Pet Drying Boxes: Our Tips & Advice

It’s true—quite a few cats and dogs don’t like hair dryers. And if you wash your pet, getting them dry can be a challenge . . . especially if it is cold or cloudy outside.

Pet drying boxes are a relatively new solution. When we researched this topic (spending several hours interviewing our readers for their tips and advice here), we realized these boxes fall into two categories:

• Electric pet drying boxes. These small appliances use heat (900 watts is a common wattage) and fans to dry your cat or dog—and yes, you can customize the temperature and fan speed.

• Attach-a-hairdryer-boxes. Made of plastic mesh, you attach a hair dryer to an inlet valve to gently dry your pet. While not as fancy as the electric pet drying boxes, they can get the job done . . . at a fraction of the cost.

One important tip: these boxes need adult supervision, since they can take 45 minutes and up to 2 hours to dry a pet. Hence you need to be there to watch your pet during this time.

Another tip: most of these boxes will only fit small dogs (and most cats). We are talking maybe up to a corgi, but not anything bigger!

One advantage to pet drying boxes is noise: they are quieter than using a hair dryer directly on your pet, which seems to help with those anxiety levels!

Here are the best pet drying boxes as recommended by our readers:

About the Authors

Denise & Alan Fields are consumer advocates and best-selling authors. The Fields have authored 12 books with three million copies in print, including the best-selling guide to baby gear, Baby Bargains.

The Fields have been featured and quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times.

As consumer products experts, the Fields have been guests on the NBC Today Show, Good Morning America and ABC’s 20/20.

How We Pick Products To Recommend

We often turn to our readers (3 million strong!) to find products to recommend. We ask our parent readers for their favorites and consider their real-world experiences in our recommendations.

When we test a product, we always purchase it with our own monies. We do not take free samples, as we believe that compromises our independence.

We also fact check manufacturer information with our own measurements. If a maker claims a product weighs X pounds, we will weigh it to make sure. If the battery life is supposed to be six hours, we will see how it stands up in the real world.

In some cases, we will do interviews with experts in the field to get additional feedback on products.

To get hands-on time with products, we regularly meet one-on-one with gear companies and even tour manufacturing facilities. (When we do this, we pay our own travel expenses).

Why Trust Us

We’ve been rating and reviewing products for the home and families since 1994. We do extensive research, evaluating products with an eye toward quality, ease of use and affordability.

We make our living from affiliate commissions, but we always recommend what we think are the best bets for our readers (not the ones that are the most expensive). We are always looking for products that offer the best bang for the buck.

Our independence is a key reason why we have been doing this so long. As we mentioned above, when we purchase a product for hands-on testing, we do so with our own money.

Here’s another key point: we don’t take money from the brands we review. No free samples, no sponsors, no “partnerships.” Our work is 100% reader-supported!