With the exception of my dear saintly mother, there's no one on the planet I care about more. Even when they try to steal the toast off my table in the morning and sit on my head at 3am "just to say 'hi'". Thanks for watching!
I know so cute! My husband calls our or more like his dog son 😂 specially when the dog acts up he's like son! 😂 just like he talks to our 6 year old boy 😀
Do make or purchase containers to make a sifter below. I did this without a sifter bottom and had little bugs/gnats everywhere. The wet sawdust sinks to the bottom, and you can't remove it. Then, fewer and fewer pellets. It's worth the trouble. Otherwise, pine pellets are great. So too are ground Walnut Shells, which disolve slower, come in pellets or rough ground, but can't get them in bulk cheap at hardware store.
I have four cats and three large litter boxes made from large flat bottomed clear plastic storage boxes. I use horse bedding pellets, they are made from softer wood and absorbs much faster. $8.99 Canadian for a 40lbs bag, four bags will last almost 1 year. I made a sifter from 1/4" fence wire and a wood frame with handles. Scooper is a Spider Strainer Skimmer Ladle for a deep fryer from the dollar store, works like a charm if the poop is hard, not so good if there is really soft poop or if your cat is a digger, my cats no longer dig, they just leave it on top for me to clean up. You do end up trashing some pellets stuck to the poop but the pellets are so cheap it doesn't matter. The pet industry are bloody crooks, anything you can do to bypass them, do!
i went to tractor supply and got equine pellets 50lb for 6 bucks. i had no transition problems and i love it! i scoop solids and flush and only have to sift every 3 days and even then the sawdust is still dry and lightweight, but i do it because my cat will start to track some. i was going to make a sifter but i went to hobby lobby and found something that works perfect and looks nice hanging on the wall. i love this system. i am most amazed that even 3 or 4 days later there is absolutely no cat piss smell at all! its cleaner, cheaper and smells better! i thankyou so much for posting this video!
Welcome to the pellet club. Just try not to chuckle when you go past the clay litter sections at the megamart. They're about ready to kick me out of those stores I think for uhm... "mentioning" there's a better way to people with six boxes in their cart. Cheers!
Hi Jaime. MSHands here. I've seen lots of 'ready made' sifters on the market that you can find online with a search of "garden sifter" or even "gold panning sifter". I'll put an example link in the description. Remember the key factor is that it's 1/4" mesh (at least with the pellets I get here in Canada). Not to big and not too small on the holes. Since it's so picky, I'd suggest anyone out there interested get some cheap pellets locally *first* so you can both measure them before ordering a gizmo and make sure your cats are ok using them.
no, I MEANT....they have boxes that have a top hole like this to be ready to use for your hardware cloth mount! I've been collecting them for little kittenhouses out in the shed for them to hide in. Also good for your project...
Since our pellet stove seems to be on the fritz, I started using wood pellets for litter. Huge savings! I just remove the solid waste, and when the rest has dissolved into dust, I just dump the whole thing. One $8.00 bag lasts about three months-and we have three cats.
Tried that system first, didn't have good luck. It's the space BETWEEN the holes that made for more cleaning than it was worth in my prototypes so I stick with plan flat-bottomed pans and more frequent changes. Still way ahead on costs since pellets are so cheap. If you've found a system that works for you though I think that's great. I'm all for a good litter hack. Thanks for watching. - MSH
@@MrSporksHands I did the same as what is suggested here, but with a cheap bucket.. Peppered the bottom with holes roughly the same diameter as the pellets (very rare that whole ones land perfectly to fall through), and also went an inch or two up the sides. Works an absolute treat. I used to use a bag underneath, but now I use a square plastic storage tub/box with handles which is a similar size to the bucket but a little deeper. This way I just drop the bucket into the box which conveniently rests on its rim leaving clearance below, then I just shake and swirl them both for a few seconds and I'm all done.. Bucket gets tipped back into the litter tray, waste box gets tipped into the compost.. Your way is a great idea and very simple, however my only concern is that the damp waste/dust can get trapped in all the nooks, and you can't wash it out if needed.
You can also get a second box, cut out a rectangle in the bottom, and use this type of mesh. Just have to make sure the mesh is well secured and any sharp edges are throughly covered.
I had originally been using tidy breeze pellets and have the grated litter boxes so for my three boxes I just have to scoop out the poop and move the pellets around so the dust goes down the grated floor. Twice a week I empty the trays underneath. It’s so nice using the wood pellets for saving money and it sure smells better 👍🏻
Thanks for actually showing the "dirty" process. I've read plenty of info on the pellets, but no one seems to want to actually show how it works in the real world (which, I think is odd because pet owners are very much aware and used to picking up excrement and cleaning urine; it's not like we'd be weirded out by it). I have a bit of a special needs cat, and I'm trying to find a litter solution that works as best as it can for him and my other overlord. This makes the decision to try pellets a lot easier, knowing exactly how it works and what to expect.
I have two cats and use horse bedding wood pellets from Tractor Supply, cost $6.99 for 40 pound bag. Cats like it. Use the Arm and Hammer sifter litter boxes with no problem of pellets falling through, only sawdust. No smell, used sawdust smells like wood shop and covers all cat scent. Poop is removed each day using an ingenious method I devised. Shake the pan briskly and the used wet sawdust falls through. Best and cheapest method for litter. Way better than dusty clay that smells and is so expensive. I used to hate litter box patrol but now it’s a breeze.
When you find your routine, it really is a snap. Pellets are so cheap now (~fifty cents a fill) that I have no qualms about a complete empty and refill every few days with daily scooping of course. And the the cost savings over clay are off the charts. Thanks for the comment and view. Happy scooping!
@@alohaoh I have the cat box in a shower we don't use in the downstairs bathroom. I grab the poop in a tissue and flush down the toilet. Just don't grab pellets because that could jam up plumbing. But has been working great for me.
I hear ya. I wasn't quite that bad but went from CDN$40 a month to around $3. Hope it works for you and saves you a heap of coin to spend on catnip. Cheers. - MSH
In the U.S.: Not sure why this video ended up in my feed and have not watched the video, so some points may have been addressed: 1. If your cats are using clay litter, *highly* recommend a transition period to avoid litter box avoidance. To do this, put a box with pellets next to the clay litter box and gradually add more and more pellets to the clay litter while monitoring litter box use. Once the cat is clearly using the pellets, remove the clay litter box. The transition period will differ from cat to cat. Consider the feel of clay litter vice pellets on cat feet: it may take the cat some time to get used to, so be patient! 2. Urine smell is completely eliminated unless you allow the pellets to become over saturated. Stool smell, on the other hand, is not eliminated whether the cat buries it or not. I use a scoop with wide slats to allow the pellets to fall through while scooping. If you smell urine, the sawdust resulting from pellets absorbing urine is not removed often enough. Not the cat's fault, or the substrate fault, rather human maintenance negligence! Join your cat in being fastidious about cleanliness of his toileting area! 3. There are boxes available that have a sifter box insert. I found that these sifter inserts eventually get pellet debris stuck to the underside and inside the holes, and the sawdust collecting in the bottom pan was hard to manage, so often becoming super saturated and smelly. This sifter litter box setup made clean up a frustrating and inefficient process I now use about half to one inch of pellets in a regular pan litter box, shake the box from side to side daily, leaving the sawdust to one side and scoop that out, spot cleaning as needed, and cleaning the entire box also only as needed. Regular scooping of both sawdust and stool, and spot cleaning, makes maintenance a breeze and full cleaning is rarely needed. 4. I buy 40# bags, equine pelleted bedding, from my local feed store about about $6-7 per bag, so very economical!!
GREAT VIDEO! I decided to comment here because it might help other people too, the way I do... We have 16 cats at home! You read it right, 16! We use the same box that you have, same size and everything, but obviously we have several all throughout the apartment. I just found out about the pellets a few months ago and I LOVE THEM! They no only ABSORB the odor and kill it, they don't stick to the box and they are SUPER EASY to use! Considering I have boxes like your all over, when I am ready to change it all I do is dump the old one in a trash can and put 3 scoops of the pellets in the box. Next step I put water on them and kind of drawn them until they dissolve and become like sand. trust 3 scoops is more than enough...This thing will GROW like rice on water... lol
She is SUCH a stage queen. The moment the camera goes on she's talking up a storm usually. And as you can see she's been practicing her dance moves. She says "thank you" for the compliments and now demands extra tuna for her appearance fee. - MSH
I use Feline Pine. I slowly got my cats used to it. I fricking love this stuff. I haven't had to smell cat urine in ages. It's actually easy to use. It's not difficult to pick up the poops without also picking up the litter. I use a regular litter box scoop. For the urine it's not really complicated - after the pellets have gotten wet they will swell up and eventually break down. Not into a rock hard clump (that kind is unhealthy anyway) but it does somewhat stick together. I just move the clean stuff out of the way and use something like a half cup measuring scoop to dig out the rest. Also what works is tilt the whole box- clean stuff rolls down and most of the used stuff sticks together on the bottom. It's totally worth the extra 2 minutes it takes to clean up because I HATE the smell of urine. Oh, and I've done the reverse sift too! Lol You waste less that way, only discarding what's been used. Otherwise there's usually quite a few still good ones that get wasted using the scoop method.
I have tried the pellets and I'll tell you it's a lot cheaper and your home smells great. Just imagine having 8 cats. The smell with clay was just so bad and if you have asthma it can get real unbearable but with the wood pellets no more stink or bad smell. I guarantee you won't regret it.
I've been using wood pellets from Tractor Supply for over 2 yrs.A small kitten came to stay at our home. Started putting the pellets in a bowl added water, when pellets turned into sawdust layed in pan to dry. Put this into a small litter box.Littlebit started using this right away.Smart kitten happy pet mom.
Very smart pet mum too. This is one of the reasons why I preach not to use a sifter IN the litterbox itself (drilled holes, ready-made, etc.). The cat's instincts really want something to 'cover' with (sawdust) and I can't imagine a 100% mix of fresh hard pellets is particularly comfortable to walk on. When I load a fresh fill, I pour a quarter cup of water in the middle to start the process. The cats can take it from there naturally. Thanks for watching and tell the kitten hello from my herd.
@@pamelas7042 I am so happy for your choice. Pellets are much cheaper, smell is better, and after a couple of weeks transfered to dry pellets with little trouble. Saw a black kitten walk down our driveway yesterday. I closed the curtains and stayed in my bedroom. I have 2dogs and 2cats all rescues. Can't rescue anymore. Chillicothe used to have a cat rescue society but we don't have one anymore. Our humane society will only take dogs even when I offered to pay for the spay procedure. My only option is close the curtains and stay inside.
I found pine pellets being sold as "equestrian bedding" for almost half the price of those sold for pellet stoves. I have 23 cats. I am saving huge amounts of money by switching to pellets, and it smells better too. The solids go in the trash each day, but the rest goes on my mulch pile when I empty the litter pans. I am very happy that I tried this.
23 cats!!! The real question is, how are you feeding them and what?? I have 3, one being a diabetic and it’s not only hard to find wet food in a shortage but also expensive. There’s a lot of concerns with making their food as well as my diabetic should only eat wet pate.
