Pine Pellets Or Wood Pellets As Litter?

mwallace056

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right now i'm using tidy cat clumping litter, but i'm thinking of trying pine pellet or wood pellets from tractor supply but i don't know which one is better, i read it should be kiln dried, so should i be worried if it's not kiln dried? how deep should it be? how should i transition them to the litter? i don't think there would be any problems changing litter. I changed their litter abruptly before and they didn't have any problems, it was always clay or clumping based litter though, but pine or wood pellets would be completely new to them.
 

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mwallace056

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Thanks for the links, i will look through them.

i also want to try chick feed because of the other thread Chick Feed As Litter - My New Fave !!!! and its looks like it would be cheaper than what i'm buying now, the litter that i have now, tracks everywhere,so i'm leaning toward pine pellets because of the tracking but i'm unsure what i want to do, pine pellets or chick feed, does anyone know if chick feed tracks a lot? maybe i will try both and see which one works better? my cats are not picky or finicky about litter, they will use whatever litter i give them but i never tried anything else beside clay or clumping based litter, so i don't know how they will take to pine pellets, i'm wondering if its a bad idea and just go to the chick feed?
 
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mwallace056

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Just to mention, be a bit wary of the chick feed - corn based products can get moldy and have a higher bacteria count. Hang in there!
Yeah i read somewhere about that, isn't world best litter also corn based? and isn't corn based litters suppose to be safer than normal clumping litters?
 

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The only one I know to be the best of these products is made from corncob, not actual corn. I've read conflicting reviews on corn based litter, from dusty to not dusty, to growing mold. I was admittedly put off, except for the corncob one.
 
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mwallace056

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I love the equine pine pellets from Tractor Supply. I even made a video showing how I clean the boxes. :)
I watched your video before, it seem easy to do, how deep do you keep it? my cats likes to dig so i keep litter pretty deep for them, can i do the same with pine pellets? and it doesn't track everywhere easily i presume?
 

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m3rma1d

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I watched your video before, it seem easy to do, how deep do you keep it? my cats likes to dig so i keep litter pretty deep for them, can i do the same with pine pellets? and it doesn't track everywhere easily i presume?
I personally don't keep it very deep. Just a shallow layer.

Same pellets are used at the cat shelter I volunteer at, and they keep them filled pretty deep with no issues
:)

No real tracking, just a random stray pellet here & there which can easily be picked up and tossed into the closest box.
 

verna davies

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I changed to pine scented wood litter 6 weeks ago. I put a handful of wood pellets and mixed it with the other litter. Each day I increased the amount of wood pellets and by the end of a week had completely transitioned. I have three cats and had no problem with any of them. There's no odour from the litter boxes, no dust and easy to clean. If it is designed for use as cat litter, it should be kiln dry. Check the packaging, it should been on there somewhere.
 
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mwallace056

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I haven't decided on what i should do, i'm thinking of going with chick feed because i really likes litter that clumps but i'm also thinking of sticking with tidy cat because that what works best so far.
i had to take back a cat that i rehomed few months ago last Saturday because she wasn't comfortable with their dog. so i will probably hold off changing their litter for another couple of weeks or so

I personally don't keep it very deep. Just a shallow layer.

Same pellets are used at the cat shelter I volunteer at, and they keep them filled pretty deep with no issues
:)

No real tracking, just a random stray pellet here & there which can easily be picked up and tossed into the closest box.
How long does it last you and the shelter? i read that it lasts a long time, is that true?
 

m3rma1d

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How long does it last you and the shelter? i read that it lasts a long time, is that true?
I had a 40lb bag last my 3 adult cats 3 months.
Now I've got 2 foster kittens (plus my 3 adult cats still) and a 40lb bag is lasting us a month. (these kittens are little eating machines, so they have a higher output too haha)

Not sure how much is actually used at the shelter, since the cats are free-roaming in rooms and rotate in and out it'd be kinda hard to say exactly.
 
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mwallace056

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So I got two boxes one is clumping litter, and the other fill with pine pellets. At first they would only pee in the pellets but not poop, but then they started to also poop.

I'm reluctant to fully switch to the pellets because it's not their preferred litter and i have problems with scooping and making sure I don't waste any pellets bc the pellets is so small that they go through the the scoop when I'm trying to shake the sawdust out in a bag, I just let them use it and when it mostly sawdust, I dump it because it's difficult to scoop and not waste pellets. If I'm going to fully switch to the pellets what I need to do is create my own sifter litterbox with small enough holes but big enough to let the sawdust through. I just thought of a idea, if I cut the bottom out and put a wire mesh, would that work? Or should I just cut bunch of small holes all over? Which way better?

also I tried chick feed, they wanted to eat it, so that's a no go
 
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mwallace056

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I thought the wire mesh was a good idea plus it seem easier to do, less time consuming lol but I guess most of the pee will go through the mesh and not get soak up by the pellets?
 
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mwallace056

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Why is it a bad idea to try a wire mesh instead of drilling some holes?

I don't know if it's worth it? they're outside most of the time. So they pee and poop outside now. But Im keeping litter box for them to use, just in case one of them wants to come in and uses it which they do sometimes, Mae used to come in and uses the box if she needs to go but now she will goes outside too, probably realized she doesn't need to make a trip to the litter box every time she needs to go, maybe by seeing the other cats go? she also will pee in the grass, is that normal?

I'm having a issue with them peeing and pooping in the garden, now I know there no real way to keep them out of the garden other then buying a motion sensor that sprays water. But my thoughts are making some litterboxes near the garden for them to use, fill with sand? And hope they choose the sand.
 
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