# pine pellet litter usage?



## Whaler (Feb 13, 2011)

i am wondering if anybody uses the pine pellet litter and if so how much do they go through?

pretty girl (my avatar), a semi feral that i am domesticating uses it in part since it is more "outdoorsy" as well as she had a upper respiratory infection so i don't want to risk her getting any dust in her nasal passages.

it seems that i am going through insane amounts of it, 100 lbs in less than 3 months. am i being too much of a clean freak?


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## Pawsitively Nicole (Feb 12, 2011)

I use pine pelt litter and honestly love it. I obviously have 4 cats, and because of Cloud's medications he urinates more because he drinks more so bare that in mind. I don't know if it's a neat freak thing or you not knowing how to scoop pine pelt litter (please don't take that offensive, it is a fine art that most aren't aware of lol) or that your girl just urinates a lot. I go through two 40lb bags of litter a month and clean my boxes once in the morning and once in the evening.

Now I am going to give a pine cleaning tutorial  If you already know this then just skip this stuff, but I found that a lot of people try to clean the pine like they would clay litter. I've found the most effective way to do it is to start shaking the box back and forth, act like you are sifting for gold. Don't be afraid to get into it, the more you do the more effective it will be. This will cause all of the poo to rise to the top. Also, as you are aware, when the cat urinates the pellets turn into sawdust. When you "pan for gold" with the box you will notice that all of the sawdust will collect at 2 ends. This then allows you to scoop out only used pellets, making the box as clean as possible and wasting as little as possible. 

I've taken a picture for you in case the explanation is confusing (just for you Whaler lol). I know a lot of people tell me my explanation of this is confusing. Just shift it back and forth and this is what you end up with:










Yes I now need more litter in my box lol. I don't know if this helps any. If she is urinating so much that she is going through that amount of litter then perhaps she needs to see a vet. That just seems an awful lot for 1 kitty. 

Hope this is helpful in some way :kittyturn


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## tghsmith (Dec 9, 2010)

about the only type we use, my method, about the same as above, one scoop with big holes to remove the turds(lets the good pellets drop back into the box) second scoop small holes to sift out the disolved pellets. I use an old tidy cat lidded pail to go from box to box every evening(we have 4 boxes) yuo are basically only tossing the used pellets(40lbs last us more than 2 months) some scoops and such can be obtained from feline pine with points from the bag, the little round plastic brush they offer actually works very well..


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## YellowStoneCats (Feb 20, 2011)

I was very disappointed with "feline pine". when a 40 pound bag went on sale I tried it on my two 8lb cats. I found that solid waste did not bury or dry out fast enough, so it would stick to my short hair cats and ended up scattered all over my home when it dried enough to fall off. The liquid waste would turn the wood sticks into puffs of sawdust that were impossible to separate from the intact pine sticks without first racking all of the good intact pine sticks out of the box no matter how many different size hole scoops I used, then I had to discard the sawdust puffs every single day or the litter box would stink from urea. what a disaster - so now I'm back to using low dust clumping litter from A&H. one day I'll give "yesturday's news" a try, but fear it will work exactly the same way. I don't doubt many have great results with these wood pulp products as testified above, just don't count on being one of them.


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## Pawsitively Nicole (Feb 12, 2011)

To be honest what I use isn't Feline Pine or technically a cat litter. It is made by Eagle Valley ABM. Here is a link to their site regarding this product Eagle Valley Animal Bedding - About Eagle Valley. It is meant for livestock but works exactly the same as wood pellet litter. A 35lb bag of ABM cost me $4.00 at a local store here.


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## YellowStoneCats (Feb 20, 2011)

Nicole - thanks for posting that litter box picture. it never occurred to me to use a double size box that I could sort out the wood pellets away from the sawdust horizontally, and then remove the sawdust. so that would definitely be the best way to succeed with wood based litter. I was working with a deep litter box so the dust was always on the bottom and pellets on top, making them impossible to separate. however even if I used a larger box, I would still find that wood does not desiccant solid waste well enough to prevent my cats from carrying it around with them, but again that would just be my cats litter box habits as I did adopt them from a previous home that exclusively used clumping clay litter. or perhaps a larger box would allow them to push solid waste far enough to the side to reduce the chance of it sticking to them on exit from the box. so in fairness, should I ever change to a larger litter box, I may give wood based litter another try despite my unfortunate first impression with the stuff.


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## Pawsitively Nicole (Feb 12, 2011)

You are very welcome! I'm not sure what to tell you for the poo issue, it's not one I've dealt with. But it sounds like your kitties are much happier with their clay litter. I originally tried clay litter, but Kent refused to use it and likes the pine. He pretty much only used the clay stuff to bury any socks of mine that he could get a hold of :roll: Cats can be so picky, and we are so happy to oblige lol.