It's a snap. For the daily (or more) solid scooping I use TWO hand-held scoopers at the same time like the worst 'arcade claw machine' game ever. Thanks for watching!
Just transitioning to the pellets. I bought two of those tubs exactly like yours and drilled a pile of holes in one of them just a tiny bit smaller than the pellets diameter. I stack the holey tub into the solid one and then just stir the litter once a day so the sawdust falls through the holes. It works perfectly. I ordered a metal scoop with wider openings to sift out the feces and let the pellets through. I hope the slots are wide enough to let the litter through. Thanks for making the video. Crazy how it took me ten years to learn about the wood pellet thing.. Makes so much more sense than the clay litter.
Ive been rescuing cats for over 50 years and I've tried so many litters around have been so disappointed, between price and effectively. I actually recently changed to using Lucerne chaff . I know what you're all thinking but it's more natural and safer for the cats, especially when some cats eat it. I have 35 cats now some are longhaired and they all went straight into it, not only is is soft for them to walk on and dig into they don't track it thru the house like all the others. I used to pay $72 a fortnight , now I only pay $35 for 25 kilos every 3 weeks and my house just smells of fresh cut Lucerne. 😻
I heard from a very helpful video here on YT, that if the pine pellets are kiln-dried, it removes the pine oil which is what is toxic for the cat, so must be kiln-dried. According to the video mentioned, Tractor Supply brand are kiln-dried.
Equine Bedding at Tractor Supply or Rural King about $6 for 40 lbs My male Persian has Bladder blockages and finally had to have the Perinal Urethrostomy Surgery. Vet said to use yesterday's news a pellet litter, but the store was out so I bought a small bag of pine pellets basically the same thing I have found that I don't have to worry about if he's urinating or not because the proof is in the sawdust Anyone who has a cat with urinary problems or blockages should use this litter as it's a great indicator of whether your cat is urinating or not. No more guessing. My bathroom smells like a new house. I highly recommend.
Interesting point but totally true. I never have to wonder when things are 'regular'. Good tip. Hope your Persian is doing well after the surgery. He's lucky to have you. Thanks for watching. - MSH
Did anyone hear how often he sifts the litter? I LOVE this idea better than making a litter box with sifter for top with holes drilled. The cost, trouble and litter box being so much higher are not as nice as the low litter boxes i have. I w ill not have to buy extra litter boxes, much cheaper and faster!!! So glad I found this.
Thank you very much, I've been using these with clay litter but am changing to pellets that I can get at Canadian Tire for 6.49. You have saved me lots of money, I have 11 cats and I go through a lot of litter and lots of Costco canned and dry cat food which prices are going up all the time. I'm on a pension and need to save all I can.
With 11 in your herd, I imagine every scoop adds up. I genuinely hope this helps. It certainly improved my budget. I don't even want to think how much I wasted on clay over the years. Thanks for watching and happy scooping!
We have six cats... and seven litter boxes. We only use pine pellets and have for at least 9 years. They absolutely kick butt on keeping urine smell down. and work great with poop. You scoop out the poop, and sift out the broken down pine pellets (we built a sifter). We've never had any issues with pine.. and go through this stuff like no tomorrow.. (by it at a farm feed store for about $6 for a 35 lb bag) and love it!
Agreed completely. The trick is getting a system and never letting the used build up too much. At these rates, you CAN go through the stuff like there's no tomorrow. Thanks for watching! - MSH
Very glad to have come across this video of yours. After listening to just a bit, it was easy to see how much you enjoy communicating, informing, sharing. I sent this video to myself and have subscribed. You are a communicator, Sir, and clearly a humanitarian. As someone else pointed out, you are an animal lover, as well. Thank you very much for the helpful, useful and much thriftier way of servicing and serving our cats. Very best wishes and, again, very glad to have discovered your video and you.
Thank you so much for the kinds words and so sorry for the lag in reply. Work has kept me behind in catching up on the channel this summer but I plan to get back to it as winter sets in. Comments like these make me WANT to create more videos. It is greatly appreciated. And I suspect the cats will sneak into every one. LOL Thanks again for watching and sharing. - MSH
I have a 10 weeks kitten. He wouldn’t use it. So I close the door and show him the tub. He finally went! 😸😅 I added a just a tad of his old litter litter. Fingers cross he transition smoothly. 🤞🏼🤞🏼
I'm with you on the budget nirvana. I don't even want to *think* about all the cash I wasted on clay/clumping all those years. I'm a new (unexpected) kitten dad as of last month and I'm working on an update video to answer some of the usual questions and show the internet how easy it is to train kittens to go pellet surfing. Ok, actually it's just an excuse to show them off to the world. LOL Thanks for watching and stay tuned! (hint, there's a couple live stream replays of the little monsters already up)
I bought a shallow litter box and a deeper one that could fit inside it into which I drilled some holes for the sawdust to sift through to the bottom box. I use a sifter shovel to remove solid waste and shake the box to drop sawdust below and empty the bottom box every few days. It never smells either.
I've read a lot on line from different places that pine is great ~as long as it's been treated especially for a cats used, where they treat it by burning off the toxic oils. I read that we should not use pine made for horse bedding or for wood burners, because they aren't treated and can cause our cats liver damage from the oils inn the wood that are toxic specifically to cats. I had already bought a large bag from Traitor Supply Company. Now that I know, I'm giving these pellets to a friend who has a horse. Liver damage is too final. I hope you'll pass this along on other comment spaces like this one. Here's to a healthy kitty!
I second the comment, that Tractor Supply's horse stall pellets, are fully Kiln-dried, it says on the bags, so they are safe for CATS' littler boxes. A 40-lb! bag, is only around $ 6.50!
I switched a few months ago and love it. One of my girls had the clumping litter stuck to her paws all the time and I worried about her ingesting all that litter....almost daily. Best decision I ever made. They didn't have any issues switching. I just scooped up a few poops and put it in with the pellets and no problem. The smell is cut down by 100. What I did was buy some inexpensive litter boxes and drilled holes into the top one. I had to enlarge the holes because they weren't large enough, at first but otherwise, I didn't have any issues. Much easier than this. I scoop out the poops and then sift the remaining pellets so that the saw dust falls to the bottom box. Easy, peasy! You could actually do the same with your two bins.
I recently started using the Tidy Cat Breeze system without the bottom catch tray. I also bought a Pet Champion X-Large pan to catch the 'sawdust'. I placed two pieces of 2x4 wood blocks at the front and back in the catch pan (to allow plenty of room for the waste), then placed a trash can liner (using 30 gallon size for now, but might not need that large). Finally placed the litter box in that. I find you don't need to use a large quantity of pellets, not 3 inches like old litter, just maybe an inch or so. I clean out the solid waste once a day (I flush them after they soak a minute or so). Still figuring out the best timing for changing the bottom catch, maybe once a week. So far I really believe this is the best system to use, especially since one of my two kitties pees a lot!
I love a good bit of home hack meets improvisation. The TC system has been brought up in the comments before and I actually was given a unit by the local shelter to test when they were getting rid of some they had. In the end, the cost just wasn't worth it (~$60 in Canada last check) and my girls didn't like a "grate" below their feet so I've stuck with my cheap $5 tubs. There was also some cleaning time increase when we did a few weeks trial but hey, if it's working for you and you're onto wood pellets with your mods I think that's fabulous. Well done you for keeping the furry overlords happy. Thanks for watching and happy scooping! ps. Sorry for the lag, the brand names got auto-flagged flagged as spam. - MSH
I’ve only just discovered this type of litter and it has 100% improved my experience of my foster cats, it’s cheaper, stinks less, is easy to process/clean. Well worth getting it.
Thank you. This was the comment I was looking for with 8 cats. ( They're all porch- stoop- to couch crasher to permanent squatters...all loved and of course family now)
For my cat, i couldnt get him to switch to pellets, he tried hiding and going all over the house. So I tried paper pellets, i figured since they’re softer to step on and the same color as normal cat litter (dont actually know if thats the reason it worked) but it worked! And then i switched him to other pellets as well and he uses anything now. Also try mixing the litter with the pellets on top little bit at a time. Eventually you’ll switch over and they wont even know something changed.
Thank you ! I have several cats and the cost has been high. Well, not anymore. The cats had no problem adjusting to this new litter and I have had no problem saving money GREAT VIDEO !!
Glad to hear you've made the switch successfully and get to pocket some of that clumping clay cash. My girls also took right to it even though they gave me a few weird looks at first. Welcome to pellet world. Cheers!
I found a stray kitten yesterday on my way home. Skinny little thing, but adorable. I've had dogs all my life, but I've never had a cat so I spent a couple hours reading up on their needs. I took her out to potty with my dogs, not expecting her to go, but to my surprise, she actually goes potty outside like my dogs do (my dogs are big babies so they don't seem aggressive towards her at all, and she just ignores their curiousness/sniffyness which is awesome). I'm going to build her this wood pellet litterbox today, thank you very much for creating this video.
Thank you for the info. I have been using clumping clay liter and omg! My breathing has gotten worse. And I have 2 cats, 1 of them seems to think digging to China is the way to go... But not good for their breathing either. So I saw a video of one of the vlogs I follow and she uses the pellets, but didn't show how to clean the box, so I got a 40 lb. Bag of pellets and forgot to ask how to clean.. And thanks to the internet and UA-cam.. TADA!!!! Thank you once again. Now maybe my kids and I can breath easier. Yay Canada 🇨🇦 💖
Glad to add to the collective info pool Steve. Hope it works for you. The air quality was so noticably better when I switched that's what prompted me to make the video. That and the huge cost savings. Appreciate the view. Cheers!
I do the pine bedding pellets and it's really a great plan! I do mix in some Sweet pdz that is a powder that eliminates the ammonia smell in the sawdust and enables me to put the sawdust either on the yard or in a flowerbed. I like your box idea! I have a sifting letterbox but only use the sifter to clean out the boxes. And the boxes stay so much cleaner with the wood pellets, too! Great video for a crazy cat lady down in southern Missouri, USA!!
I just got two kittens and I am going to try this. I loves cat my wife told me no cat I got two kittens from a friend and told her I pay all the bills and mortgage when she got home she found one kitten and a week latter I gave he the other kitten she was mad but I told her I love you but I love cats. Thank you.
This really works! A week ago I purchased a bag of wood pellets from a feed store for about $6. I've only had to clean my cats box once this week. I didn't have to add much pellets. This bag will last me a year. No smells. . no mess.. no dust.
Your sifter idea is very crafty! I used some clean 5-gallon buckets left over from a job and a garden mesh sifter. Works like a dream. You could do the same with the hardware cloth to a bucket and skip messing with the cardboard box if you want to spend the extra few bucks on the bucket.
Nevermind transitioning the cats, what about me? I'm so used to scooping out clumped litter and leaving behind the sandy litter. Now it's backwards? I throw away the sawdust?!? How will I cope?!?! I'm not ready for this.
