For anyone still doing this - I find it 10x easier to get a litterbox where there's two trays on top of eachother & the top tray has the sifting holes. Then you can literally just pick the whole thing up once a day and shake it for 15 seconds and you're done - no need to pour between two boxes and there's still no smell. The bottom tray could last up to a week depending on how many cats you have.
The 38 thumbs down for this video are clearly part of the International Litter Consortium...great video. Already using pine, but your system is a game changer.
@@alainbaatjies5943 I have not had any issues with sawdust tracking through my house. I occasionally have some around my litter boxes because one of my cats likes to dig in the litter and will kick it outside the box. I found clay litter was terrible for tracking through my house.
I switched to pellets because my clumping litter Tidy Cat I used for years...no longer clumps. There is nothing worse than urine soaked clumping litter that breaks apart and spreads all over the clean litter!!! And it started sticking to the bottom and sides of the cat box. Did TIdy Cat change its litter formula??? I tried wheat kitty litter, all kinds and some were worse than others. I tried so many brands...just gave up. Found out about pellets on-line and didn't look back. I do have one resistant older cat but working on it. If the litter consortium wants my business back ...their litter needs to clump in urine like it used to and lower price.
I’m a non-cat person who landed up fostering a sweet cat and her three kittens. We were advised to use pine pellets because of the kittens and I’m pretty impressed. We bought a sifting pan set at Walmart for cheap (two pans, a fitted sifting tray and a ledge) and it’s a bit of work to sift each day but not bad at all. Most importantly we have it in our living room to be close to the kittens and it doesn’t really smell of anything but pine. Compared to family cats who use clumping litter the smell is night and day.
I use pine horse bedding pellets as well. I was only scooping and tossing everything out every week. As you know you can't scoop the pine dust. Thank you for the sifting idea! ( 20 - 30 cats at any given time in the cat sanctuary.)
I just switched our cat over to this method and so far, things are working exactly as you described. We now live in Portugal, but I'm able to get 15KG bags of pellets for about €5.00 (about 33 pounds for $5.50 USD). I was able to find a sifting litter box on Amazon for about $25, and that works great. So far, easy to maintain, no noticeable smell, and no more little chunks of clay litter pellets scattered everywhere. Thanks for cluing me into this much better way!
@@viperomen914 My cat is pretty adaptable, so we switched cold turkey and he was fine. I still have a bag of his old clay litter, just in case, but never actually needed it. Same litterbox and location, just pellets instead of clay litter.
Just the video I was looking for! Thank you. I am in a search for a litter solution that will eliminate the dust that is coating all the surfaces in my bathroom and using wood pellets looks like an ideal solution.
Almost the same here, I took away the tray for pee pads from the breeze system and put one of these blue boxes under it to collect the sawdust. I empty the sawdust just once every other week, and the only daily task is to scoop out the poop. This made it even simpler for me! :)
“Sometimes it smells like you’re in a wood shop or whatever, but I find that more pleasant...” I actually LOVE the smell of lumber mills/wood shops/etc, so I am uber excited to be trying this litter box method out this weekend.
It's a great system. You can't compost edibles with carnivore waste because of bacteria. If using for ornamentals you may have to add lime for some plants, as pine is somewhat acidic.
Great video thank you. I'm playing host to 10 cats to help a friend who's relocating. I am losing the kitty litter battle. I have to try this out. Thank you. 😸
Scarlet, you are on a good track, but you deserve this, for all of your hard work! This is the next generation: th-cam.com/video/gjZFrTHXwr4/w-d-xo.html
Wood pellets are the best! I wish someone told me to use it sooner. It's true, the best part is the smell. All I smell is wood now which I don't mind at all.
They really are the best! My husband tried to convince me to switch a long time ago but I thought using wood pellets sounded strange so I didn't want to switch. I'm glad I finally took the time to do some research about them because that is what made me switch from clay litter. Best decision I ever made!
@@lorrainekiely4642 You can try the brand I'm using. It's from Tractor Supply Co, that's the brand name as well as the store. It's a big green bag and says "Pelletized Bedding for horses and small animals." I found that it smells a lot better than the pellets I've tried specifically branded for cats. Maybe it would cover up the urine smell better.
This is genius. I spend $15.99 every two weeks for my 8 cats. And scooping out the pee clumps each time is SUCH a pain. Since we do it twice, sometimes three times a day if our schedules allow. These seems much easier.
Damn girl 8. People always seemed so shocked when I tell them I have 5 cats but to me it's so normal now to have that many. The cat litter is definitely the worse part. I probably spend easily up to 25$ a month in litter and constantly scooping and changing isn't fun at all. The things we put up with for our fur babies...
I have used pellets for over 10 years now. I haven't had good luck with the feed store pellets. Some types are treated with a preservative that does smell. I prefer Feline Pine and I use an old collander I got from the thrift store to sift the sawdust out.
I didn’t realize cat poop was something that you’d put in the compost bin but that’s good to know. Just got 2 kittens and they are going through a LOT of litter and it’s really quite expensive so thank you for sharing your system
I love it and the way you explained everything step by step. I'm going next week to tractor supply to get the pellets. And you're right, the odor from regular litter is unbearable and it's so expensive. Thank you for a great video.
It really is! I hardly every have to do a deep clean of my litter box because nothing sticks to it! I'm happy to hear that you found a system that works for you.
I get the 40 pound bags of Easy Heat Wood Pellets for Under $4.50 at Farm & Fleet. Its says Wood Fuel Pellets on the bag, but its safe for cat litter. There is nothing in it besides wood. Been using it for over a year. I have 2 cats and they have no problems using it. No Smell, just fresh wood. I usually get about 3 of the 40 pound bags. It lasts me about 6 months.
I've used the modified Breeze box system where I place puppy pee pads in the bottom tray and dispose of the pad & "sawdust" at the same time. This looks like a method where I could remove the pee pad and make the system less expensive. Thank you for this video!!
our pet store recommended the finer pine litter because of the style of sifting pan our princess cat did not like the feel or smell at first but we added a thin layer of reg litter on top and will gradually reduce it. we do see less odour
Most cats have a hard time with the feel or smell of wood pellets at first, I recommend transitioning your cats instead just switching over right away. You can do this by placing a tray of regular litter next to a tray of wood pellets, mix some of the used litter in with the pellets to transfer the smell. Over the next week or so reduce the amount of litter in the tray and move the regular litter away from the pellets keeping the wood pellets in the original litter spot. After about a week remove the litter tray all together, it might take a few days for your cats to adjust but they will get used to it. Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions.
In our area we cannot put pet waste into the green bins. We have to either flush the waste down the toilet or put it into the garbage. The sawdust we can put it into our green bin for collection which is great! This looks like a great system and a lot more cost effective than the usual cat litter.
Hi there! Thank you for the comment. The city I live in recently started the compost program and allows us to include all pet waste, including regular kitty litter into our compost bins. You could definetly put the solid waste into the garbage but I am not sure I would flush it incase there are wood pellets attached to it. I really do love the cost savings with this system, we were spending $600+/year on regular cat litter that was heavy, dusty, smelly and messy. Now we spend around $30/year for these pellets!
If you pick out the poo you can flush that down but I would not put the pellets in the toilet - it will likely mess with the plumbing, since coffee grounds do and they are much finer.
Thank you! It was good to hear that theirs no smell.. I'm looking for a new way because of the horrid smell and I was worried that the sifting part world be too hard..
