to the great outdoors he is looking for a safer place to urinate.
Lo and behold he trots off behind the shed and christens the concrete!

Amazing, so fingers crossed we are hoping that this pattern is set to stay and that we can have a lawn that we can enjoy next summer.

Summary: A safe way of training your animal not to abuse your lawn!