Albie Oval Do what I do: skip the sifting altogether. You will still want to remove solids, but here is my technique: Use only a thin layer of pellets-about 2 to 3 pellets deep; you will still see the bottom peeking through in many places. The cat(s) will move the pellets around as needed, and at first may leave some areas completely void of litter between uses. Do not panic! You will see that the cats manage where the litter is needed, and as the pellets disintegrate into sawdust the bottom of the box will eventually be completely covered. When all or most of the pellets have distintegrated, simply toss out all of the used litter! Refill with a thin layer of fresh pellets, and you’re good to go. There is something about the wood that does such an amazing job of both absorbing and destroying odors. The only time odor becomes a problem is if the sawdust becomes visibly saturated with urine-indicating I’ve waited too long to dump the lot. Even then, a quick wipe of the empty box with a safe spray cleaner and a couple of paper towels, let the box dry for a few minutes, and refill with the thin layer of pellets. This method using wood pellets is the easiest, freshest, cheapest I’ve ever had in 25 years of cat husbandry. Give up the sifter! Go thin and toss.
Just the amount of money I’ve saved on litter!!!! Amazing! The smell is non existent beyond pine wood. I’ve shared this with anyone I’ve ever met that owns a cat. I did have to sprinkle regular litter on top for about a week or so, but after that, my cat hasn’t had any issues using it. Get the pine bedding from tractor supply. It’s $6 for a 40 lb bag
So very glad it's working for you. The long term benefits on top of the wallet help are well worth any short-term switchover misery. Thanks for watching and for reporting back!
I love my pine litter and so do my kitty's they have never been sick there very healthy I work at a animal hospital so I'm able to get them there check ups like they need.
I add a few cups of crystal litter in pan first, it keeps wet pellets from sticking to pan. I also use dog poop bags or disposable gloves to remove the majority of solids - easier than scooping, just grab it out with bag/glove.
When i search for it on lowes website the only thing that pops up is the wood pellets for bbq. Is that the same thing? I know cats cant have a lot of oils bc its toxic to them....
We did this, and it works really well. Got some 1/4 inch wire mesh (sold as mouse-proofing for air bricks from a local company) and made a riddle out of a cardboard box. So much better than the clay litter we'd been using before this. Thank you :)
I've been using pellets for years and years and have converted everyone I know to use pellet bedding from the feed stores. They are the BEST. We get kiln dried mixed wood bedding pellets from our local feed store. 7$ for 18kg. A bag lasts about 2-3 months for our two cats and 3 litter boxes. We sift pee every two days and take poop out every day!
glad I found this! I am looking into switching from clay to wood pellets and I don't want to throw away the litter boxes that I already have. Thank you!
I tried a few of those but couldn't find one with JUST the right size holes to do the job with my size pellets. Great idea if you can find a match that will allow enough sawdust through without having to shake it like a Polaroid picture for an hour. I'd buy a stack and paint them safety orange or some such (DON'T use the orange ones for pasta!) if any come across my path. The dollar store people must think I'm addicted to rigatoni since I'm always checking their latest versions. Thanks for watching!
Totally enjoyed your video, I've just switched to wood pellet cat litter for my 2 cats and decided I needed a sifter - now I can make my own! Thank you very much for a practical and easy-to-make solution, just what I was looking for. Enjoyed your funny comments too!
Thanks for the kind words. My girls are totally on the wood pellet bandwagon now. They don't even remember what clumping clay is any longer. Thanks for watching!
Thank you so much for this fatastic DIY video! I wanted to tell you about the cheaper and stirdier version of litter box. My hubby got a 9 US gallon mortar mixing tab from Lowe's (it cost only $7 plus tax). They are big, stirdy and work great! He then screwed cut PVC pipes to the bottom (to create spacing) in 4 corners and in the center (I wish I could attach images). But you are right, use what you have! Great video!!! With you being a handy man, I thought you would appreciate the creativity :)
Happy to help. It's has saved me more money than I want to add up over the years. All that clay litter I went through for decades. Thanks for watching and happy pelleting!
Have used wood pellets for quite a few years. It works well, but has 2 drawbacks. The pellets disintegrate very quickly when wet, you'll need to be "on it" and not let the used pellets age and the smell control was not quite as good so you will need to throw in a handful of baking soda if you want to minimize smell. Other than that I liked it fine and the cats did too. The price was decent and disposal for me was really easy since I live in the country and can and do compost. Wood is very compostable.
Having acreage certainly makes this an easy choice for me too. I've got some lilacs planted next to my heap (not TOO close) and they love it. You're spot on with the maintenance. As long as you pay attention and don't procrastinate on the changes, the smell isn't an issue. Up here particularly in winter when the cats seem to drink less than in summer. I tried the baking soda trick for a while but realized it simply wasn't needed in my scenario. Worst case a full change every fourth day and I never smell a thing. At at the price for pellets I'm still WAY ahead on the math. Thanks for watching! - MSH
A good idea. I could never find a colander with the right size holes but I'm sure it's out there for the diligent shopper. The wire mesh was a bit easier to clean for me too but whatever works, eh? Thanks for watching!
THANK YOU! I've used pellets in the past but I didnt think to come up with my own scoop. The store bought it's just fall through. I went from 1 house broken(in and out) cat to her + 2 kittens and now that we moved shes not allowed outside. So it get expensive with 2 litter boxes. I'm so grateful I found this. Thanks again
Sounds really familiar Sarah. I was recently adopted by a pre-pregnant mum who soon added two new kittens. She's been learning to make the change from 'wild outside' to fancy indoor loos and the kittens of course had to start from zero. We're all on the pellets now and set for winter. We'll see if Mumcat's 'call of the wild' comes back in spring but a trip to the vet in January (earliest they could get her in) will stop the kitten factory for good. Thanks for watching and enjoy the cheaper scooping.
I stumbled upon this when searching for sound cats make when coughing up hair balls . Thank you Sir. I’m very excited about this new way of doing “Mamushkas” litter box ...I’m gonna buy today and try it out 👍🏻
This is a great idea I use the hard pellets in the bottom of my bird cage. Just in case your wondering no the bird cannot get to the pellets. I just slide out the base each day pick through with a glove on and it looks great only do a full change once a month. It looks nicer than newspaper more natural and I'm always asked how I keep his cage so clean, although it helps that he is hardly ever in his cage lol.
I also shake in some baking soda in mine and helps with odor. My cat is a pro and my yard is getting fertilized a win win for everyone! Plus it is so cheap! Pass it on!
I use hardwood pellets and it is great - but I gotta say I genuinely scratch my head that people choose to play around in the kitty pellets for 10 minutes each cleaning, worrying over $1 worth of pellets. I dump the whole thing in a garbage bag and call it a day. I only use 4 cups each time and change it every other day, the price is so minimal - I pay $4 a 40lb bag! I got better things to do. Right now my cost is roughly $5 a month and I ain't bothered.
Nice video, my cat loves this litter, I just use the scooper to sift. Sifting itself is entertaining to him. I have to do it twice a day to satisfy him.
Ha. I thought my crew was nuts when they started watching me do the sifting routine. Better than a movie to them. I can't help but imagine they're thinking "What does he DO with it all and why is he saving it?"
I try to keep it light where I can. Talking to the internet about cat poop is just made for comedy. Thanks for watching and the kind words. Happy scooping.
My pleasure Gayle. I still use a (mostly) disposable DIY sifter even after testing a bunch of other plastic gizmos. Thanks for watching and happy duct taping!
I have 6 cats and use clump & seal which is worst, than the cheapest litter. It's blocks that takes the whole litter box to the garbage. My cats are picky but most definitely going to buy the wood pellets. Thank you!!!
Glad to help. Six can make the litter bill really add up. Patience with the change will be key but I suspect you'll get there in the end. Just remember the payoff once they stop grumbling and accept... eventually... we hope. LOL Thanks for watching!
@@MrSporksHandsI have a clowder of 17 cats. All fixed, healthy and litter box trained. I normally use Scoop Away here in the US. I figured I was paying about $220.00 a month, and my back was killing me scooping out all of the hard clumps for our garbage cans. Then we couldn’t even remove the bags from our trash cans they were so heavy! I just retired and was looking for ways to cut litter costs. Now I use the horse bedding pine pellets from Tractor Supply at $7.49 for 40 lbs. About 10 of my cats are indoor/outdoor so they like to go outside to the bathroom during the day. Some also do not like to walk on the hard pellets. I am using large pee pads in two areas for any of the cats that prefer not to use the box. I find that once the pellets turn to sawdust the cats don’t mind as much walking in the litter box. I also know this way is much easier on my back. The sawdust is so lightweight, and we live agricultural so we compost the used pellets in the back of our property. We’re on farmland, so no nearby houses. Thank you for educating cat owners about economical alternatives to heavy clumping litter!
I tried re-engineering all sorts of boxes (dremmel-ing included) but the bottom line for me was that a sifting "mechanism' in the box all the time didn't make for easy cleanup. If money was no object ($40+), you can actually get a perfectly engineered, wire mesh/grate garden sifter or gold panning gizmo. No matter what, if you find something that's working for you well done. Happy scooping! - MSH
Glad to see this video and know other cats use pallets because I just bought a bag of yesterday to try, I cant stand all the dust litter has and Im not trying to spend a bunch of money on something my furbabies are gonna crap on so pallets it is! Right now Im mixing a bit of the reg litter with the pellets so they know thats their bathroom.. I scoop their litter box atleast twice a day, I use a scooper and a mini dust pan and I take out all the dirty litter not just the chunks every bit of it and I clean the dirty areas with a disposable wet rag and add clean litter, after a week I will completely empty and clean the whole box then add new, my furbabies are only 6 months old and so far so good!🤞
Glad it's working for you and the new additions. Mixing new and old is exactly what they want to smell when switching over. Thanks for watching and happy pelleting!
I have two large male neutered cats, I just started them on pine litter 7 weeks ago, just finished a 40 lb bag. The bag cost $7 so it ended up costing $1 a week for two large cats. I'm very happy. And. It doesn't get tracked around the house and there is no smell.
Welcome to the wonderful world of pellets Carolyn. Glad it's working for you. My advice is never calculate how much you spent on the clumping stuff over the years. :-) Thanks for watching and happy scooping!
I've tried all 4-5 brands available in my area at various times through the year. Bottom line was that they all work almost exactly the same. I stick with 'hardwood' versions that are kiln dried but otherwise, you'll probably find that brands vary way too much between areas to worry about. Literally different in every province up here even in the same chain of stores. Good luck on the hunt and thanks for watching.
Dollar Tree plastic collender...works good....inexpensive...no cutting, taping ....just buy and sift. I just started the switch over to wood pellets....I have 13 rescues so I need to cut corners where I can....not with their food though...and it's a process with so many picky babies....but just thinking about it being cheaper and biodegradable is worth it to me. One of my litter boxes is a Breeze and this way is soooooooo much cheaper than buying the Breeze pellets. The pad that is used in the bottom of the litter box......I went to the drug store...bought a pack of disposable bed liner pads for $3.79....cut them in 3 sections and use them instead of the Breeze liner. It doesn't last as long(individually) BUT since you get 15 per pack X3= 45 pads for the litter box....it evens out at a way lower cost. And they also have alternative pads/generic pads or use puppy pads....a lot cheaper than the name brand.
The breeze works great but here in Canada on amazon its over 200. So I use the arm and hammer I do like he showed except I have a litter box with high sides
I saved so much money using this! I just love it. I changed it twice a week. The dryer the area, the better poop blend in. I can say the urine does smell a little strong. The wood makes it easier to carry and disposed.