Just started using wood pellets. Just poured the pellets in to the litter box and didn't know they would turn in to sawdust. I have a VERY large little box 24x36! Not sure how to shake out the sawdust just yet...haha. Thanks for the video, it helped.
this litter really is great i bought a bag of feline pine because my walmart did not have any paper based litters wich i was wanting something super safe for my kittens first litter and got this i sift it every other day and when i need more pellets ill go to my local farm store and buy a 40lb bag for cheaper
That is great to hear! I always recommend buying from a farm supply store because you get twice the amount of pellets for the same price as the Walmart bag.
thank you for this video. I have 2 cats but getting a 3rd in 2 weeks. I have never seen this type of litter tray before. it's a bit expensive to start out with but it looks really good. I shall invest!
Thanks for demonstrating another take on the wood pellet litter system. I have three cats and spend a fortune on litter each month. When I use up the Tidy Cat I have stock piled, I am switching over to this method. My senior female cat has kidney issues and pees a LOT (in clumping litter it is the size of half a volley ball!). Wondering how this will work for her. I know you can’t answer that...just pontificating. 🤔
My six month old kitten was peeing like half of the litter box each time and drinking constantly. Turns out he is diabetic and now has to take insulin shots 2 times a day. Just in case, lots of urine is a sign.
@@radianceunveiled Yes! Raw diet has made a world of a difference to my pets too. Dry food and even wet food has unnecessary carbs that cause diabetes and urinary problems.
@@cbakerazle I would try a raw diet and no doubt meds won’t be needed. You can just buy raw ground meat, liver, and a cat food pre-mix (look this up online - I use TC Feline) that is super easy to make. Freeze in 1/4 cup silicone molds, pop out into a bag, 2 of those per day for an average cat. Bingo. Super soft fur, no odour of any kind, including poop. So good for them. No carbs since cats don’t need them. Kibble is the worst. It is much too dry and causes urinary problems too. No disrespect intended. The pet food companies do nothing but lie for $$. Lots of info out there so you can check for yourself.
I am now using this same system. Love it! Thanks for sharing. I wish I could find another breeze sifter at another garage sale. Would be nice to have two.
@@paigealexandra2692 If you live in Canada like I do, you can't get them for under $100 on Amazon. They don't sell this system here in Canada so it is pretty pricey to have it shipped. When I first got the system it cost me about $50 on Amazon but the price has gone up in the past few years. I had intended to use the whole system for the wood pellets but it did not work well so I just used the sifting tray instead.
@@Megsop79 I feel that lol! Canadian here, the price is like $150 CAD 😭 can not justify buying one knowing it goes for $40 USD in the states. Trying to find a good sifting solution right now. Do you reckon those hand crank metal flour sifters would work on the sawdust? I'm considering that but think the holes might be too fine for the sawdust.
we use this method as well and i recommend it to everyone...going to share your video for demonstration purposes!! stepping on a wood pellet hurts like the dickens!! lol
Thank you. That sieving idea is great IL keep the cost down by using a Tesco bag with holes in it and another without holes on top of it hehe thanks again
I use wood pellet horse bedding as well. No Dust! Barely any smell and cheaper. I live on almost 5 acres and can sift it, throw away the poo and the rest is either in my wood pile. Can also be burned in burn barrels if dried out enough.🌞
Thanks for the video very informative I'm going to get me a Rubbermaid container and a big scoop like you have and I've already made my mind up on the wood pellets have a great day
I use , (EASY BEDDING PELLETS) PREMIUM PINE ,white bag that the horse race tracks use and it lasts 4 times longer than the tractor supply green bag bedding AND, all you gotta do is take out the poop and mix around the remains till you smell a slight ammonia smell which will be several weeks ( 10 cats in one room ) in a 32" x 15" tub.I have 2 tubs in one room and this system works well.The pine smell is activated real well with this name brand .That way your not throwing away good lets call it saw dust .
Yes I have tried a few times but I find that sometimes you can get a bit of a dust cloud from the sawdust and that is something I would rather not breathe in. Thank you so much for commenting, I really appreciate the feedback :)
A beautiful stray galcat showed up at my house few days ago and once inside, refused to leave! so i will get the pellets tomorrow, i have a litter pan but no sifting tray; i will just scoop out the peed sawdust clumps and solid waste; hope that works.
hello! i was wondering how the pellets work incase the cats have diarrhea? and i also generally wanted to ask how or if the smell gets absorbed when they poo
There are actual sifting litter boxes that you could get where is you just shake it around for a moment, it sifts it and you don't have to pour from one pan to another.
I have tried a few different brands but I find that the holes are usually too big and the wood pellets just fall through, they are meant to be used with clumping kitty litter. I haven't found one that is specifically meant for wood pellets yet but I am always on the hunt for a good one. If you know of one that I could try, please leave me a link here!
I heard it suppose to last longer and save u money, I am going to try it. Just put in an order. Not because of this video but have been thinking about it for months now
I bought a 40lb bag meant for horse stalls. When I got it home I discovered it had a very strong scent, almost like oil based paint. After a while it dissipated but the initial odor was quite strong. Still not sure how the cat will respond to it.
i agree the smell especially cat pee is always smell worse in a usual sand litter box (zeolite or bentonite), but with this wood pellet, i it's better. and also, the wood smells like wood, so it actually nice odour they already have...
@@Megsop79 i have 6 cats, 2 outdoors, 4 indoors. So yeah... it's cheap too. And here in my city we have local made pellet, so quite handy and easy to get.
🙋🏽♀️ Question? I have been using this system since I discovered your video last year. Do you ever find that small pieces of pellets get stuck in between the grates?
Occasionally they do. Every once in a while I take a knife and just clear out the pieces that get stuck in my sifter. Some of the brands of wood pellets are worse than others for the small pieces.
Lol. I work in a pellet plant 😊. I figure 140 full 5 gallon buckets will cover my wife's life time needs for kitty litter. I use the 1/4 wire dish dryer at dollarama. 4$. Sift it over a dollars tore litter box to catch the crumble. Tongs for the poop. Dump the brand new pellets back in. I lean the poop out often. Sift every 4 days. Plan to never go back to clay
I’m so going to try this system! I’m a new kitty owner and he leaves litter everywhere in the house omggggg it’s a lot of work to clean everyday but this will be a life changer thank you!
Is the sawdust like airborne everywhere? The litter I use doesn't create a mushrooms of dust up in the air. That's my main concern as I'm weary of inhaling it when cleaning the litter box. I want to switch to this method because her paws drag litter inside home
Can someone tell me why you wouldnt just use the Breeze litter box as is with the tray but just use the wood pellets instead of the ones they come with? Why modify the bottom? I just bought one and feel terrible throwing away the bottom part with the drawer. Thanks!
I was wondering if I had to throw the dust away after it's been used, or can I use it in the garden somewhere outside put it in the yard instead of just throwing it in the garbage can?? Thanks
for some reason i always end up having urine with the saw dust.. it s like the pellets dont have time to absorb before it falls at the bottom. I might have to buy pads... any suggestions?
I though you weren’t supposed to compost cat litter because of bacteria or something? CN you elaborate on this because I’d love to be able to compost more!
In my city it is part of the city compost program, we are allowed to include pet waste and litter. I know you shouldn't put cat litter in compost that will be in contact with food items because there is a bacteria in cat feces that can be toxic.