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## tghsmith (Dec 9, 2010)

depending on the cat there is an adjustment period, mixing the pine with clay for some time while increasing the pine and decreasing the clay gives the cat time to learn how to deal with the new stuff and feel of it.. as for desication never have had need for that. with 4 cats I scoop the boxes nightly (10 minutes total)


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## YellowStoneCats (Feb 20, 2011)

Nicole, exactly which storage bin did you use for that kitty litter box? 
Roughneck Storage Bins & Totes | Rubbermaid
I see that rubbermaid has 5 different lines of roughnecks. I'm looking to pick one in the 25-40gal range, but I can't find any pictures on what they look like inside. I'd love something smooth on the inside like your bin so it's easier to scoop the litter unimpeded by plastic structural ridges and squared corners.


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## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

I have to scoop a box or two at the cat santuary with the pellets, they drive me crazy and I notice those boxes always smell worse since (from what I call tell) it's way harder removing the pee correctly and if you do not have a wide scooper you get pine pellets with the poop and that's annoying and wasteful as well... I suppose if you have a real method that works with the pellets it wouldn't be so bad... when I go in today I'll try sifting the good pellets to the side and see if that improves anything.


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## tghsmith (Dec 9, 2010)

the scoops will make or brake this deal.. I use very large scoops, one has holes one has slots(its the sifter) i went as far as making a frame with mesh on the bottom(the kind of thing archeologist use)for use over the outdoor trash bin, but it was hassel bringing the boxes outside, if kept after at a almost daily routine the scoops and bucket make everything simple.. as for smell we have used some clumping clay in past, you made very sure that that bucket was emptied every night..the pine bucket no were near as bad..


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## Pawsitively Nicole (Feb 12, 2011)

For me scooping pine litter like normal litter proved ineffective, frustrating, and left a lot of gross stuff behind. Doing it the way I described is easy and extremely effective. I found it easier then clay. With clay I found my cats would move all the litter, go to the bathroom on the bottom of the box, then move the clay back on top. This left me with a disgusting, solid coat of gunk on the bottom of the box. I would have to poor the clay litter out, scrape this off the bottom of the box, wash out the box, and poor the clay litter back in every time I went to scoop. Yuck.

Using wood pellets and scooping the way I suggest I actually notice less smell then the clay. With the clay litter I could smell whatever smelly stuff they put in it (I'm not a huge fan). I also hated all of the dust that came with it. With pine I notice no smell whatsoever and no dust. I also don't smell ammonia or whatnot throughout my house. But, just like our cats, we all have our preferences :kittyturn


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## YellowStoneCats (Feb 20, 2011)

Pawsitively Nicole said:


> With clay I found my cats would move all the litter, go to the bathroom on the bottom of the box, then move the clay back on top. This left me with a disgusting, solid coat of gunk on the bottom of the box.


I noticed this problem with clay as well. the way I solved it was to only get clumping clay litter (so Johnny cat = NO, Tidy cat = YES), and keeping it several inches deep in the pan. just make sure you have a strong large hole litter shovel/rake/scoop to lift and dig more clay weight in order to get at all the clumps. I'm aware some avoid clumping due to additives and dust, but my litter cave is fan force vented to the outside, and my cats have never shown any respiratory distress.


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## YellowStoneCats (Feb 20, 2011)

Pawsitively Nicole said:


> it actually isn't a storage bin but a regular litter box.


I suspected as much - large heavy duty storage bins never have such smooth side to bottom transitions and rounded corners on the inside of the container. I will probably be buying a 37gal tote, cut an oval in the top lid for my young and agile cats to get in and out of. I'm trying to solve 2 problems; increase the litter holding capacity so I don't have to change it as often (which is great for those 3 day weekends away), and decrease the amount of litter and solid wastes being tracked out of the box. before I adopted them, one of my two cats was kept in a cage early in life, so he has terrible after potty habits. instead of avoiding or shaking off any "attachments" like his house trained sister, he'll simply bolt out of the box and run madly through the house till it all falls off :sad


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## AshleyHoneyBee (Feb 18, 2011)

YellowStoneCats said:


> Instead of avoiding or shaking off any "attachments" like his house trained sister, he'll simply bolt out of the box and run madly through the house till it all falls off :sad


This is terrible but... I just can't stop laughing after reading this!


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## Whaler (Feb 13, 2011)

thanks everybody for the input, much appreciated!

i did find a litter box that has a pull out sifter. Amazon.com: Van Ness Large Framed Sifting Cat Litter Pan (Assorted Colors): Kitchen & Dining i will try this one soon. 

as of now she is still closer to feral than domesticated so she is staying in a large dog cage. the space restrictions make that box a bit too big but based on her progress she is going to be joining the real world very soon

@Nicole - the panning for gold analogy is perfect! don't know why i never thought of that but that will be my new procedure to minimize wasting.

@YellowStoneCats- i'm with AshleyHoneyBee, too funny of a mental image.


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