Glad it's saving you some coin. If you're getting strong aroma I'd ask how often you're doing a full changeout. I do mine every third day (fourth if lightly used). Also, really strong aroma there can be an indicator of various health issues. Nothing to panic about but you might have a chat with your vet about it. Thanks for watching!
You my good man are a genius!!! I literally watched this with a smile on my face. Can’t wait to go out tomorrow and buy some pellets. I got on here for a review of a different litter and found you. So thankful. Thanks for sharing. I know you didn’t come up with the pellet idea but your ingenuity and video friendly instructions are just the cats meow. 🤣
Not only was this video funny and entertaining. And i loved your voice. But it was very helpful and informative. Thank you so much. It's time for my princess to have some new cat liter, and I'm definitely switching to these things. I want to save money but I want my room to smell better.
Thanks for the kind words. There is a SLIGHT difference in smell between brands but generally it's a faint 'wood shop' aroma. I actually have mine in a closet with a small dryer vent to outside. Don't smell a thing. Good luck and thanks for watching.
Such an informative video. TYSM for sharing your techniques and knowledge with us. Love the homemade sifter device you made. Will hafta make one for my kitty's litter box. Guess it'll be that I sift the used out and let the good go into the other pan because she refuses to use the pine pellet litter. She will only use the natural corn cob litter. I even tried gradually increasing the pellets in it as is suggested when changing the litter, but, she really absolutely refused to use the pine pellet litter. I also tried three different brands of it, thinking it could be that ... but, 😉 NOPE !!! She didn't like either one. 😻 TYSM for sharing this video with us. Love your channel, too. 😻👍😻
Used to use these in our old pellet stove, I even think we have a couple bags lying around somewhere. We live in rural area and our litter doesn’t go in landfill but still a pain to use(UUUGH). Will be trying this, thanks so much, our indoor cat is13, hope she can make the change, Thanks again!!
I've been using hardwood pellets with the Tidy Cats Breeze litter box. It's really convenient day-to-day, as I just scoop & flush the poop then pull out the tray and dump the dust in the compost. But cleaning that grate is a huge pain in the butt!!! Your system seems much easier in that regard.
Agreed. And cheaper for both startup and how many pellets you need to fill since you don't have to worry as much about keeping that grate buried deep to try to avoid 'direct hits'. I'm on roughly a six-day rotation with one or two 'sifts' in the middle depending on use. One 18kg bag lasts me two months of happy cats. Hope it works for you as well as it does me. Thanks for watching. Cheers and happy pellet-ing!
I have to try this. I thought about doing this a long time ago but never did. Pellets are much cheaper than cat litter. I once litter trained a dog and I used pellets. Thank you so much.
I did something similar but I used a second smaller tub and just used my husbands drill to drill holes in the bottom of the bin, it works great and it's plastic so I can hose it down after I use it
You can buy a sifting litter box, has a top tray with holes and a solid bottom tub. You shake the sifter tray and can then either put it into a second clean tub (should be sold in the set) or just set the tray on the floor and wipe out the tub, and put the sifter top back, then sweep up the few pine pellets on the floor. I’ve been using pine pellets several years; the cats aren’t wild about them, but they use it, and my bathroom floor doesn’t have any more sandy grit.
If you purchase 2 identical bins that stack it is easy to drill 1/4 inch holes in the bottom of the top bin and the pellets wont fall through, but the saw dust from the "used" pellets can. Especially if when stacked there is a space between the bottom of the top bin and the bottom bin. Make sure you drill A LOT of holes though. Then you can scoop out the solids daily and just pick up the top bin and shake to sift every couple of days. Dump out the bottom bin after sifting or you can leave it to dump out once a week or so depending how fast that space between the 2 bins fills up.
I will definitely try the box diy sifting thingy. I just recently changed my cat from the usual clay litter into these pellets and these have been the best two months for my cat and for me, he used them without any issue, and if yiu remove the solids everyday, the cat litter smell is 100% gone, this is magic.
Well done on the change. After months of use I found an even cheaper supply of pellets so now I actually change the whole fill more often. I do still sift with my trusty cheap box hack on the coldest of nights though. It is indeed a game changer both for air quality and costs. Thanks for watching and contributing to the discussion. Happy scooping!
Used litter mix works very well for learning the cats with the new material. I tried 3 days to introduce the pelets to my cats until I mixed the pelets with 3-4 scoops of used litter and couple of little shits :))
Thank you thank you! I’ve been using pellets for about 7 years. Been driving me crazy trying to discover better cheaper way to use them! You’ve done it and cheapest way!
I know a lot of folks out there are strapped for cash these days so wanted to do something without 'buying' much of anything. Especially up here in Canada where prices seem to inflate the moment something plastic gets shipped from afar. Glad it helped. Thanks for watching.
I bought 3 bags of 30Litre pellets and started using them in August last year and still have about 15Litres left...so easy to sieve too...buy a large vegetable strainer with bowl that has slits in the bottom & sides and just sieve...the pellets turn to sawdust when wet and never smells...I've saved a fortune! 🤑
I don't EVEN want to do the math of how much money I spent on clumping clay before I switched... (mumbles.... thirty years, $30 per month...). If you have dry storage space and time it properly you can get wood pellets at the end of heating season for a song because the stores really don't want to stock them for summer months. I now arrange half a pallet's worth at a discount about every third year. 6-7 bags per YEAR or around $30. The savings really adds up and the cats don't care what they poop in. LOL Thanks for watching and good luck with the switch.
I'm retired, on a fixed income, and noticed I was spending about $30 month on scoopable Tidy Cat litter. Sometimes more. It was not controlling the odor either. Hoping to get my 4 babies used to it for their health.
Most pellets even for wood stoves are also kiln fired it seems. Check the bag labels to be sure. It seems they charge a lot extra to put pictures of cats on the bags of the other stuff. LOL Thanks for watching!
The switch to pellets has been AMAZING. Holy cat shit Batman. So cheap. Smells great. The dust produced is lighter and great for an apartment. Our boys adapted to it right away.
Thankies for this video. PEOPLE.....if your cat doesn't like the feel of the litter do like this guy said. Just sprinkle some water on the pellets to fluff it a litttle and your cats will take to it
I just saw your video- wish I had seen this much sooner- I have 4 cats - I am going shopping tonight to set up your system- thank you so much for sharing!! I loved your kitty popping in on camera - so beautiful!
First time listening to your chanel. Love your fun and simple aproach to things! I have 3 cats and 250 wood pellets bags left over from last winter. We are switching to a wood stove so the pellets will be put to good use! Thank you so much!! Catherine
Thanks for the kind words. Lots of people in these parts heat with wood pellets and I think I've gotten most of them to become cat owners. Make a 'used pellet compost' in a far corner of the yard and laugh when you pass the clay litter section at the store. Cheers!
Can you use the used pellets for the stove? Years ago at a farm show there was an outdoor furnace that burned cow and horse dung to heat buildings or water heaters.
Yeah, I had switched over to Feline Pine because it smelled so good. But then one day I saw the pellet stove pellets at Lowes (US Canadian Tire) for a lot cheaper and thought that would work just as well.
"My girl's"... So lovely...you can tell you're an animal lover
With the exception of my dear saintly mother, there's no one on the planet I care about more. Even when they try to steal the toast off my table in the morning and sit on my head at 3am "just to say 'hi'". Thanks for watching!
Haha, I know what you mean...
Mr. Spork's Hands You're a good man - this world needs many more of you! Thanks for the video.
You're absolutely welcome. Hope it helps ease the pain of the litter box just a bit. Cheers!
I know so cute! My husband calls our or more like his dog son 😂 specially when the dog acts up he's like son! 😂 just like he talks to our 6 year old boy 😀
Ten seconds in, I love this guy's voice and I love his heckin energy. I'm just ready to be sold on this litter system
Ha! Thanks. The old radio voice comes in handy from time to time. Appreciate the view. Cheers!
@@MrSporksHands ok now you have to tell us when you were on the radio! I love it!
I am going to try this. We have a sanctuary...56 of the little poopers! Thanks!
Do make or purchase containers to make a sifter below. I did this without a sifter bottom and had little bugs/gnats everywhere. The wet sawdust sinks to the bottom, and you can't remove it. Then, fewer and fewer pellets. It's worth the trouble. Otherwise, pine pellets are great. So too are ground Walnut Shells, which disolve slower, come in pellets or rough ground, but can't get them in bulk cheap at hardware store.
Mrs Soap's Crafty Homestead I’m admiring you! All best to you!
how beautiful
I've never seen wood pellets ANYWHERE. Not in hardware stores or pet stores.
use equine pellets, they smell good
I have four cats and three large litter boxes made from large flat bottomed clear plastic storage boxes. I use horse bedding pellets, they are made from softer wood and absorbs much faster. $8.99 Canadian for a 40lbs bag, four bags will last almost 1 year. I made a sifter from 1/4" fence wire and a wood frame with handles. Scooper is a Spider Strainer Skimmer Ladle for a deep fryer from the dollar store, works like a charm if the poop is hard, not so good if there is really soft poop or if your cat is a digger, my cats no longer dig, they just leave it on top for me to clean up. You do end up trashing some pellets stuck to the poop but the pellets are so cheap it doesn't matter. The pet industry are bloody crooks, anything you can do to bypass them, do!
i went to tractor supply and got equine pellets 50lb for 6 bucks. i had no transition problems and i love it! i scoop solids and flush and only have to sift every 3 days and even then the sawdust is still dry and lightweight, but i do it because my cat will start to track some. i was going to make a sifter but i went to hobby lobby and found something that works perfect and looks nice hanging on the wall. i love this system. i am most amazed that even 3 or 4 days later there is absolutely no cat piss smell at all! its cleaner, cheaper and smells better! i thankyou so much for posting this video!
Welcome to the pellet club. Just try not to chuckle when you go past the clay litter sections at the megamart. They're about ready to kick me out of those stores I think for uhm... "mentioning" there's a better way to people with six boxes in their cart. Cheers!
What did you get from hobby lobby?
Hi Jaime. MSHands here. I've seen lots of 'ready made' sifters on the market that you can find online with a search of "garden sifter" or even "gold panning sifter". I'll put an example link in the description. Remember the key factor is that it's 1/4" mesh (at least with the pellets I get here in Canada). Not to big and not too small on the holes. Since it's so picky, I'd suggest anyone out there interested get some cheap pellets locally *first* so you can both measure them before ordering a gizmo and make sure your cats are ok using them.
no, I MEANT....they have boxes that have a top hole like this to be ready to use for your hardware cloth mount! I've been collecting them for little kittenhouses out in the shed for them to hide in. Also good for your project...
Rae Boyd THANKS SO MUCH for the info! Just tell me what you purchase from Hobby Lobby
Since our pellet stove seems to be on the fritz, I started using wood pellets for litter. Huge savings! I just remove the solid waste, and when the rest has dissolved into dust, I just dump the whole thing. One $8.00 bag lasts about three months-and we have three cats.
Sifter...buy a second pan and drill holes in it. Use it as a top pan with the pellets and sift into the first pan. Easy, cheap and fairly safe
Tried that system first, didn't have good luck. It's the space BETWEEN the holes that made for more cleaning than it was worth in my prototypes so I stick with plan flat-bottomed pans and more frequent changes. Still way ahead on costs since pellets are so cheap. If you've found a system that works for you though I think that's great. I'm all for a good litter hack. Thanks for watching.
