Litter boxes for pine litter

[Szewan]

Want to share some info on litter boxes for pine pellets:

- I transitioned my cat from clay to pine litter a month ago. So far so good. i found out there aren’t many choices for litter boxes made for pine available in this country. There are way more choices if you reside in Asia or Europe. The many sifting litter boxes out there now in the US are not made for pine pellets - the holes are too big so the good pellets together with the sawdust fall through and it makes cleaning up more time consuming than it should be ( yes i tried it but I admit I am quite finicky and fussy about cleaning litter boxes!)

-Many folks are using the Breeze System for pine pellets. I haven’t used it but from the description the box seems a bit small for my cat, and more importantly I just have a hunch that the bottom-tray thing will make cleaning up a bit messy because my Cat likes to pee around the edges of the box

- I found this two-tray box made by a Scandinavian company called Husse online. It distributed via franchises here in the US and I got lucky That there is a franchise here in the tri-state area. You can watch the videos via the links below as to how it works. But basically the top box has holes big enough so the sawdust falls (instead of clogging) through but the pine pellets don’t. It has little legs at the bottom so it allows space for the sawdust to accumulate and also you can scatter some pine pellets in the bottom box to absorb the urine dripping down. I put a wee wee pad In the bottom top (see my pic) also to make cleanup even easier but it’s optional. The box is a bit shorter than I’d like for my cat (total measurement 20x 15x 8 inch - inside perimeter of the top box 18x13.5 inch) but that’s one of the 2 models I can find for this kind of litter box here (the other one is affiliated with feline pine I think - about the same box perimeter bit a bit shorter, and mine is actually cheaper). Again this kind of boxes are v commonly available in places like Asia or Europe, and with more choices in sizes etc but not here!! Why I wonder - maybe pine is still not popular litter here?

- there are Husse franchises in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Vermont. Take a look at their website website if interested. Full disclosure - I am not affiliated with Husse and don’t get paid by Husse to promote this at all . Just want to share the info and my ‘litter box hunting’ experience.

 

[sophie1]

I SO wish someone would make a truly large pine pellet sifting litter box!! I looked up the Husse, but it's only 1 inch larger in each dimension than the Breeze (which is 18" x 14"). Won't cut it. My Siberian cats need 24" long, minimum. When I tried the smaller box, they put up with it for a while but later developed some bad litter habits: pooping out of the box, spraying over the top of the box. These completely went away after I gave them back their big box.

There is a member of this forum who makes her own sifting boxes by buying pairs of large underbed Steriite boxes that don't stack together well, so there is a couple inch gap between them. She then drills holes in the bottom of the top box. The alternative, if you like pine pellets for limiting tracking and covering odor, is Okocat long hair. It's virtually the same pine pellets except with clumping, so you can scoop it.

 

[Szewan]

I SO wish someone would make a truly large pine pellet sifting litter box!! I looked up the Husse, but it's only 1 inch larger in each dimension than the Breeze (which is 18" x 14"). Won't cut it. My Siberian cats need 24" long, minimum. When I tried the smaller box, they put up with it for a while but later developed some bad litter habits: pooping out of the box, spraying over the top of the box. These completely went away after I gave them back their big box.

There is a member of this forum who makes her own sifting boxes by buying pairs of large underbed Steriite boxes that don't stack together well, so there is a couple inch gap between them. She then drills holes in the bottom of the top box. The alternative, if you like pine pellets for limiting tracking and covering odor, is Okocat long hair. It's virtually the same pine pellets except with clumping, so you can scoop it.

Hey Sophie1 - if you’ve the space and don’t mind the bottom pull out tray set-up, Breeze has an XL version. Take a look

 

[Bobsk8]

I find these very small litter boxes unsuitable for many cats, causing litter box problems. I bought two of these So Fresh sifing boxes, in the larger size, and they work pretty well with the pine litter. https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/so-phresh-lift-to-sift-cat-litter-pan. You can set it up, by inverting the top piece, and placing it under the sifting tray. This gives more room under the sifting tray for the sawdust to accumulate. I dump the sawdust about every 4 days. I am going to experiment with getting the sifting tray and the tub it sits in to have more space, with some PVC pipe fittings glued to the bottom of the sifting tray. Just haven't got around to it yet. Should be fairly easy to do using some glue suitable for plastics, and gluing one of these fittings , one on each corner and one in the middle Charlotte Pipe 1/2 in. PVC Sch. 40 S x S Coupling-PVC021000600HD - The Home Depot

 

[nwc]

I just use regular litter boxes, and then use a sifting box as a tool to remove the dust while keeping the pellets.

 

[sophie1]

Thank you Szewan! I didn't know about the XL. I had contacted Breeze a while back to ask about a larger box size, and they said they weren't interested....this was certainly news to me.

The pull out tray works fine. I used a mix of Breeze and Feline Pine pellets. The layer of sawdust did wonders for preventing odors, and I would shake the sawdust into the trash (or the toilet) every couple of days. Super easy.