Thank you so much! Im just trying it out today for the first time in my two cats took to it no problem. Can we flush the sawdust, as my litter is pretty close to the toilet?
I just bought a 38 pound bag of arm and hammer clump and seal. Works great but I can smell it the moment I walk in. Not even of cats. Just its natural smell. Ugh. I am concerned about how the pellets feel on the cats paws.
Why not just leave the green sifting tray on top of the blue bin? The saw dust will naturally fall through the green sifter as it forms and as cats dig around in it .....less work sifting for the pet parent
This is what I don’t get, if you look online all the sifting cat trays have 3 layers, a bottom bin, a middle bin which is where the sifting is supposed to go and the top bin but it’s more work to lift them up into the other tray rather than leaving the sifting one on top which is what I do with my tray, my tray came with 3 layers but you put the sifting one on top.
I originally tried it like that but I found that the urine was not coming into contact with the wood pellets and just falling through the sifter. It was causing a lot of bad odors because the urine was just sitting there. This way the urine is being absorbed by the wood pellets and not staying wet so there is no smell.
@@Megsop79 I see. I saw another video like yours later but she glued "legs' under the sifter so it sat up higher from the bottom pan to allow dust to naturally settle down into the lower pan. She still sifted though but not everyday since most dust fell into bottom pan. She used one pan and one sifter...that is it. She glued 5 PVC pipe "caps" to the bottom of the sifter (4 caps in each sifter corner and one in the middle of sifter so when cat stepped into it it did not bow) and set the sifter down into the lower pan. Those caps were expensive on Amazon so I just recycled 5 of those "plastic ey" small Chef Boyardee beef ravioli cups (the ones with plastic red caps with holes in them and a medal rim (put them into pan with rim down.). I did not use the lids but will. I am going to paint the lids with that rough sand paint I used on my deck cement steps (have some paint left over in can) Home Depot sells it in a spray can also. Once I paint the red lids with that sand no slip porch/step paint, I will put the lids on all 5 chef boyardee cups and place them lid own into the bottom of pan and put sifter on top. My litter box came with 2 pans and 1 sifter but I just keep 2 pans together with sifter on top and don't use the spare bottom pan at all. (t will be a spare) but I could use it if I wanted to glue the cups to the bottom of sifter. This works well for me. I purchased a different litter sifter system than you use and my sifter does not look like yours. Your video helped me go with pellets. THANK YOU! (I do have one resistant cat but working on it/she is very old and set in her ways)
I don't know about some people but for me, I was hoping the wood pellet litter option would be a great solution compared to the clumping kitty litter that I was using but it's not as good as I was hoping unfortunately. At least not from an efficiency standpoint. From a financial standpoint the wood pellets are about half the cost in comparison to what I was using previously so I'm all for trying to use the wood pellets but so far, I have not been impressed based on my experience over the last week. The reason being, the cats do not always cover their poop and as a result it can just sit on top of the pine pellets and it smells. If the litter box is in a smaller room and you have multiple cats, this can obviously be unpleasant. In my case, I have 12 full grown cats and I have 3 regular sized clear storage totes that are a typical 58 quart capacity. Mine just happen to be a Sterlite brand that are 12" x 23 1/2" x 17". I was previously using the brand Special Kitty clumping litter that was $12.88 from Walmart for a 40 lb box which actually lasts me about a week between three different totes and sometimes I can get a week and a half to two weeks out of it depending on how much the cats use the litter boxes and also I use some baby powder which helps with the moisture and the smell at the same time usually though, I go through a 40 lb box every week. This is actually the best clumping litter I have found for the price based on how good it is for clumping purposes but also for the amount you get and it smells good as well. There are other brands that have similar clumping litter but they are usually two to three times the cost and only come in 20 pound containers or smaller usually. In my opinion, this is probably the best stuff for the price (for clumping litter) and it actually smells very good. By comparison, I can get a 40 lb bag of the wood pellets for $5.99 from a local Menards which is basically a home improvement store like Lowe's or Home Depot but is even cheaper for pretty much everything. It's actually just as big as far as the size of each store for the most part and is normally a chain that is located in the middle to Upper Midwest area so a lot of people in other areas of the country may have not heard of this chain. Anyway, the problem I run into that I think a lot of other people have probably ran into with the pellet litter option is that it's difficult to sift the cat poop out without also sifting out the pellets at the same time. As an example, if the cat's poop is hard and round then it's not so bad but if for some reason they are having a little bit kind of runny poop then the poop will sometimes obviously stick together with the wood pellets. But, the problem is, when you are sifting out the sawdust and trying to separate the sawdust from the wood pellets, then the cat's poop clumps are going to stay behind as well which makes it difficult to remove in an efficient manner because then you have to take another step to remove the cat poop. It's not nearly as quick as using a typical kitty litter scoop to sift through the wood pellets like you could just having the clumped cat poop or cat pee stay behind and the rest of the kitty litter sift through the kitty litter sifter into a litter box or tote in typical clumping litter situations. So, I am looking for a better solution to try to figure out how to make this process go even faster with the wood pellets. Before anybody comments on the amount of totes that I am using compared to the amount of cats that I have, please refrain from commenting because I'm well aware that a lot of people's opinions are that you are supposed to have at least one litter box for each cat and sometimes 2 litter boxes per cat because it has been said that some cats like to urinate in one box and poop in the other so they don't like to use the same box for the same bathroom break. I'm aware of this. But, I'm also aware that a lot of other people use only a few litter boxes when they have quite a few cats. I am unfortunately cleaning my litter boxes regularly so it's not necessarily a fun task having to do this with this many cats but it is what it is. We all make our choices obviously. The other issue I'm aware that I am having an issue with is some of the cats having runny poop which I may or may not be able to fix unfortunately. Sometimes the poop is more runny but that's unfortunately because I may decide to be a naughty person and give them some of my human food which I know we are not supposed to do so I'm aware that this happens at certain times. Most of the time when the poop is runny, it's not too bad but it is bad enough that it's not necessarily desirable when trying to clean it out of the wood pellets. I have used numerous cat foods at the same time to try to give them options so that they could pick and choose what they would like and I know some people could try to make the argument that this is what's actually causing the problem because their diet is being changed because they have the option to switch between different cat foods but the reason I do this is because I believe there may be one or two of my cats that have a sensitive stomach or don't particularly care for some of the cat food that I leave so I can't just have one type of cat food out for all of my cats. If I do, then I don't believe some of my cats are eating as much and I don't want them to not eat as much so I would rather give them the option to eat the food that they like and deal with the consequences that way. Also, I do get them sensitive stomach food from Purina and hairball formula as well as other things from the brand Temptations and so on. And besides that, I do want to give them options so they do have options. Anyway, if somebody has a better suggestion of how to remove the cat poop from the pine pellets without having to take extra time and work to remove the poop when using a litter scoop, I would be interested to hear what that is. I'm also aware that we can make a sifter out of a screen that we could get at a hardware store so I get that this is also an option as well but those screens allow the pellets to go through as well in some cases. So, I'm not sure that that is the best option either.