- MSH
@@MrSporksHands
I did the same as what is suggested here, but with a cheap bucket..
Peppered the bottom with holes roughly the same diameter as the pellets (very rare that whole ones land perfectly to fall through), and also went an inch or two up the sides. Works an absolute treat.
I used to use a bag underneath, but now I use a square plastic storage tub/box with handles which is a similar size to the bucket but a little deeper. This way I just drop the bucket into the box which conveniently rests on its rim leaving clearance below, then I just shake and swirl them both for a few seconds and I'm all done..
Bucket gets tipped back into the litter tray, waste box gets tipped into the compost..
Your way is a great idea and very simple, however my only concern is that the damp waste/dust can get trapped in all the nooks, and you can't wash it out if needed.
The breeze litter bix works well with the pas tray removed and a litter box underneath
Too time intensive and if you drill the holes close enough to accommodate the wet litter but keep the dry, it weakens the plastic.
You can also get a second box, cut out a rectangle in the bottom, and use this type of mesh. Just have to make sure the mesh is well secured and any sharp edges are throughly covered.
I use two tubs and drill small holes in the bottom of the top tub and the sawdust falls to the second container. Works great 😊
I had originally been using tidy breeze pellets and have the grated litter boxes so for my three boxes I just have to scoop out the poop and move the pellets around so the dust goes down the grated floor. Twice a week I empty the trays underneath. It’s so nice using the wood pellets for saving money and it sure smells better 👍🏻
Thanks for actually showing the "dirty" process. I've read plenty of info on the pellets, but no one seems to want to actually show how it works in the real world (which, I think is odd because pet owners are very much aware and used to picking up excrement and cleaning urine; it's not like we'd be weirded out by it). I have a bit of a special needs cat, and I'm trying to find a litter solution that works as best as it can for him and my other overlord. This makes the decision to try pellets a lot easier, knowing exactly how it works and what to expect.
Overlords😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣. I miss my 23yr old overlord / mistressevery day. It’s been 10 years since she crossed the rainbow bridge to wait for me.
I have two cats and use horse bedding wood pellets from Tractor Supply, cost $6.99 for 40 pound bag. Cats like it. Use the Arm and Hammer sifter litter boxes with no problem of pellets falling through, only sawdust. No smell, used sawdust smells like wood shop and covers all cat scent. Poop is removed each day using an ingenious method I devised. Shake the pan briskly and the used wet sawdust falls through.
Best and cheapest method for litter. Way better than dusty clay that smells and is so expensive. I used to hate litter box patrol but now it’s a breeze.
When you find your routine, it really is a snap. Pellets are so cheap now (~fifty cents a fill) that I have no qualms about a complete empty and refill every few days with daily scooping of course. And the the cost savings over clay are off the charts. Thanks for the comment and view. Happy scooping!
We have 2 cats and have used tractor supply wood pellets from the beginning.
Todd manson: Please share your ingenious poop removal method. That's the part I struggle with for my cat's soft poops
@@alohaoh I have the cat box in a shower we don't use in the downstairs bathroom. I grab the poop in a tissue and flush down the toilet. Just don't grab pellets because that could jam up plumbing. But has been working great for me.
My Goodness
I've been spending $20 a week.
Fantastic Video
I hear ya. I wasn't quite that bad but went from CDN$40 a month to around $3. Hope it works for you and saves you a heap of coin to spend on catnip. Cheers.
- MSH
Me too
Me too😡
You will save SO much using this. I did
Stop letting everyone know they’ll raise the prices lol
Too late they have started to put pictures of cats and horses on the equine pellets at my local feed stores as well as raised the price
@@jlc670 what kind of cat litter is the most expensive? Is equine bedding more expensive or-
JFED 0206 Just look yourself cuz it might depend on what store or what state or what country you live in
In the U.S.: Not sure why this video ended up in my feed and have not watched the video, so some points may have been addressed:
1. If your cats are using clay litter, *highly* recommend a transition period to avoid litter box avoidance. To do this, put a box with pellets next to the clay litter box and gradually add more and more pellets to the clay litter while monitoring litter box use. Once the cat is clearly using the pellets, remove the clay litter box. The transition period will differ from cat to cat. Consider the feel of clay litter vice pellets on cat feet: it may take the cat some time to get used to, so be patient!
2. Urine smell is completely eliminated unless you allow the pellets to become over saturated. Stool smell, on the other hand, is not eliminated whether the cat buries it or not. I use a scoop with wide slats to allow the pellets to fall through while scooping. If you smell urine, the sawdust resulting from pellets absorbing urine is not removed often enough. Not the cat's fault, or the substrate fault, rather human maintenance negligence! Join your cat in being fastidious about cleanliness of his toileting area!
3. There are boxes available that have a sifter box insert. I found that these sifter inserts eventually get pellet debris stuck to the underside and inside the holes, and the sawdust collecting in the bottom pan was hard to manage, so often becoming super saturated and smelly. This sifter litter box setup made clean up a frustrating and inefficient process I now use about half to one inch of pellets in a regular pan litter box, shake the box from side to side daily, leaving the sawdust to one side and scoop that out, spot cleaning as needed, and cleaning the entire box also only as needed. Regular scooping of both sawdust and stool, and spot cleaning, makes maintenance a breeze and full cleaning is rarely needed.
4. I buy 40# bags, equine pelleted bedding, from my local feed store about about $6-7 per bag, so very economical!!
I love how the cat backed out after the "quick cat cameo" 5:55
She is SUCH a show stealer, isn't she? That, for the record, is "Little Bug". Her sister is Nigella.
- MSH
♡
GREAT VIDEO! I decided to comment here because it might help other people too, the way I do... We have 16 cats at home! You read it right, 16! We use the same box that you have, same size and everything, but obviously we have several all throughout the apartment. I just found out about the pellets a few months ago and I LOVE THEM! They no only ABSORB the odor and kill it, they don't stick to the box and they are SUPER EASY to use! Considering I have boxes like your all over, when I am ready to change it all I do is dump the old one in a trash can and put 3 scoops of the pellets in the box. Next step I put water on them and kind of drawn them until they dissolve and become like sand. trust 3 scoops is more than enough...This thing will GROW like rice on water... lol
So you dissolve them before your cats actually pee on them? Does the sawdust then absorb the pee, too?
5:54 what a BEAUTIFUL cat!!
I love how it back up out of frame.
She is SUCH a stage queen. The moment the camera goes on she's talking up a storm usually. And as you can see she's been practicing her dance moves. She says "thank you" for the compliments and now demands extra tuna for her appearance fee.
- MSH
I use Feline Pine. I slowly got my cats used to it. I fricking love this stuff. I haven't had to smell cat urine in ages. It's actually easy to use. It's not difficult to pick up the poops without also picking up the litter. I use a regular litter box scoop. For the urine it's not really complicated - after the pellets have gotten wet they will swell up and eventually break down. Not into a rock hard clump (that kind is unhealthy anyway) but it does somewhat stick together. I just move the clean stuff out of the way and use something like a half cup measuring scoop to dig out the rest. Also what works is tilt the whole box- clean stuff rolls down and most of the used stuff sticks together on the bottom. It's totally worth the extra 2 minutes it takes to clean up because I HATE the smell of urine.
Oh, and I've done the reverse sift too! Lol You waste less that way, only discarding what's been used. Otherwise there's usually quite a few still good ones that get wasted using the scoop method.
I have tried the pellets and I'll tell you it's a lot cheaper and your home smells great. Just imagine having 8 cats. The smell with clay was just so bad and if you have asthma it can get real unbearable but with the wood pellets no more stink or bad smell. I guarantee you won't regret it.
Glad it worked for you Pamela. I've been on the pellets for ages now. No looking back. Thanks for watching!
I've been using wood pellets from Tractor Supply for over 2 yrs.A small kitten came to stay at our home. Started putting the pellets in a bowl added water, when pellets turned into sawdust layed in pan to dry. Put this into a small litter box.Littlebit started using this right away.Smart kitten happy pet mom.
Very smart pet mum too. This is one of the reasons why I preach not to use a sifter IN the litterbox itself (drilled holes, ready-made, etc.). The cat's instincts really want something to 'cover' with (sawdust) and I can't imagine a 100% mix of fresh hard pellets is particularly comfortable to walk on. When I load a fresh fill, I pour a quarter cup of water in the middle to start the process. The cats can take it from there naturally. Thanks for watching and tell the kitten hello from my herd.
I was thinking about the softening of some pellets but wasn't sure. Thanks for the info. I will definitely do this to help my kitties out.
@@pamelas7042 I am so happy for your choice. Pellets are much cheaper, smell is better, and after a couple of weeks transfered to dry pellets with little trouble. Saw a black kitten walk down our driveway yesterday. I closed the curtains and stayed in my bedroom. I have 2dogs and 2cats all rescues. Can't rescue anymore. Chillicothe used to have a cat rescue society but we don't have one anymore. Our humane society will only take dogs even when I offered to pay for the spay procedure. My only option is close the curtains and stay inside.
I found pine pellets being sold as "equestrian bedding" for almost half the price of those sold for pellet stoves. I have 23 cats. I am saving huge amounts of money by switching to pellets, and it smells better too. The solids go in the trash each day, but the rest goes on my mulch pile when I empty the litter pans. I am very happy that I tried this.
woahh 23 cats? i cant imagine the cost of the neccessities urbuying for them and their litter haha.
You're so lucky, I wish I could have 23 cats. My dream is to one day open a cat rescue for special needs cats.
23 cats!!! The real question is, how are you feeding them and what?? I have 3, one being a diabetic and it’s not only hard to find wet food in a shortage but also expensive. There’s a lot of concerns with making their food as well as my diabetic should only eat wet pate.
Finally, someone demonstrates how filter pellet litter.
It's a snap. For the daily (or more) solid scooping I use TWO hand-held scoopers at the same time like the worst 'arcade claw machine' game ever. Thanks for watching!
Just transitioning to the pellets. I bought two of those tubs exactly like yours and drilled a pile of holes in one of them just a tiny bit smaller than the pellets diameter. I stack the holey tub into the solid one and then just stir the litter once a day so the sawdust falls through the holes. It works perfectly. I ordered a metal scoop with wider openings to sift out the feces and let the pellets through. I hope the slots are wide enough to let the litter through. Thanks for making the video. Crazy how it took me ten years to learn about the wood pellet thing.. Makes so much more sense than the clay litter.
Took me a while too. I don't even want to think about all the money I spent on clay before I got a wood pellet clue. Thanks for watching!
Ive been rescuing cats for over 50 years and I've tried so many litters around have been so disappointed, between price and effectively. I actually recently changed to using Lucerne chaff . I know what you're all thinking but it's more natural and safer for the cats, especially when some cats eat it. I have 35 cats now some are longhaired and they all went straight into it, not only is is soft for them to walk on and dig into they don't track it thru the house like all the others. I used to pay $72 a fortnight , now I only pay $35 for 25 kilos every 3 weeks and my house just smells of fresh cut Lucerne. 😻
I heard from a very helpful video here on YT, that if the pine pellets are kiln-dried, it removes the pine oil which is what is toxic for the cat, so must be kiln-dried. According to the video mentioned, Tractor Supply brand are kiln-dried.
