Litterbox Liners and Pine Litter

[EmersonandEvie]

For those of you that use pine pellet litter, how is your litterbox set up? We have two sifting litterboxes that get cleaned at least twice a day of solids and the sawdust gets shaken to the bottom once a day. I'm trying to figure out what to do with the sawdust. There is too much of it to dump in the yard/along the fence, so my only other option is the (very un-green) option of bagging it up.

I bought the Jonnycat litterbox liners. They are doing their job, but they are pricey and we have to change them twice a week. Can I use regular trashbags? Is the opening big enough to accommodate the size of a standard litterbox? Does anyone do this?

 

[Jem]

You could bag it in a composting bag...It will still go to the landfill but at least it will degrade.
Do you have to use liners in your litter boxes? I've never used liners no matter what type of litter I used...but I will admit that I have not used pine pellet yet. Although I 'm seriously considering making the change.

 

[EmersonandEvie]

We never used the liners with clay litter because everyone dug too aggressively to have the liners and they'dhave shredded them. Now, we have the sifting boxes with a top and bottom box, and I just need it to line the bottom box where they arent digging. I don't *have* to use the liner, but I like it because 1. Some urine immediately soaks to the bottom before it can be absorbed by the pellets and 2. It prolongs the life of the plastic so it doesnt get saturated with the urine smell of the sawdust just sitting there. We were taking them and dumping them into the garbage can, but that made a huge mess! I'm wary if the compostable bags because I thought that the local trash processing place had to specifically accept them. The anaerobic environment of a traditional landfill doesnt actaully allow the bags to decompose.

I love the pine litter! It smells so much nicer, there isn't litter tracked everywhere, and cleaning the box is so simple. I recommend you try to transition yours over, it is life changing.

 

[Jem]

The anaerobic environment of a traditional landfill doesnt actaully allow the bags to decompose.

I did not know that...I thought that eventually it would...at least better than a plastic bag...

0241450........Ha! that was Lily saying hello! Hard to type with a cat on your lap when she constantly reaches for the keyboard.

What if instead of using a liner "bag", you purchased a roll of "painter's plastic" or some form of thin plastic, like the stuff people use for winterizing drafty windows. It might be cheaper and you can cut it to size, then just fold/roll it up and toss in your regular garbage? IDK, just thinking out loud here...

How is the dust level as the cats dig? Mine are AVID diggers and one has a sinus issue so I want to help him as best I can when it comes to allergens entering his nasal cavity. I currently use World's best, but because he digs so much, that stuff leaves just as much dust on him as the clay.

 

[EmersonandEvie]

Aww! Hello Lily!

There is virtually zero dust! The sawdust is heavier than traditional clay litter dust because it's saturated, so it stays in the box. They kick some of the pellets out as they dig, but no dust. We actually have our boxes in the spare bathrooms bathtub, so it contains all the kicked out pellets and is very easy to clean.

I have some puppy pads that may work too, but....that's plastic as well! It's so hard to get away from using it. And there is so much sawdust accumulated (the cats eat only wet food, so they pee a lot) that I'd have to unbury the pad every time I went to change it. Sigh.

 

[Jem]

Oh hey. Now you will still need to use plastic in the sense of having to dump the bottom box in something for the "garbage man", but what if you sprinkled the bottom box with some crystal litter (or more pine litter). That way when some pee falls thru because it was not absorbed in time, the crystal litter will absorb it so it does not saturate the bottom box. Then you just dump all the dust and crystal litter all at once (no pad to dig out).

 

[Jem]

And as for the "cut to size" plastic. yes, you're still using plastic but at least in a lesser amount.....

 

[EmersonandEvie]

That may work! I like the idea of having the pellets in the lower box too, I dont know why that never crossed my mind. Thank you!

I'm considering having a designated trashcan in the garage for the sawdust so we can just empty them into there as needed, so that way we would only fill up one trash bag instead of several smaller liners. Decisions, decisions.

 

[She's a witch]

You can also check if it could be thrown in the composting bin. I know it can be possible if your composting is comercial, it’s worth checking. Of course, poops are out of question.

 

[EmersonandEvie]

We can't have a personal compost pile due to bears (we have a small population here but they have been spotted fairly close by), and our city doesn't even offer recycling, let alone composting.

 

[EmersonandEvie]

It's a great idea, and I wish it were an option!

 

[Jem]

I'm considering having a designated trashcan in the garage for the sawdust so we can just empty them into there as needed, so that way we would only fill up one trash bag instead of several smaller liners. Decisions, decisions.

That's what we do, it can stink having a bag of used litter festering for a week. The smell can hit pretty hard when we open it to dump more in, but it doesn't make the room smell bad all the time, just when it's opened to add more. But I refuse to waist money on lots of bags and of course, it's just plain bad for the environment to use that many bags every time we scoop the litter boxes.
And with us, we don't have a garage so it's in the house, I'm sure the smell wouldn't be an issue at all in your garage.