I’m currently in the transition from clay to pine so I can’t really say if I’ll have these issues or not just yet, but to make pine work as efficiently as possible a good sifting litter box is a 100% must and no better one then actually DIY as most on the market are just to expensive or simply to small, as for the smell unfortunately many cats tend to not cover up the poop on pine as they would on clay litters so it’s going to unfortunately smell until cleaned or covered by the cats as for when cats have runny poop I heard it’s best to let it dry or simply throw it out with whatever pellets it touched you can also use the bag over your hand method instead of a scooper, but Amazon also sells some good scooper that have the cutouts just wide enough to let the pellets fall through
There are a few different sifters out there that you could use, you might need to try one with bigger holes in it. You just need to watch the size though because the holes can be so big that the pellets drop through.
Love the video. Why not find a container that you can sit the strainer into with room underneath for sawdust to fall into. So no transferring of pellets needed
Hi there, I have tried a few trays but didn't have great success with them. I found that either the holes were too big and the pellets would fall through or the holes were too small and the sawdust would clog them up or just the urine would fall through creating major smell. I am currently researching trays from a few different companies and will following up with another video soon. If there is a tray that you would suggest, I would love to give it a try! Thank you for your comment!
How often do you change the kitty box i have 2 siamese cats and i litterally have to do it everyday with regular kitty litter if i skip a day it so full they can’t use it. Deft gonna try this
I just got a kitten and he's been playing in the litter (sand) which I dislike a lot because he gets on my bed after :( he's had poop stuck so I'm going to try this litter and hopefully it stops him from that
Why don’t u leave the sieve box on top and solid base on bottom? My cat digs before poos and poo touches sides or bottom and then I have to chuck all pellets n wash tray! How doesn’t yours become smeared with poo, even when u scoop it ?
I usually clean my tray about once a month if I need to but I don't really find that there is anything stuck to my tray. I do find that when the poop comes in contact with the wood pellets it dries it out a bit so it doesn't stick. When I scoop the poop out of the bin I do have to chuck full pellets with it but it is usually not that much.
I’m considering this solely because the litter gets stuck between our cat’s toes and they shake their paws out everywhere so we find litter all over. Do these pellets stay in the litter box?
Hi Kim. I used the tidy cats litter breeze system www.tidycats.com/products/litter-boxes/breeze-litter-system. I bought the whole kit to try and use with the wood pellets but it didn't work very well. The urine would just fall through the grates and pool in the bottom pan, this became very messy and started to smell bad so I switched to regular kitty litter trays and just use the sifting tray from that system to sift the pellets.
@@Megsop79 i use the whole system but put a large puppy pad under in a bigger litter box underneath and it works great. There is a video th-cam.com/video/HGhQc-B3euM/w-d-xo.html
I have adopted this system. Thank you we love it. We are using non chemical hard wood pellets. We are not using pine as we heard pine can make cats sick. We are using the three tray system. We use about 2 or 3 inches of pellets in the top tray. poo is fine but the urine smell is horrific! Our sawdust is wet from the urine and omg the smell. We put bottle caps between the trays to give it some air. Can anyone help with the smell? Baking soda doesnt help.
BEEN USING THIS SYSTEM FOR 2 MONTHS NOW AND MY TWO CATS TOOK TO IT RIGHT AWAY AND DON'T GET SICK FROM THE PINE...THE PINE HAS A WOODSHOP SMELL .. GOT MINE FROM TRACTOR SUPPLY.
I raised 5 kittens on this with no problems. Introduced it at around the 4 week stage, (can’t recall exactly when) in small cardboard boxes - like those from canning jars. Whatever time they start using a litter box. Worked perfectly.
Scarlet, you mentioned you have 3 cats that use this one pan but have 4 cats. What does the other cat use? I have 4 as well & am worried they all won't transition (especially the male).
For anyone still doing this - I find it 10x easier to get a litterbox where there's two trays on top of eachother & the top tray has the sifting holes. Then you can literally just pick the whole thing up once a day and shake it for 15 seconds and you're done - no need to pour between two boxes and there's still no smell. The bottom tray could last up to a week depending on how many cats you have.
The 38 thumbs down for this video are clearly part of the International Litter Consortium...great video. Already using pine, but your system is a game changer.
Could also be someone like me: four cats, none of which uses the pellets. (But no, I didn’t give a thumbs down).
The saw dust tracking from wood litter gets everywhere. Other than that I would use it.
@@alainbaatjies5943 I have not had any issues with sawdust tracking through my house. I occasionally have some around my litter boxes because one of my cats likes to dig in the litter and will kick it outside the box. I found clay litter was terrible for tracking through my house.
I switched to pellets because my clumping litter Tidy Cat I used for years...no longer clumps. There is nothing worse than urine soaked clumping litter that breaks apart and spreads all over the clean litter!!! And it started sticking to the bottom and sides of the cat box. Did TIdy Cat change its litter formula??? I tried wheat kitty litter, all kinds and some were worse than others. I tried so many brands...just gave up. Found out about pellets on-line and didn't look back. I do have one resistant older cat but working on it. If the litter consortium wants my business back ...their litter needs to clump in urine like it used to and lower price.
@@Megsop79 Agreed.
I’m a non-cat person who landed up fostering a sweet cat and her three kittens. We were advised to use pine pellets because of the kittens and I’m pretty impressed. We bought a sifting pan set at Walmart for cheap (two pans, a fitted sifting tray and a ledge) and it’s a bit of work to sift each day but not bad at all. Most importantly we have it in our living room to be close to the kittens and it doesn’t really smell of anything but pine. Compared to family cats who use clumping litter the smell is night and day.
Having no smell from the litter box really does make a difference!
I use pine horse bedding pellets as well. I was only scooping and tossing everything out every week. As you know you can't scoop the pine dust. Thank you for the sifting idea! ( 20 - 30 cats at any given time in the cat sanctuary.)
Oh wow! This is definitely a great product for all of those cats! Hope this was able to help, let me know if you have any questions.
I just switched our cat over to this method and so far, things are working exactly as you described. We now live in Portugal, but I'm able to get 15KG bags of pellets for about €5.00 (about 33 pounds for $5.50 USD). I was able to find a sifting litter box on Amazon for about $25, and that works great. So far, easy to maintain, no noticeable smell, and no more little chunks of clay litter pellets scattered everywhere. Thanks for cluing me into this much better way!
How did you transition your cat? Or did you just switch cold turkey?
@@viperomen914 My cat is pretty adaptable, so we switched cold turkey and he was fine. I still have a bag of his old clay litter, just in case, but never actually needed it. Same litterbox and location, just pellets instead of clay litter.
You are so smart! I was going to DIY 3 sifting litter boxes but this is much smarter and less expensive! Thank you!
Awesome! I am happy to help!
SnowBeautyQueen have you found any DIY sifting litter boxes videos? Can you kindly share the link to me? Thank you
@@abc-bq3ze check out this video. Im using her system, its the best! Pine litter as well th-cam.com/video/HGhQc-B3euM/w-d-xo.html
@@cynollie5598 thanks!
I use the same system with the pine pellets and I think it is healthier for the kitties. Thank you for the demo.
Just the video I was looking for! Thank you. I am in a search for a litter solution that will eliminate the dust that is coating all the surfaces in my bathroom and using wood pellets looks like an ideal solution.
Almost the same here, I took away the tray for pee pads from the breeze system and put one of these blue boxes under it to collect the sawdust. I empty the sawdust just once every other week, and the only daily task is to scoop out the poop. This made it even simpler for me! :)
Oh I like that idea even better!
Thank you!!!! I can now finally afford to put my cats on oral flea meds. You are a God send
There are natural ways to keep fleas & ticks off pets too.