Indeed. Several have commented on the kiln drying. Check your local brands to be sure. Thanks for watching!
- MSH
Equine Bedding at Tractor Supply or Rural King about $6 for 40 lbs
My male Persian has Bladder blockages and finally had to have the Perinal Urethrostomy Surgery. Vet said to use yesterday's news a pellet litter, but the store was out so I bought a small bag of pine pellets basically the same thing
I have found that I don't have to worry about if he's urinating or not because the proof is in the sawdust
Anyone who has a cat with urinary problems or blockages should use this litter as it's a great indicator of whether your cat is urinating or not. No more guessing. My bathroom smells like a new house. I highly recommend.
Interesting point but totally true. I never have to wonder when things are 'regular'. Good tip. Hope your Persian is doing well after the surgery. He's lucky to have you. Thanks for watching.
- MSH
Kiln fired pine pellets (equine bedding) have the oils cooked off.
Did anyone hear how often he sifts the litter? I LOVE this idea better than making a litter box with sifter for top with holes drilled. The cost, trouble and litter box being so much higher are not as nice as the low litter boxes i have. I w ill not have to buy extra litter boxes, much cheaper and faster!!! So glad I found this.
@@purplenpinkeveryday5665 I use that too now. 40 pounds for 6 dollars
@@Contact_Info where do you buy it at?
Gabyy…..I was told "Tractor Supply Co." sells the pellets. Or any good hardware store should sell them.
@@Tovenaar13 my local tractor supply has hardwood pellets being sold as wood pellet stove fuel and also softwood pellets being sold as horse bedding.
Love cats love dogs love all animals and even insects what a beautiful planet we live on.
And now I'm humming Louie Armstrong. Thanks for the positive observation. We need more of that!
I wish everyone thought the way you do. What a wonderful world it could be.
Thank you very much, I've been using these with clay litter but am changing to pellets that I can get at Canadian Tire for 6.49. You have saved me lots of money, I have 11 cats and I go through a lot of litter and lots of Costco canned and dry cat food which prices are going up all the time. I'm on a pension and need to save all I can.
With 11 in your herd, I imagine every scoop adds up. I genuinely hope this helps. It certainly improved my budget. I don't even want to think how much I wasted on clay over the years. Thanks for watching and happy scooping!
We have six cats... and seven litter boxes. We only use pine pellets and have for at least 9 years. They absolutely kick butt on keeping urine smell down. and work great with poop. You scoop out the poop, and sift out the broken down pine pellets (we built a sifter). We've never had any issues with pine.. and go through this stuff like no tomorrow.. (by it at a farm feed store for about $6 for a 35 lb bag) and love it!
Agreed completely. The trick is getting a system and never letting the used build up too much. At these rates, you CAN go through the stuff like there's no tomorrow. Thanks for watching!
- MSH
Very glad to have come across this video of yours. After listening to just a bit, it was easy to see how much you enjoy communicating, informing, sharing. I sent this video to myself and have subscribed. You are a communicator, Sir, and clearly a humanitarian. As someone else pointed out, you are an animal lover, as well.
Thank you very much for the helpful, useful and much thriftier way of servicing and serving our cats.
Very best wishes and, again, very glad to have discovered your video and you.
Thank you so much for the kinds words and so sorry for the lag in reply. Work has kept me behind in catching up on the channel this summer but I plan to get back to it as winter sets in. Comments like these make me WANT to create more videos. It is greatly appreciated.
And I suspect the cats will sneak into every one. LOL Thanks again for watching and sharing.
- MSH
I have a 10 weeks kitten. He wouldn’t use it. So I close the door and show him the tub. He finally went! 😸😅 I added a just a tad of his old litter litter. Fingers cross he transition smoothly. 🤞🏼🤞🏼
Sarah-Louise Foushi I did that and it didn’t work for my cat
I do this. I've saved sooooo much money!! It's also dust free.
10/10 highly recommend
I'm with you on the budget nirvana. I don't even want to *think* about all the cash I wasted on clay/clumping all those years. I'm a new (unexpected) kitten dad as of last month and I'm working on an update video to answer some of the usual questions and show the internet how easy it is to train kittens to go pellet surfing. Ok, actually it's just an excuse to show them off to the world. LOL Thanks for watching and stay tuned! (hint, there's a couple live stream replays of the little monsters already up)
I bought a shallow litter box and a deeper one that could fit inside it into which I drilled some holes for the sawdust to sift through to the bottom box. I use a sifter shovel to remove solid waste and shake the box to drop sawdust below and empty the bottom box every few days. It never smells either.
I've read a lot on line from different places that pine is great ~as long as it's been treated especially for a cats used, where they treat it by burning off the toxic oils. I read that we should not use pine made for horse bedding or for wood burners, because they aren't treated and can cause our cats liver damage from the oils inn the wood that are toxic specifically to cats.
I had already bought a large bag from Traitor Supply Company. Now that I know, I'm giving these pellets to a friend who has a horse. Liver damage is too final.
I hope you'll pass this along on other comment spaces like this one. Here's to a healthy kitty!
Pine pellets from tractor supply for horse stalls are kiln dried. They are dried at such high heat that all of the oils are gone. Completely safe.
I second the comment, that Tractor Supply's horse stall pellets, are fully Kiln-dried, it says on the bags, so they are safe for CATS' littler boxes. A 40-lb! bag, is only around $ 6.50!
I switched a few months ago and love it. One of my girls had the clumping litter stuck to her paws all the time and I worried about her ingesting all that litter....almost daily. Best decision I ever made. They didn't have any issues switching. I just scooped up a few poops and put it in with the pellets and no problem. The smell is cut down by 100. What I did was buy some inexpensive litter boxes and drilled holes into the top one. I had to enlarge the holes because they weren't large enough, at first but otherwise, I didn't have any issues. Much easier than this. I scoop out the poops and then sift the remaining pellets so that the saw dust falls to the bottom box. Easy, peasy! You could actually do the same with your two bins.
I recently started using the Tidy Cat Breeze system without the bottom catch tray. I also bought a Pet Champion X-Large pan to catch the 'sawdust'. I placed two pieces of 2x4 wood blocks at the front and back in the catch pan (to allow plenty of room for the waste), then placed a trash can liner (using 30 gallon size for now, but might not need that large). Finally placed the litter box in that.
I find you don't need to use a large quantity of pellets, not 3 inches like old litter, just maybe an inch or so. I clean out the solid waste once a day (I flush them after they soak a minute or so). Still figuring out the best timing for changing the bottom catch, maybe once a week.
So far I really believe this is the best system to use, especially since one of my two kitties pees a lot!
I love a good bit of home hack meets improvisation. The TC system has been brought up in the comments before and I actually was given a unit by the local shelter to test when they were getting rid of some they had. In the end, the cost just wasn't worth it (~$60 in Canada last check) and my girls didn't like a "grate" below their feet so I've stuck with my cheap $5 tubs. There was also some cleaning time increase when we did a few weeks trial but hey, if it's working for you and you're onto wood pellets with your mods I think that's fabulous. Well done you for keeping the furry overlords happy. Thanks for watching and happy scooping!
ps. Sorry for the lag, the brand names got auto-flagged flagged as spam.
- MSH
I’ve only just discovered this type of litter and it has 100% improved my experience of my foster cats, it’s cheaper, stinks less, is easy to process/clean. Well worth getting it.
Thank you. This was the comment I was looking for with 8 cats. ( They're all porch- stoop- to couch crasher to permanent squatters...all loved and of course family now)
Ok I've watched so many vids about pellets. This is the best one.
Glad it helped T. Hope your herd takes to them like mine did. Thanks for watching.
For my cat, i couldnt get him to switch to pellets, he tried hiding and going all over the house. So I tried paper pellets, i figured since they’re softer to step on and the same color as normal cat litter (dont actually know if thats the reason it worked) but it worked! And then i switched him to other pellets as well and he uses anything now. Also try mixing the litter with the pellets on top little bit at a time. Eventually you’ll switch over and they wont even know something changed.
Thank you ! I have several cats and the cost has been high. Well, not anymore. The cats had no problem adjusting to this new litter and I have had no problem saving money
GREAT VIDEO !!
Glad to hear you've made the switch successfully and get to pocket some of that clumping clay cash. My girls also took right to it even though they gave me a few weird looks at first. Welcome to pellet world. Cheers!
I found a stray kitten yesterday on my way home. Skinny little thing, but adorable. I've had dogs all my life, but I've never had a cat so I spent a couple hours reading up on their needs. I took her out to potty with my dogs, not expecting her to go, but to my surprise, she actually goes potty outside like my dogs do (my dogs are big babies so they don't seem aggressive towards her at all, and she just ignores their curiousness/sniffyness which is awesome).
I'm going to build her this wood pellet litterbox today, thank you very much for creating this video.
Thank you for the info. I have been using clumping clay liter and omg! My breathing has gotten worse. And I have 2 cats, 1 of them seems to think digging to China is the way to go... But not good for their breathing either. So I saw a video of one of the vlogs I follow and she uses the pellets, but didn't show how to clean the box, so I got a 40 lb. Bag of pellets and forgot to ask how to clean.. And thanks to the internet and UA-cam.. TADA!!!! Thank you once again. Now maybe my kids and I can breath easier. Yay Canada 🇨🇦 💖
Glad to add to the collective info pool Steve. Hope it works for you. The air quality was so noticably better when I switched that's what prompted me to make the video. That and the huge cost savings. Appreciate the view. Cheers!
I do the pine bedding pellets and it's really a great plan! I do mix in some Sweet pdz that is a powder that eliminates the ammonia smell in the sawdust and enables me to put the sawdust either on the yard or in a flowerbed. I like your box idea! I have a sifting letterbox but only use the sifter to clean out the boxes. And the boxes stay so much cleaner with the wood pellets, too! Great video for a crazy cat lady down in southern Missouri, USA!!
I just got two kittens and I am going to try this. I loves cat my wife told me no cat I got two kittens from a friend and told her I pay all the bills and mortgage when she got home she found one kitten and a week latter I gave he the other kitten she was mad but I told her I love you but I love cats. Thank you.
Cats. Wife. Cats. Wife... decisions decisions. LOL No one can hate a kitten for long. Your wife will come around. Thanks for watching.
This really works! A week ago I purchased a bag of wood pellets from a feed store for about $6. I've only had to clean my cats box once this week. I didn't have to add much pellets. This bag will last me a year. No smells. . no mess.. no dust.
Pellet success! Thanks for watching.
- MSH
Thank you for talking about pine being toxic!
It's something everyone should be aware of for sure and do their own research for peace of mind. Thanks for watching!
Your sifter idea is very crafty!
I used some clean 5-gallon buckets left over from a job and a garden mesh sifter. Works like a dream.
You could do the same with the hardware cloth to a bucket and skip messing with the cardboard box if you want to spend the extra few bucks on the bucket.
Indeed a cheap bucket could serve the same purpose as the box for an extra five bucks. Thanks for watching!
