Pine Pellet Litter and a DIY Litter Box

As a pet sitter, I see and experience lots of different pet products, from food and treats to toys and even litter. Yes, litter.

I try to go green whenever possible so I prefer biodegradable litter which is available in pine pellets, recycled newspaper pellets, and litter based on corn, wheat, walnut shells and safflower seeds. The litter I personally have been using for almost a year is corn based and you can buy it here. An 18-pound bag easily lasts as long as 30-pounds of clay litter and, in my opinion, controls odor much better.

Biodegradable Litter

• Comes from a renewable, sustainable source
• Virtually dust free
• Weighs about half as much as clumping clay litter
• Superior odor control
• No silica dust so healthier for your cat
• Safe if ingested during grooming

Biodegradable litters can be composted if you are so inclined. I wrote about that, well, actually my cat wrote about that, here. Keep in mind that even if you use biodegradable litter, it still stays in the landfill pretty much forever if you dispose of it in a plastic bag.

Even biodegradable litter stays in the landfill forever if you dispose of it in a plastic bag. Share on X

Clay Litter

• Strip-mined
• Non-renewable
• Non-biodegradable (it sits in a landfill forever)
• Heavy
• Contains silica dust which can cause health problems for your cat when inhaled
• Dust gets all over everything
• Doesn’t control odor very well
• Can build up in your cat’s digestive system

Pine Pellet Litter

Recently, I began caring for some cats who use pine pellet litter. I am always glad when I find a client using biodegradable litter.

While I was cleaning the litter box, I remembered that I had tried pine pellet litter once many years ago and quit using it because it is so hard to scoop. Unlike other types of litter where you scoop out the clumps, the pine litter falls apart as it absorbs liquids. The litter needs to be sifted rather than scooped and this is very time consuming in a traditional litter box.

Special sifting litter boxes are intended to remedy this. These double boxes allow the wet litter to fall through an insert which holds the intact pellets. I tried one of these, too, many years ago and found them somewhat unsatisfactory. Mostly, they were just plain too small and the sides were too low, which is the case with litter boxes in general.

DIY Pine Pellet Litter Box

What actually prompted me to write this post is a pin I saw on Pinterest. The blogger at Meow Lifestyle created her own wood pellet litter box. She used plastic storage boxes, similar to the ones I’ve used for my litter boxes for years, so I really like the project. The boxes are large and the sides are high which gives your cat plenty of room and keeps more litter in the box. Click on the link for complete instructions.

 

What type of litter do you use? If you use biodegradable, do you compost it? If you try this project, let me know how it works for you.

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If you are not up for making your own box, here are a few suggestions.