“Sometimes it smells like you’re in a wood shop or whatever, but I find that more pleasant...”
I actually LOVE the smell of lumber mills/wood shops/etc, so I am uber excited to be trying this litter box method out this weekend.
Yea wood smells good but not when it’s combined with ammonia shit and piss
It's a great system. You can't compost edibles with carnivore waste because of bacteria. If using for ornamentals you may have to add lime for some plants, as pine is somewhat acidic.
Great video thank you. I'm playing host to 10 cats to help a friend who's relocating. I am losing the kitty litter battle. I have to try this out. Thank you. 😸
Update: oh my goodness what a night and day difference. Thank you so much! I can reclaim my home again. 😊
Wow! 10 cats! I am happy that you found a great solution to the kitty litter battle!
@@tadarth7 th-cam.com/video/gjZFrTHXwr4/w-d-xo.html
Scarlet, you are on a good track, but you deserve this, for all of your hard work! This is the next generation:
th-cam.com/video/gjZFrTHXwr4/w-d-xo.html
This is not just a better smell. Normal kitty litter has toxic fumes from awful cheap perfume. This kind of litter is life-changing.
Wood pellets are the best! I wish someone told me to use it sooner. It's true, the best part is the smell. All I smell is wood now which I don't mind at all.
They really are the best! My husband tried to convince me to switch a long time ago but I thought using wood pellets sounded strange so I didn't want to switch. I'm glad I finally took the time to do some research about them because that is what made me switch from clay litter. Best decision I ever made!
I am using non chemical wood pellets. The urine smell is horrific. Any advice?
@@lorrainekiely4642 You can try the brand I'm using. It's from Tractor Supply Co, that's the brand name as well as the store. It's a big green bag and says "Pelletized Bedding for horses and small animals." I found that it smells a lot better than the pellets I've tried specifically branded for cats. Maybe it would cover up the urine smell better.
This is genius. I spend $15.99 every two weeks for my 8 cats. And scooping out the pee clumps each time is SUCH a pain. Since we do it twice, sometimes three times a day if our schedules allow. These seems much easier.
Damn girl 8. People always seemed so shocked when I tell them I have 5 cats but to me it's so normal now to have that many. The cat litter is definitely the worse part. I probably spend easily up to 25$ a month in litter and constantly scooping and changing isn't fun at all. The things we put up with for our fur babies...
I have used pellets for over 10 years now. I haven't had good luck with the feed store pellets. Some types are treated with a preservative that does smell. I prefer Feline Pine and I use an old collander I got from the thrift store to sift the sawdust out.
I didn’t realize cat poop was something that you’d put in the compost bin but that’s good to know. Just got 2 kittens and they are going through a LOT of litter and it’s really quite expensive so thank you for sharing your system
Literally, wood pellets are what makes rescuing cats affordable. 🎉
This was SO helpful. I am a wood pellet convert!
I love it and the way you explained everything step by step.
I'm going next week to tractor supply to get the pellets.
And you're right, the odor from regular litter is unbearable and it's so expensive.
Thank you for a great video.
This is the best way to manage a litter box. It's cheap, doesn't smell, and it's CLEAN!!!
It really is! I hardly every have to do a deep clean of my litter box because nothing sticks to it! I'm happy to hear that you found a system that works for you.
I get the 40 pound bags of Easy Heat Wood Pellets for Under $4.50 at Farm & Fleet. Its says Wood Fuel Pellets on the bag, but its safe for cat litter. There is nothing in it besides wood. Been using it for over a year. I have 2 cats and they have no problems using it. No Smell, just fresh wood. I usually get about 3 of the 40 pound bags. It lasts me about 6 months.
You dont smell the urine?
This is awesome! I have 3 cats and I contantly feel like I am losing the litter battle. Gonna try it for sure
That is great to hear! If you have any questions, please let me know. I am always happy to help.
I've used the modified Breeze box system where I place puppy pee pads in the bottom tray and dispose of the pad & "sawdust" at the same time. This looks like a method where I could remove the pee pad and make the system less expensive. Thank you for this video!!
our pet store recommended the finer pine litter because of the style of sifting pan our princess cat did not like the feel or smell at first but we added a thin layer of reg litter on top and will gradually reduce it. we do see less odour
Most cats have a hard time with the feel or smell of wood pellets at first, I recommend transitioning your cats instead just switching over right away. You can do this by placing a tray of regular litter next to a tray of wood pellets, mix some of the used litter in with the pellets to transfer the smell. Over the next week or so reduce the amount of litter in the tray and move the regular litter away from the pellets keeping the wood pellets in the original litter spot. After about a week remove the litter tray all together, it might take a few days for your cats to adjust but they will get used to it. Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions.
@@Megsop79 we put a thin layer of regular cat litter on top. we will gradually reduce this.after the first sift it mixes in
Good job on your video. I just started using the pine pellets and already saving money. Such a relief!
Well done! Time to start saving money and time.
In our area we cannot put pet waste into the green bins. We have to either flush the waste down the toilet or put it into the garbage. The sawdust we can put it into our green bin for collection which is great! This looks like a great system and a lot more cost effective than the usual cat litter.
Hi there! Thank you for the comment. The city I live in recently started the compost program and allows us to include all pet waste, including regular kitty litter into our compost bins. You could definetly put the solid waste into the garbage but I am not sure I would flush it incase there are wood pellets attached to it. I really do love the cost savings with this system, we were spending $600+/year on regular cat litter that was heavy, dusty, smelly and messy. Now we spend around $30/year for these pellets!
@@Megsop79 Where I live they will take the sawdust but not any other cat waste. That will help instead of putting it into the garbage.
If you pick out the poo you can flush that down but I would not put the pellets in the toilet - it will likely mess with the plumbing, since coffee grounds do and they are much finer.
Thank you! It was good to hear that theirs no smell.. I'm looking for a new way because of the horrid smell and I was worried that the sifting part world be too hard..
The sifting is really easy when you have the right tools! I find it easier to clean than clay litter.
@@Megsop79 gosh that's good to know thanks!
Just started using wood pellets. Just poured the pellets in to the litter box and didn't know they would turn in to sawdust. I have a VERY large little box 24x36! Not sure how to shake out the sawdust just yet...haha. Thanks for the video, it helped.
Thank you so much. I'm going crazy with the smell and dust everywhere. I'm definitely going to get wood pellets.
That is great! Let me know if you have any questions, I am always happy to help!
What about the preference of your cats????? More selfish humans!!!!!
this litter really is great i bought a bag of feline pine because my walmart did not have any paper based litters wich i was wanting something super safe for my kittens first litter and got this i sift it every other day and when i need more pellets ill go to my local farm store and buy a 40lb bag for cheaper
That is great to hear! I always recommend buying from a farm supply store because you get twice the amount of pellets for the same price as the Walmart bag.
Latisha - Does the Feline Pine work the same way? Does it turn into saw dust basically?
Yes it turns to sawdust but it's more cost friendly to buy a bag of equine pellets for horses it's the same stuff and you get way more for way less
Great video. Thank you. Love the cost saving advice. My son is in charge of supplying the litter. He'll be happy about the price differences. :)
Saving money is the best part about this system! I hope it works for you.
Thank you so much I hope ease finds you when ever you need it. I understood the process now. 🙏
This actually works!! I switched over this week. :) it smells so much better.
