The Benefits of Pine Cat Litter

Pine cat litter is a natural alternative to clay-based litters. It offers health benefits to cat owners and cats alike, and it offers several important benefits for cat owners, including odor control.

How Pine Cat Litter Is Made

Pine cat litters are pelleted litters that are made from sawdust or recycled pine shavings. The sawdust-based litters expand and return to sawdust when they are exposed to moisture. The shavings-based litters are kiln dried to make them cleaner and more absorbent. They are biodegradable and are easily disposed of as compost or mulch.

Pine Cat Litter Benefits

Improved health for cats and their owners is one of the major benefits pine cat litters can offer. One of the biggest is pine cat litter’s dust-free nature. This makes box changing and scooping clean and quick, and reduces the chance of dust-related allergy flare-ups in cats or people.

The lighter weight of pine cat litter bags as opposed to comparable clay-based litters may be a benefit to some cat owners, especially those with back or mobility problems.

Another major benefit of pine cat litter is its odor-controlling ability. The absorbent pine material controls urine and ammonia odors—the main cause of litter box smells—with a pleasant pine scent. Scoop the box daily to remove solid waste and clumps of wet litter.

The shape and size of some pine cat litters mean that it’s less likely to be tracked through the house. The larger pellets stay in the litter box better, and as the pellets break down into pine sawdust, the dust drops into the bottom of the box, under the fresh litter. If the larger pellets are tracked out of the box, they can be painful if you step on them, so you may need to sweep up around the box regularly to control litter scatter.

A bigger-picture benefit is that pine cat litters are environmentally friendly. Pine is a natural, biodegradable product, and pine litter is made by using wood scraps that would otherwise go to waste, so these products are really a win-win for cat owners and the planet. The litter’s biodegradable nature creates another benefit: less waste building up in landfills. Some pine cat litters claim to be flushable, which can also make cleaning the litter box quicker and easier.

Cost Benefits of Pine Cat Litter

Although the initial cost of pine cat litter is higher than comparable clay-based brands, the pine litter may end up being more economical in the long run because the litter box may need less frequent complete changes. Daily scooping and as-needed freshening with small amounts of clean litter may provide up to two weeks of litter box use between complete litter changes, depending on the number of cats in your home.

 

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