Cats and pine shavings

[Sword]

I'm switching my cats litter to wood shavings, pine,the kind people use in stalls and rodent cages. They seem to like it (I think it reminds them of my Moms garden mulch) , its cheap, and their box is in the garage, so mess doesn't matter. I thought I'd check on the internets to make sure it doesn't cause sudden death or anything. Anyone here have experience with this? My searches didn't yield any results.

 

[mom2jedi]

There is a product sold in pet stores called feline pine. Supposedly it is from sawdust produced by sawmills. There are two versions of it, a pellet kind that breaks down when it gets wet (looks more like sawdust then) and a scoop-able kind that is pretty small loose sawdust. I used this for my last cat and it worked fairly well, with my two new kittens however, I noticed it smelled more and after about a month switched back to regular scooping litter. It could be the smell was more obvious because they were in a bathroom instead of garage (where the old cat's box was) I just decided I didn't like the smell enough to put up with it. It wasn't like I wasn't cleaning out the box either, it would smell after only a couple hours.

As for damaging your cats, i don't think there's an issue with using regular pet store shavings but make sure it isn't treated with anything. The Feline Pine stuff is raw and they make sure it's safe. It is more expensive than regular cat litter but it's compost-able which is a nice bonus.

 

[Sword]

Feline Pine is actually what I'm switching from. It's nice, but too expensive for me to use enough of it (I've got 7 cats). I heard you're not supposed to compost cat litter, or is that only the clay kind?

 

[mom2jedi]

It's just the clay kind you can't compost. Feline pine is supposed to be compostable. At least I thought it was. Been a couple months since I've bought any. You can't compost the feces but the wet litter is what can go in the mix.

Not sure about what your feed stores carry but I get 100% pine bales for my small animals which is actually a very small size comparatively. Anything other than that is pretty large shavings and I prefer the smaller size for all my caged critters.

 

[2DogsFarm]

I bed my horses' stalls with pine shavings - a 30# bale costs me about $5.50

Since my barncat uses the stalls as her litterbox on occasion (too wet or cold to go out) I can safely say the shavings won't hurt a cat*.

*I've warned barncat the 1st time I have to pick cat poop out of a hoof she is in Big Trouble!

 

[thebritt]

There's a product I get from our feed store - sorry, forget the name (it's like "Woody Pet", which they don't carry anymore) - but it's compressed wood pellets used for absorbing urine in horse/animal stalls. They look like woodstove pellets, but are not held together with glue or anything toxic. Safe for cat boxes, rabbits, rats, etc. When urine hits the pellets, they puff up into sawdust-like texture. The bags (40lb.) sell for around 8 bucks, but you only use 2" deep worth. 1 bag has lasted me 2 months, and we have 6 indoor/outdoor kitties! Also, the used litter can be dumped under a bush, or any non-food plant that needs mulching! I highly recommend the stuff - excellent at keeping down odor.

 

[SallyF]

I switched my cats to Feline Pine because I don't like the clay stuff. It's too hard to dispose of here in the country. I was deploring the cost of Feline Pine, then discovered Equine Pine at Tractor Supply. Same thing, made by the same company, and it comes in bigger bags for less money. Cats can't tell the difference, and I just empty the litter boxes out in the woods. (I couldn't use the shavings because I had one cat with urinary tract issues, and I could tell by the amount of sawdust in the pellet pans whether he was going or not.)

 

[Akane]

A feed store can sell you pelleted pine for a lot cheaper than feline pine in pet stores and it's the same thing. There should be no health risks from pine for a cat.

We just use chicken layer feed as litter. Cheaper than any cat litter and works nearly the same as corn cob based litters like world's best.

 

[sherrysusan]

Hi,

Am so interested in using chicken layer feed as kitty litter for my 1 (& only) cat, Precious. She's going on 13 this year and the last few months has had a terrible rash on lower tummy. Going back to vet today (4th time), probably for another steroid shot, but have found from research, those are not good for the long haul & may shorten her lifespan

Thinking of trying my chicken layer feed, ... I have no clue what is bothering her, vet says no mites or anything else, gets Frontline 1st of ea month, house is clean, have also been giving her a little fish oil ea morning, she laps it right up (vet recommended)


Any other ideas are Greatly appreciated - thanks all

 

[Stylinjinx]

My cat also needs steroid shots 1-2 times ayear. Same thing. We think it's allergies to fleas. We haven't seen or felt fleas but even 1 bite....it's curtains. And she's also an indoor only cat.