Life changing advice not kidding. Thank you miss.
Thank you...I like this better than the sifting trays...definitely will try this and save money on litter ...excellent!!!
I am happy to help, if you have any questions please let me know!
thank you for this video. I have 2 cats but getting a 3rd in 2 weeks. I have never seen this type of litter tray before. it's a bit expensive to start out with but it looks really good. I shall invest!
My setup was a little pricey at first but honestly, it was worth the money. I now only pay $20-30/year for litter!
Thanks for demonstrating another take on the wood pellet litter system. I have three cats and spend a fortune on litter each month. When I use up the Tidy Cat I have stock piled, I am switching over to this method. My senior female cat has kidney issues and pees a LOT (in clumping litter it is the size of half a volley ball!). Wondering how this will work for her. I know you can’t answer that...just pontificating. 🤔
luvslagos do you use un scented wood pellets..those without pine added?
My six month old kitten was peeing like half of the litter box each time and drinking constantly. Turns out he is diabetic and now has to take insulin shots 2 times a day. Just in case, lots of urine is a sign.
When I put my cat on an all raw diet. His diabetes reversed.
@@radianceunveiled Yes! Raw diet has made a world of a difference to my pets too. Dry food and even wet food has unnecessary carbs that cause diabetes and urinary problems.
@@cbakerazle I would try a raw diet and no doubt meds won’t be needed. You can just buy raw ground meat, liver, and a cat food pre-mix (look this up online - I use TC Feline) that is super easy to make. Freeze in 1/4 cup silicone molds, pop out into a bag, 2 of those per day for an average cat. Bingo. Super soft fur, no odour of any kind, including poop. So good for them. No carbs since cats don’t need them. Kibble is the worst. It is much too dry and causes urinary problems too. No disrespect intended. The pet food companies do nothing but lie for $$. Lots of info out there so you can check for yourself.
I am now using this same system. Love it! Thanks for sharing. I wish I could find another breeze sifter at another garage sale. Would be nice to have two.
They have them on amazon
@@paigealexandra2692 i know but i got another for $9 at a garage sale. I would never pay full price for those
@@paigealexandra2692 If you live in Canada like I do, you can't get them for under $100 on Amazon. They don't sell this system here in Canada so it is pretty pricey to have it shipped. When I first got the system it cost me about $50 on Amazon but the price has gone up in the past few years. I had intended to use the whole system for the wood pellets but it did not work well so I just used the sifting tray instead.
@@Megsop79 I feel that lol! Canadian here, the price is like $150 CAD 😭 can not justify buying one knowing it goes for $40 USD in the states. Trying to find a good sifting solution right now. Do you reckon those hand crank metal flour sifters would work on the sawdust? I'm considering that but think the holes might be too fine for the sawdust.
@@4DChess I would try a compost sifter.
we use this method as well and i recommend it to everyone...going to share your video for demonstration purposes!! stepping on a wood pellet hurts like the dickens!! lol
Thank you so much! I have to agree about stepping on the pellets, almost as bad as Lego 😆
@@Megsop79 yes!!!
Thank you. That sieving idea is great IL keep the cost down by using a Tesco bag with holes in it and another without holes on top of it hehe thanks again
Put the sifting device in the litter box and let the cat do the motion to make it fall through and then empty the litter box
I use wood pellet horse bedding as well. No Dust! Barely any smell and cheaper. I live on almost 5 acres and can sift it, throw away the poo and the rest is either in my wood pile. Can also be burned in burn barrels if dried out enough.🌞
Yes it can!
Thanks for the video very informative I'm going to get me a Rubbermaid container and a big scoop like you have and I've already made my mind up on the wood pellets have a great day
I am so glad my video could help! I hope you have had success with your system.
I use , (EASY BEDDING PELLETS) PREMIUM PINE ,white bag that the horse race tracks use and it lasts 4 times longer than the tractor supply green bag bedding AND, all you gotta do is take out the poop and mix around the remains till you smell a slight ammonia smell which will be several weeks ( 10 cats in one room ) in a 32" x 15" tub.I have 2 tubs in one room and this system works well.The pine smell is activated real well with this name brand .That way your not throwing away good lets call it saw dust .
Have you tried to shake the top pan to sift instead of moving the pellets around with scoop - works much faster.
Yes I have tried a few times but I find that sometimes you can get a bit of a dust cloud from the sawdust and that is something I would rather not breathe in. Thank you so much for commenting, I really appreciate the feedback :)
hello, I'm wondering whether I should choose hardwood or softwood pellet for kitty littler.
A beautiful stray galcat showed up at my house few days ago and once inside, refused to leave! so i will get the pellets tomorrow, i have a litter pan but no sifting tray; i will just scoop out the peed sawdust clumps and solid waste; hope that works.
hello! i was wondering how the pellets work incase the cats have diarrhea? and i also generally wanted to ask how or if the smell gets absorbed when they poo
I want to know too!
My mom finally got the wood pellets for the cats. So far she likes that it's way cheaper and there's no smell
That's awesome! The price of wood pellets is what made me decide to switch, finding a litter that didn't smell was definitely a bonus!
What about what the cats want?????
There are actual sifting litter boxes that you could get where is you just shake it around for a moment, it sifts it and you don't have to pour from one pan to another.
I have tried a few different brands but I find that the holes are usually too big and the wood pellets just fall through, they are meant to be used with clumping kitty litter. I haven't found one that is specifically meant for wood pellets yet but I am always on the hunt for a good one. If you know of one that I could try, please leave me a link here!
Thank you for the video demonstration!
Awesome video. Going to definitely try this. Only this is that you did t say why one of your cats wasn’t using this system.
$12 is pretty expensive for a 40lb bag of pellets, most places will have them for under $7.
I heard it suppose to last longer and save u money, I am going to try it. Just put in an order. Not because of this video but have been thinking about it for months now
It’s 6.50 USD
Thank you scarlet. For sure I am switching just because of your video. God bless you are a great help.
Ever been to Petco? It’s probably more
I bought a 40lb bag meant for horse stalls. When I got it home I discovered it had a very strong scent, almost like oil based paint. After a while it dissipated but the initial odor was quite strong. Still not sure how the cat will respond to it.
Thanks so much for this video! I had my first ever cat and I just knew i’m using too much litter XD i’ll try this one out!
You're welcome! I am happy to hear that this video helped you.
This video is super helpful, thanks!
Hi does the poop smell I undertand the pee doesn't thanks in advance
i agree the smell especially cat pee is always smell worse in a usual sand litter box (zeolite or bentonite), but with this wood pellet, i it's better. and also, the wood smells like wood, so it actually nice odour they already have...
I agree! Having 4 cats in our house we could never control the odour with clay litter, since we switched to wood I never notice the smell anymore.
@@Megsop79 i have 6 cats, 2 outdoors, 4 indoors. So yeah... it's cheap too. And here in my city we have local made pellet, so quite handy and easy to get.
🙋🏽♀️ Question? I have been using this system since I discovered your video last year. Do you ever find that small pieces of pellets get stuck in between the grates?
Occasionally they do. Every once in a while I take a knife and just clear out the pieces that get stuck in my sifter. Some of the brands of wood pellets are worse than others for the small pieces.
Is this safe for a 3 month old kitten? Or is it better to use when she is older? Where can I purchase those wood pellets at?
You can buy them at feed stores. They are sold for horse bedding.