Nevermind transitioning the cats, what about me? I'm so used to scooping out clumped litter and leaving behind the sandy litter. Now it's backwards? I throw away the sawdust?!? How will I cope?!?! I'm not ready for this.
Be brave, child, be brave.
Albie Oval Do what I do: skip the sifting altogether. You will still want to remove solids, but here is my technique: Use only a thin layer of pellets-about 2 to 3 pellets deep; you will still see the bottom peeking through in many places. The cat(s) will move the pellets around as needed, and at first may leave some areas completely void of litter between uses. Do not panic! You will see that the cats manage where the litter is needed, and as the pellets disintegrate into sawdust the bottom of the box will eventually be completely covered. When all or most of the pellets have distintegrated, simply toss out all of the used litter! Refill with a thin layer of fresh pellets, and you’re good to go. There is something about the wood that does such an amazing job of both absorbing and destroying odors. The only time odor becomes a problem is if the sawdust becomes visibly saturated with urine-indicating I’ve waited too long to dump the lot. Even then, a quick wipe of the empty box with a safe spray cleaner and a couple of paper towels, let the box dry for a few minutes, and refill with the thin layer of pellets. This method using wood pellets is the easiest, freshest, cheapest I’ve ever had in 25 years of cat husbandry. Give up the sifter! Go thin and toss.
Just the amount of money I’ve saved on litter!!!! Amazing!
The smell is non existent beyond pine wood. I’ve shared this with anyone I’ve ever met that owns a cat.
I did have to sprinkle regular litter on top for about a week or so, but after that, my cat hasn’t had any issues using it.
Get the pine bedding from tractor supply. It’s $6 for a 40 lb bag
So very glad it's working for you. The long term benefits on top of the wallet help are well worth any short-term switchover misery. Thanks for watching and for reporting back!
I love my pine litter and so do my kitty's they have never been sick there very healthy I work at a animal hospital so I'm able to get them there check ups like they need.
Good to hear that a 'pro' uses them as well. Thanks for watching!
I add a few cups of crystal litter in pan first, it keeps wet pellets from sticking to pan. I also use dog poop bags or disposable gloves to remove the majority of solids - easier than scooping, just grab it out with bag/glove.
I’ve been using pellets for 9 months and love them. I especially like your $1 pellet sifting hack. Going to try it for sure!
Glad they're working for you Laura. Happy scooping (and saving)!
I’ve got my two finicky girls doing this method, and it is FANTASTIC! Never smells, and I use the sawdust in my garden.It saves money and time!
Glad the method is working and saving you bucks. Thanks for watching!
If your in the us Lowe's has 40lbs of wood pellets for 6 ish dollars
That's about the going rate up here in Canada too. Thanks for watching!
@@MrSporksHands Thank you for making helpful videos
Thank you Savannah!!!
When i search for it on lowes website the only thing that pops up is the wood pellets for bbq. Is that the same thing? I know cats cant have a lot of oils bc its toxic to them....
Thanks girl! ❤️
We did this, and it works really well. Got some 1/4 inch wire mesh (sold as mouse-proofing for air bricks from a local company) and made a riddle out of a cardboard box. So much better than the clay litter we'd been using before this. Thank you :)
Glad it's a system that helps you. Well spotted on the wire mesh find. Hope it saves you heaps of money and helps your herd. Thanks for watching!
I've been using fuel pellets for three years now. At about $20 a year for litter v $20 a month. Easy choice!
100% agree fatherofchickens (and cats). Thanks for watching!
@@MrSporksHands 🤣👍🏼 ❤️
I've been using pellets for years and years and have converted everyone I know to use pellet bedding from the feed stores. They are the BEST. We get kiln dried mixed wood bedding pellets from our local feed store. 7$ for 18kg. A bag lasts about 2-3 months for our two cats and 3 litter boxes. We sift pee every two days and take poop out every day!
Another happy scooper! Thanks for watching.
glad I found this! I am looking into switching from clay to wood pellets and I don't want to throw away the litter boxes that I already have. Thank you!
Happy to help. Be persistent with the switch and it will pay off hugely over time. Cash in pocket and better air quality. Thanks for watching!
You can also just use a colander from the dollar store that stays specific to that use
I tried a few of those but couldn't find one with JUST the right size holes to do the job with my size pellets. Great idea if you can find a match that will allow enough sawdust through without having to shake it like a Polaroid picture for an hour. I'd buy a stack and paint them safety orange or some such (DON'T use the orange ones for pasta!) if any come across my path. The dollar store people must think I'm addicted to rigatoni since I'm always checking their latest versions. Thanks for watching!
Totally enjoyed your video, I've just switched to wood pellet cat litter for my 2 cats and decided I needed a sifter - now I can make my own! Thank you very much for a practical and easy-to-make solution, just what I was looking for. Enjoyed your funny comments too!
Thanks for the kind words. My girls are totally on the wood pellet bandwagon now. They don't even remember what clumping clay is any longer. Thanks for watching!
Thank you so much for this fatastic DIY video! I wanted to tell you about the cheaper and stirdier version of litter box. My hubby got a 9 US gallon mortar mixing tab from Lowe's (it cost only $7 plus tax). They are big, stirdy and work great! He then screwed cut PVC pipes to the bottom (to create spacing) in 4 corners and in the center (I wish I could attach images). But you are right, use what you have! Great video!!! With you being a handy man, I thought you would appreciate the creativity :)
I live in US and You just Helped me out a loooooot with this Video thanks Man 🙌👌👍👍👍👍
Happy to help. It's has saved me more money than I want to add up over the years. All that clay litter I went through for decades. Thanks for watching and happy pelleting!
Have used wood pellets for quite a few years. It works well, but has 2 drawbacks. The pellets disintegrate very quickly when wet, you'll need to be "on it" and not let the used pellets age and the smell control was not quite as good so you will need to throw in a handful of baking soda if you want to minimize smell. Other than that I liked it fine and the cats did too. The price was decent and disposal for me was really easy since I live in the country and can and do compost. Wood is very compostable.
Having acreage certainly makes this an easy choice for me too. I've got some lilacs planted next to my heap (not TOO close) and they love it. You're spot on with the maintenance. As long as you pay attention and don't procrastinate on the changes, the smell isn't an issue. Up here particularly in winter when the cats seem to drink less than in summer. I tried the baking soda trick for a while but realized it simply wasn't needed in my scenario. Worst case a full change every fourth day and I never smell a thing. At at the price for pellets I'm still WAY ahead on the math. Thanks for watching!
- MSH
I use a colander over a smaller bucket,
A good idea. I could never find a colander with the right size holes but I'm sure it's out there for the diligent shopper. The wire mesh was a bit easier to clean for me too but whatever works, eh? Thanks for watching!
Great idea!
THANK YOU! I've used pellets in the past but I didnt think to come up with my own scoop. The store bought it's just fall through. I went from 1 house broken(in and out) cat to her + 2 kittens and now that we moved shes not allowed outside. So it get expensive with 2 litter boxes. I'm so grateful I found this. Thanks again
Sounds really familiar Sarah. I was recently adopted by a pre-pregnant mum who soon added two new kittens. She's been learning to make the change from 'wild outside' to fancy indoor loos and the kittens of course had to start from zero. We're all on the pellets now and set for winter. We'll see if Mumcat's 'call of the wild' comes back in spring but a trip to the vet in January (earliest they could get her in) will stop the kitten factory for good. Thanks for watching and enjoy the cheaper scooping.
I stumbled upon this when searching for sound cats make when coughing up hair balls . Thank you Sir. I’m very excited about this new way of doing “Mamushkas”
litter box ...I’m gonna buy today and try it out 👍🏻
How did it work out?
This is a great idea I use the hard pellets in the bottom of my bird cage. Just in case your wondering no the bird cannot get to the pellets. I just slide out the base each day pick through with a glove on and it looks great only do a full change once a month. It looks nicer than newspaper more natural and I'm always asked how I keep his cage so clean, although it helps that he is hardly ever in his cage lol.
I also shake in some baking soda in mine and helps with odor. My cat is a pro and my yard is getting fertilized a win win for everyone! Plus it is so cheap! Pass it on!
I use hardwood pellets and it is great - but I gotta say I genuinely scratch my head that people choose to play around in the kitty pellets for 10 minutes each cleaning, worrying over $1 worth of pellets. I dump the whole thing in a garbage bag and call it a day. I only use 4 cups each time and change it every other day, the price is so minimal - I pay $4 a 40lb bag! I got better things to do. Right now my cost is roughly $5 a month and I ain't bothered.
Nice video, my cat loves this litter, I just use the scooper to sift. Sifting itself is entertaining to him. I have to do it twice a day to satisfy him.
Ha. I thought my crew was nuts when they started watching me do the sifting routine. Better than a movie to them. I can't help but imagine they're thinking "What does he DO with it all and why is he saving it?"
Love your infectious humor and enthusiasm!
I try to keep it light where I can. Talking to the internet about cat poop is just made for comedy. Thanks for watching and the kind words. Happy scooping.
I have that 1/4" hardware cloth. And now i have an idea thanx to you n the almighty duct tape. Thankyou for putting this out there.
My pleasure Gayle. I still use a (mostly) disposable DIY sifter even after testing a bunch of other plastic gizmos. Thanks for watching and happy duct taping!
I have 6 cats and use clump & seal which is worst, than the cheapest litter. It's blocks that takes the whole litter box to the garbage. My cats are picky but most definitely going to buy the wood pellets. Thank you!!!
Glad to help. Six can make the litter bill really add up. Patience with the change will be key but I suspect you'll get there in the end. Just remember the payoff once they stop grumbling and accept... eventually... we hope. LOL Thanks for watching!
@@MrSporksHandsI have a clowder of 17 cats. All fixed, healthy and litter box trained. I normally use Scoop Away here in the US. I figured I was paying about $220.00 a month, and my back was killing me scooping out all of the hard clumps for our garbage cans. Then we couldn’t even remove the bags from our trash cans they were so heavy! I just retired and was looking for ways to cut litter costs. Now I use the horse bedding pine pellets from Tractor Supply at $7.49 for 40 lbs.
About 10 of my cats are indoor/outdoor so they like to go outside to the bathroom during the day. Some also do not like to walk on the hard pellets. I am using large pee pads in two areas for any of the cats that prefer not to use the box. I find that once the pellets turn to sawdust the cats don’t mind as much walking in the litter box. I also know this way is much easier on my back. The sawdust is so lightweight, and we live agricultural so we compost the used pellets in the back of our property. We’re on farmland, so no nearby houses. Thank you for educating cat owners about economical alternatives to heavy clumping litter!
If u want to use pine pellets make sure is kiln dried... it evaporates the harmful oils in the pine making it safe for the cats
"Like juggling a clown car full of razor blades." Lol! You can also use a Tidy cats litter bin and cut the bottom out. Dremmels work great for that.
I tried re-engineering all sorts of boxes (dremmel-ing included) but the bottom line for me was that a sifting "mechanism' in the box all the time didn't make for easy cleanup. If money was no object ($40+), you can actually get a perfectly engineered, wire mesh/grate garden sifter or gold panning gizmo. No matter what, if you find something that's working for you well done. Happy scooping!