Lol. I work in a pellet plant 😊. I figure 140 full 5 gallon buckets will cover my wife's life time needs for kitty litter. I use the 1/4 wire dish dryer at dollarama. 4$. Sift it over a dollars tore litter box to catch the crumble. Tongs for the poop. Dump the brand new pellets back in. I lean the poop out often. Sift every 4 days. Plan to never go back to clay
I’m so going to try this system! I’m a new kitty owner and he leaves litter everywhere in the house omggggg it’s a lot of work to clean everyday but this will be a life changer thank you!
You're welcome, I am always happy to help!
Is the sawdust like airborne everywhere? The litter I use doesn't create a mushrooms of dust up in the air. That's my main concern as I'm weary of inhaling it when cleaning the litter box. I want to switch to this method because her paws drag litter inside home
Can someone tell me why you wouldnt just use the Breeze litter box as is with the tray but just use the wood pellets instead of the ones they come with? Why modify the bottom? I just bought one and feel terrible throwing away the bottom part with the drawer. Thanks!
This is so so helpful! Thank you so much!!!
I was wondering if I had to throw the dust away after it's been used, or can I use it in the garden somewhere outside put it in the yard instead of just throwing it in the garbage can?? Thanks
for some reason i always end up having urine with the saw dust.. it s like the pellets dont have time to absorb before it falls at the bottom. I might have to buy pads... any suggestions?
Is the sawdust bad for the cats, licking their paws or can they breathe the dust in?
I though you weren’t supposed to compost cat litter because of bacteria or something? CN you elaborate on this because I’d love to be able to compost more!
In my city it is part of the city compost program, we are allowed to include pet waste and litter. I know you shouldn't put cat litter in compost that will be in contact with food items because there is a bacteria in cat feces that can be toxic.
How do you get the cats too switch I have one with pellets one with litter afraid to take litter away don’t want them going on the floor
Thank you so much! Im just trying it out today for the first time in my two cats took to it no problem. Can we flush the sawdust, as my litter is pretty close to the toilet?
I wouldn't recommend flushing it. That could cause some issues with your plumbing. Throwing it the garbage or compost is best.
Spero in futuro di vedere i sottotitoli anche in italiano! Grazie mille!
I love the smell of pine would I be able to smell the pine even with a cover on my box ?
I just bought a 38 pound bag of arm and hammer clump and seal. Works great but I can smell it the moment I walk in. Not even of cats. Just its natural smell. Ugh. I am concerned about how the pellets feel on the cats paws.
Great video im using the wood pellets but the instructions on the bag were not very informative on how to empty or clear it.
Why not just leave the green sifting tray on top of the blue bin? The saw dust will naturally fall through the green sifter as it forms and as cats dig around in it .....less work sifting for the pet parent
This is what I don’t get, if you look online all the sifting cat trays have 3 layers, a bottom bin, a middle bin which is where the sifting is supposed to go and the top bin but it’s more work to lift them up into the other tray rather than leaving the sifting one on top which is what I do with my tray, my tray came with 3 layers but you put the sifting one on top.
I originally tried it like that but I found that the urine was not coming into contact with the wood pellets and just falling through the sifter. It was causing a lot of bad odors because the urine was just sitting there. This way the urine is being absorbed by the wood pellets and not staying wet so there is no smell.
@@Megsop79 I see. I saw another video like yours later but she glued "legs' under the sifter so it sat up higher from the bottom pan to allow dust to naturally settle down into the lower pan. She still sifted though but not everyday since most dust fell into bottom pan. She used one pan and one sifter...that is it. She glued 5 PVC pipe "caps" to the bottom of the sifter (4 caps in each sifter corner and one in the middle of sifter so when cat stepped into it it did not bow) and set the sifter down into the lower pan. Those caps were expensive on Amazon so I just recycled 5 of those "plastic ey" small Chef Boyardee beef ravioli cups (the ones with plastic red caps with holes in them and a medal rim (put them into pan with rim down.). I did not use the lids but will. I am going to paint the lids with that rough sand paint I used on my deck cement steps (have some paint left over in can) Home Depot sells it in a spray can also. Once I paint the red lids with that sand no slip porch/step paint, I will put the lids on all 5 chef boyardee cups and place them lid own into the bottom of pan and put sifter on top. My litter box came with 2 pans and 1 sifter but I just keep 2 pans together with sifter on top and don't use the spare bottom pan at all. (t will be a spare) but I could use it if I wanted to glue the cups to the bottom of sifter. This works well for me. I purchased a different litter sifter system than you use and my sifter does not look like yours. Your video helped me go with pellets. THANK YOU! (I do have one resistant cat but working on it/she is very old and set in her ways)
Did you mention where to get the nice sifting pan? I didn’t catch that.
I’m ready to switch to pine pellets.
I don't know about some people but for me, I was hoping the wood pellet litter option would be a great solution compared to the clumping kitty litter that I was using but it's not as good as I was hoping unfortunately. At least not from an efficiency standpoint. From a financial standpoint the wood pellets are about half the cost in comparison to what I was using previously so I'm all for trying to use the wood pellets but so far, I have not been impressed based on my experience over the last week.
The reason being, the cats do not always cover their poop and as a result it can just sit on top of the pine pellets and it smells. If the litter box is in a smaller room and you have multiple cats, this can obviously be unpleasant.
In my case, I have 12 full grown cats and I have 3 regular sized clear storage totes that are a typical 58 quart capacity. Mine just happen to be a Sterlite brand that are 12" x 23 1/2" x 17". I was previously using the brand Special Kitty clumping litter that was $12.88 from Walmart for a 40 lb box which actually lasts me about a week between three different totes and sometimes I can get a week and a half to two weeks out of it depending on how much the cats use the litter boxes and also I use some baby powder which helps with the moisture and the smell at the same time usually though, I go through a 40 lb box every week. This is actually the best clumping litter I have found for the price based on how good it is for clumping purposes but also for the amount you get and it smells good as well. There are other brands that have similar clumping litter but they are usually two to three times the cost and only come in 20 pound containers or smaller usually.
In my opinion, this is probably the best stuff for the price (for clumping litter) and it actually smells very good.
By comparison, I can get a 40 lb bag of the wood pellets for $5.99 from a local Menards which is basically a home improvement store like Lowe's or Home Depot but is even cheaper for pretty much everything. It's actually just as big as far as the size of each store for the most part and is normally a chain that is located in the middle to Upper Midwest area so a lot of people in other areas of the country may have not heard of this chain.
Anyway, the problem I run into that I think a lot of other people have probably ran into with the pellet litter option is that it's difficult to sift the cat poop out without also sifting out the pellets at the same time.
As an example, if the cat's poop is hard and round then it's not so bad but if for some reason they are having a little bit kind of runny poop then the poop will sometimes obviously stick together with the wood pellets. But, the problem is, when you are sifting out the sawdust and trying to separate the sawdust from the wood pellets, then the cat's poop clumps are going to stay behind as well which makes it difficult to remove in an efficient manner because then you have to take another step to remove the cat poop. It's not nearly as quick as using a typical kitty litter scoop to sift through the wood pellets like you could just having the clumped cat poop or cat pee stay behind and the rest of the kitty litter sift through the kitty litter sifter into a litter box or tote in typical clumping litter situations.
So, I am looking for a better solution to try to figure out how to make this process go even faster with the wood pellets.
Before anybody comments on the amount of totes that I am using compared to the amount of cats that I have, please refrain from commenting because I'm well aware that a lot of people's opinions are that you are supposed to have at least one litter box for each cat and sometimes 2 litter boxes per cat because it has been said that some cats like to urinate in one box and poop in the other so they don't like to use the same box for the same bathroom break. I'm aware of this. But, I'm also aware that a lot of other people use only a few litter boxes when they have quite a few cats. I am unfortunately cleaning my litter boxes regularly so it's not necessarily a fun task having to do this with this many cats but it is what it is. We all make our choices obviously.
The other issue I'm aware that I am having an issue with is some of the cats having runny poop which I may or may not be able to fix unfortunately. Sometimes the poop is more runny but that's unfortunately because I may decide to be a naughty person and give them some of my human food which I know we are not supposed to do so I'm aware that this happens at certain times. Most of the time when the poop is runny, it's not too bad but it is bad enough that it's not necessarily desirable when trying to clean it out of the wood pellets.
I have used numerous cat foods at the same time to try to give them options so that they could pick and choose what they would like and I know some people could try to make the argument that this is what's actually causing the problem because their diet is being changed because they have the option to switch between different cat foods but the reason I do this is because I believe there may be one or two of my cats that have a sensitive stomach or don't particularly care for some of the cat food that I leave so I can't just have one type of cat food out for all of my cats. If I do, then I don't believe some of my cats are eating as much and I don't want them to not eat as much so I would rather give them the option to eat the food that they like and deal with the consequences that way. Also, I do get them sensitive stomach food from Purina and hairball formula as well as other things from the brand Temptations and so on. And besides that, I do want to give them options so they do have options.
Anyway, if somebody has a better suggestion of how to remove the cat poop from the pine pellets without having to take extra time and work to remove the poop when using a litter scoop, I would be interested to hear what that is. I'm also aware that we can make a sifter out of a screen that we could get at a hardware store so I get that this is also an option as well but those screens allow the pellets to go through as well in some cases. So, I'm not sure that that is the best option either.
I’m currently in the transition from clay to pine so I can’t really say if I’ll have these issues or not just yet, but to make pine work as efficiently as possible a good sifting litter box is a 100% must and no better one then actually DIY as most on the market are just to expensive or simply to small, as for the smell unfortunately many cats tend to not cover up the poop on pine as they would on clay litters so it’s going to unfortunately smell until cleaned or covered by the cats as for when cats have runny poop I heard it’s best to let it dry or simply throw it out with whatever pellets it touched you can also use the bag over your hand method instead of a scooper, but Amazon also sells some good scooper that have the cutouts just wide enough to let the pellets fall through
I feel like the holes are not big enough for me. They sawdust gets stuck and it gets hard to sift it all through. Have to really shake it.
There are a few different sifters out there that you could use, you might need to try one with bigger holes in it. You just need to watch the size though because the holes can be so big that the pellets drop through.
@@Megsop79 Arm and Hammer has a sifter that works pretty well.
why is it necessary to sift it and remove the saw dust?
what if the cat stool is liquid, how do we clean it then?
Please make sure the pine litter is kiln dried, because I heard it is bad for cats if it not kiln dried, on the channel Victorian Gardens cattery,
Love the video. Why not find a container that you can sit the strainer into with room underneath for sawdust to fall into. So no transferring of pellets needed
Hi there, I have tried a few trays but didn't have great success with them. I found that either the holes were too big and the pellets would fall through or the holes were too small and the sawdust would clog them up or just the urine would fall through creating major smell. I am currently researching trays from a few different companies and will following up with another video soon. If there is a tray that you would suggest, I would love to give it a try! Thank you for your comment!
@@Megsop79 is there a video for this? Did you find one?
What type of mat do you have under your supplies? What type of compost bucket? What size tote hold 40 lbs?
My cat won’t do number 2, only pee in the wood pellets. I tried 40-60 pellet and regular litter, but they will not poop in the wood pellet box 🤷🏻♀️
How often do you change the kitty box i have 2 siamese cats and i litterally have to do it everyday with regular kitty litter if i skip a day it so full they can’t use it. Deft gonna try this
I use the sifting tray as the top tray. I shake the sifting pan into the pan below, and I empty the sawdust every few days. I take out the poo daily.
I just got a kitten and he's been playing in the litter (sand) which I dislike a lot because he gets on my bed after :( he's had poop stuck so I'm going to try this litter and hopefully it stops him from that
Should I buy hard wood pellets or the soft ones ?
what size Rubbermaid container for the pellets please.
It is an 8 gallon or 30.2 litre Rubbermaid container
Why don’t u leave the sieve box on top and solid base on bottom? My cat digs before poos and poo touches sides or bottom and then I have to chuck all pellets n wash tray! How doesn’t yours become smeared with poo, even when u scoop it ?
I usually clean my tray about once a month if I need to but I don't really find that there is anything stuck to my tray. I do find that when the poop comes in contact with the wood pellets it dries it out a bit so it doesn't stick. When I scoop the poop out of the bin I do have to chuck full pellets with it but it is usually not that much.
Where did you get that scoop you're using? Looks like the kind I would need for my pallets, so they actually sift through
I’m considering this solely because the litter gets stuck between our cat’s toes and they shake their paws out everywhere so we find litter all over. Do these pellets stay in the litter box?
What is the brand name of this litter please the odor of this cat litter I have now is awful! Thanks!
what is the name of the green pan you said you had to order online?
Hi Kim. I used the tidy cats litter breeze system www.tidycats.com/products/litter-boxes/breeze-litter-system. I bought the whole kit to try and use with the wood pellets but it didn't work very well. The urine would just fall through the grates and pool in the bottom pan, this became very messy and started to smell bad so I switched to regular kitty litter trays and just use the sifting tray from that system to sift the pellets.
@@Megsop79 that's what I do too. I tried the breeze and found tray was smaller than the large I use
@@Megsop79 i use the whole system but put a large puppy pad under in a bigger litter box underneath and it works great. There is a video
th-cam.com/video/HGhQc-B3euM/w-d-xo.html
I have adopted this system. Thank you we love it. We are using non chemical hard wood pellets. We are not using pine as we heard pine can make cats sick. We are using the three tray system. We use about 2 or 3 inches of pellets in the top tray. poo is fine but the urine smell is horrific! Our sawdust is wet from the urine and omg the smell. We put bottle caps between the trays to give it some air. Can anyone help with the smell? Baking soda doesnt help.
BEEN USING THIS SYSTEM FOR 2 MONTHS NOW AND MY TWO CATS TOOK TO IT RIGHT AWAY AND DON'T GET SICK FROM THE PINE...THE PINE HAS A WOODSHOP SMELL .. GOT MINE FROM TRACTOR SUPPLY.
Thx for the info
Hi I was wondering if this is suitable for small kittens. I'm concerned the wood pellets would be sharp on their little paws.
Hope some one answers i also have a kitten and want to try this
I raised 5 kittens on this with no problems. Introduced it at around the 4 week stage, (can’t recall exactly when) in small cardboard boxes - like those from canning jars. Whatever time they start using a litter box. Worked perfectly.
Scarlet, you mentioned you have 3 cats that use this one pan but have 4 cats. What does the other cat use? I have 4 as well & am worried they all won't transition (especially the male).
I have one cat thar lives separated from these 3. She also uses the wood pellets but has a litter box in her own space.