- MSH
Thank you for the video! Tired of the dust, using cats litter for my two chihuahuas for 14 years. No more! 👍👍👍👍👍🙏
A few others have commented that it works for little dogs. Well done! Thanks for watching.
- MSH
Glad to see this video and know other cats use pallets because I just bought a bag of yesterday to try, I cant stand all the dust litter has and Im not trying to spend a bunch of money on something my furbabies are gonna crap on so pallets it is! Right now Im mixing a bit of the reg litter with the pellets so they know thats their bathroom.. I scoop their litter box atleast twice a day, I use a scooper and a mini dust pan and I take out all the dirty litter not just the chunks every bit of it and I clean the dirty areas with a disposable wet rag and add clean litter, after a week I will completely empty and clean the whole box then add new, my furbabies are only 6 months old and so far so good!🤞
Glad it's working for you and the new additions. Mixing new and old is exactly what they want to smell when switching over. Thanks for watching and happy pelleting!
I have two large male neutered cats, I just started them on pine litter 7 weeks ago, just finished a 40 lb bag. The bag cost $7 so it ended up costing $1 a week for two large cats. I'm very happy. And. It doesn't get tracked around the house and there is no smell.
Welcome to the wonderful world of pellets Carolyn. Glad it's working for you. My advice is never calculate how much you spent on the clumping stuff over the years. :-) Thanks for watching and happy scooping!
what brand do you use?
I've tried all 4-5 brands available in my area at various times through the year. Bottom line was that they all work almost exactly the same. I stick with 'hardwood' versions that are kiln dried but otherwise, you'll probably find that brands vary way too much between areas to worry about. Literally different in every province up here even in the same chain of stores. Good luck on the hunt and thanks for watching.
Dollar Tree plastic collender...works good....inexpensive...no cutting, taping ....just buy and sift. I just started the switch over to wood pellets....I have 13 rescues so I need to cut corners where I can....not with their food though...and it's a process with so many picky babies....but just thinking about it being cheaper and biodegradable is worth it to me. One of my litter boxes is a Breeze and this way is soooooooo much cheaper than buying the Breeze pellets. The pad that is used in the bottom of the litter box......I went to the drug store...bought a pack of disposable bed liner pads for $3.79....cut them in 3 sections and use them instead of the Breeze liner. It doesn't last as long(individually) BUT since you get 15 per pack X3= 45 pads for the litter box....it evens out at a way lower cost. And they also have alternative pads/generic pads or use puppy pads....a lot cheaper than the name brand.
The breeze works great but here in Canada on amazon its over 200. So I use the arm and hammer I do like he showed except I have a litter box with high sides
I saved so much money using this! I just love it. I changed it twice a week. The dryer the area, the better poop blend in. I can say the urine does smell a little strong. The wood makes it easier to carry and disposed.
Glad it's saving you some coin. If you're getting strong aroma I'd ask how often you're doing a full changeout. I do mine every third day (fourth if lightly used). Also, really strong aroma there can be an indicator of various health issues. Nothing to panic about but you might have a chat with your vet about it. Thanks for watching!
You can also add baking soda if you're not sifting everyday
You my good man are a genius!!! I literally watched this with a smile on my face. Can’t wait to go out tomorrow and buy some pellets. I got on here for a review of a different litter and found you. So thankful. Thanks for sharing. I know you didn’t come up with the pellet idea but your ingenuity and video friendly instructions are just the cats meow. 🤣
The 'transition week' is pure comedy too. Thanks for the kind words and happy scooping!
- MSH
Not only was this video funny and entertaining. And i loved your voice. But it was very helpful and informative. Thank you so much. It's time for my princess to have some new cat liter, and I'm definitely switching to these things. I want to save money but I want my room to smell better.
Thanks for the kind words. There is a SLIGHT difference in smell between brands but generally it's a faint 'wood shop' aroma. I actually have mine in a closet with a small dryer vent to outside. Don't smell a thing. Good luck and thanks for watching.
Such an informative video. TYSM for sharing your techniques and knowledge with us. Love the homemade sifter device you made. Will hafta make one for my kitty's litter box. Guess it'll be that I sift the used out and let the good go into the other pan because she refuses to use the pine pellet litter. She will only use the natural corn cob litter. I even tried gradually increasing the pellets in it as is suggested when changing the litter, but, she really absolutely refused to use the pine pellet litter. I also tried three different brands of it, thinking it could be that ... but, 😉 NOPE !!! She didn't like either one. 😻 TYSM for sharing this video with us. Love your channel, too. 😻👍😻
Used to use these in our old pellet stove, I even think we have a couple bags lying around somewhere. We live in rural area and our litter doesn’t go in landfill but still a pain to use(UUUGH). Will be trying this, thanks so much, our indoor cat is13, hope she can make the change, Thanks again!!
I hope it worked for you. My girls were both 14 when we made the switch so it CAN be done. Good luck and thanks for watching.
I've been using hardwood pellets with the Tidy Cats Breeze litter box. It's really convenient day-to-day, as I just scoop & flush the poop then pull out the tray and dump the dust in the compost. But cleaning that grate is a huge pain in the butt!!! Your system seems much easier in that regard.
Agreed. And cheaper for both startup and how many pellets you need to fill since you don't have to worry as much about keeping that grate buried deep to try to avoid 'direct hits'. I'm on roughly a six-day rotation with one or two 'sifts' in the middle depending on use. One 18kg bag lasts me two months of happy cats. Hope it works for you as well as it does me. Thanks for watching. Cheers and happy pellet-ing!
I have to try this. I thought about doing this a long time ago but never did. Pellets are much cheaper than cat litter. I once litter trained a dog and I used pellets. Thank you so much.
I have heard of litterbox trained mini-dogs. Poop is poop, the box isn't species-ist. LOL Thanks for watching!
- MSH
I did something similar but I used a second smaller tub and just used my husbands drill to drill holes in the bottom of the bin, it works great and it's plastic so I can hose it down after I use it
You can buy a sifting litter box, has a top tray with holes and a solid bottom tub. You shake the sifter tray and can then either put it into a second clean tub (should be sold in the set) or just set the tray on the floor and wipe out the tub, and put the sifter top back, then sweep up the few pine pellets on the floor. I’ve been using pine pellets several years; the cats aren’t wild about them, but they use it, and my bathroom floor doesn’t have any more sandy grit.
@@celticceltic99 As detailed in the video, the sifting litter boxes often have holes that are too big, and whole pellets can fall through.
If you purchase 2 identical bins that stack it is easy to drill 1/4 inch holes in the bottom of the top bin and the pellets wont fall through, but the saw dust from the "used" pellets can. Especially if when stacked there is a space between the bottom of the top bin and the bottom bin. Make sure you drill A LOT of holes though. Then you can scoop out the solids daily and just pick up the top bin and shake to sift every couple of days. Dump out the bottom bin after sifting or you can leave it to dump out once a week or so depending how fast that space between the 2 bins fills up.
I will definitely try the box diy sifting thingy. I just recently changed my cat from the usual clay litter into these pellets and these have been the best two months for my cat and for me, he used them without any issue, and if yiu remove the solids everyday, the cat litter smell is 100% gone, this is magic.
Well done on the change. After months of use I found an even cheaper supply of pellets so now I actually change the whole fill more often. I do still sift with my trusty cheap box hack on the coldest of nights though. It is indeed a game changer both for air quality and costs. Thanks for watching and contributing to the discussion. Happy scooping!
Used litter mix works very well for learning the cats with the new material. I tried 3 days to introduce the pelets to my cats until I mixed the pelets with 3-4 scoops of used litter and couple of little shits :))
Thank you thank you! I’ve been using pellets for about 7 years. Been driving me crazy trying to discover better cheaper way to use them! You’ve done it and cheapest way!
I know a lot of folks out there are strapped for cash these days so wanted to do something without 'buying' much of anything. Especially up here in Canada where prices seem to inflate the moment something plastic gets shipped from afar. Glad it helped. Thanks for watching.
The best explanation I found! Thanks so much! Loved your video! The sifting hack is awesome too!
Thanks for watching. Hope it helps you and your herd of furry overlords. Happy sifting out there.
Thanks so much, I will do that specialty because a have 3 female cats I can imagine how much money I can save.
I bought 3 bags of 30Litre pellets and started using them in August last year and still have about 15Litres left...so easy to sieve too...buy a large vegetable strainer with bowl that has slits in the bottom & sides and just sieve...the pellets turn to sawdust when wet and never smells...I've saved a fortune! 🤑
I don't EVEN want to do the math of how much money I spent on clumping clay before I switched... (mumbles.... thirty years, $30 per month...). If you have dry storage space and time it properly you can get wood pellets at the end of heating season for a song because the stores really don't want to stock them for summer months. I now arrange half a pallet's worth at a discount about every third year. 6-7 bags per YEAR or around $30. The savings really adds up and the cats don't care what they poop in. LOL Thanks for watching and good luck with the switch.
I'm retired, on a fixed income, and noticed I was spending about $30 month on scoopable Tidy Cat litter. Sometimes more. It was not controlling the odor either. Hoping to get my 4 babies used to it for their health.
Kiln dried Pine pellets like Eagle Talon brand are safe for cats; the heat evaporates the pine oil. They are available at Equine feed/supply stores.
The pine pellets made especially for cats is fired in a kiln, which removes the pine resin!
Most pellets even for wood stoves are also kiln fired it seems. Check the bag labels to be sure. It seems they charge a lot extra to put pictures of cats on the bags of the other stuff. LOL Thanks for watching!
The switch to pellets has been AMAZING. Holy cat shit Batman. So cheap. Smells great. The dust produced is lighter and great for an apartment. Our boys adapted to it right away.
Glad it's working for you. My girls dove right in as well. Enjoy the pelleting and thanks for watching.
Thankies for this video. PEOPLE.....if your cat doesn't like the feel of the litter do like this guy said. Just sprinkle some water on the pellets to fluff it a litttle and your cats will take to it
Had to use the pre-soak trick a bit on the new kittens for the first few days but it does work. Thanks for watching!
Yep I did this to make a soft touch. Now my kitten doesn't care if I wet it or not
I just saw your video- wish I had seen this much sooner- I have 4 cats - I am going shopping tonight to set up your system- thank you so much for sharing!! I loved your kitty popping in on camera - so beautiful!
She's always trying to steal the limelight. Thanks for watching!
First time listening to your chanel. Love your fun and simple aproach to things! I have 3 cats and 250 wood pellets bags left over from last winter. We are switching to a wood stove so the pellets will be put to good use! Thank you so much!!
Catherine
Thanks for the kind words. Lots of people in these parts heat with wood pellets and I think I've gotten most of them to become cat owners. Make a 'used pellet compost' in a far corner of the yard and laugh when you pass the clay litter section at the store. Cheers!
Can you use the used pellets for the stove? Years ago at a farm show there was an outdoor furnace that burned cow and horse dung to heat buildings or water heaters.
The pellets that get wet with urine disintegrate into sawdust. The rest of them are left in the litter-box and added to, as needed.
I have used wood pellets for years now. $5.00 for 40 lbs. Great saving and works wonderful.
Yeah, I had switched over to Feline Pine because it smelled so good. But then one day I saw the pellet stove pellets at Lowes (US Canadian Tire) for a lot cheaper and thought that would work just as well.