Deodorize Cat Litter With Pine Pellets

There are a number of products on the shelves which cater to the pet cat population. One very popular product is the 'cat litter' product, or simply cat litter. It is a material that is placed inside a litter box to catch the pet cat's droppings. The material prevents the box from getting soiled by absorbing the urine and trapping the solid dropping. The cat litter is very similar to ordinary dirt, to take advantage of the cat's natural predilection to cover up its droppings. The cat owner removes and refreshes the cat litter from the box every day. The used litter is disposed off in the garbage. There is just one problem - as long as the box is inside the house, there is a terrible stench that pervades the house! The odor goes only when the cat litter goes. This is a serious sore point with cat owners. Now a very enterprising producer has come up with a novel idea - pine cat litter! His litter is made up of pine pellets. The natural odor of pine masks the smell of the cat's droppings remarkably well.

You may be put off by the fact that it is twice as costly as the normal clumping type. The pine cat litter is made of pine pellets, which disintegrate to form sawdust. The pellets and the resultant sawdust absorb much more liquid than the ordinary clumping does. So the usage cost works out to be around that of the cat litter that is usually used.

The acceptance of pine cat litter is still an issue, not by the owners but by the cat itself. Cats are reluctant to use the pine cat litter because the 'feel' is unnatural. The pellets tend to be a little rough on the cat's paws. The cat's acceptance or rejection of pine cat litter will be the sole deciding factor in the success of pine cat litter in the market.

My suggestion is to introduce the pine cat litter in a gradual fashion. Mix a little pine cat litter with the normal stuff. Let the cat use it and get used to the mix. It may take a day or two for the cat to get comfortable with the mix. Then increase the dose of pine litter and reduce the amount of the ordinary litter. Let the cat get used to the increasing amounts of pine cat litter gradually. Finally, you will have a 100% pine cat litter in the litter box, and 100% freedom from that very strong odor! That is if your cat decides to play ball and adjust to pine litter. If your cat resists, and even refuses to visit the litter box, then it's back to the good old clumping and the bad old smell!

If you do want to use pine cat litter there is another way. Some owners use 90% pine cat litter to lay the box. The top 10% is filled up with ordinary clumping litter. Faced with his favorite litter, your cat has no objection now. And you, of course, are rid of that smell!

Hardly have we worked our way around problem #1, than problem #2 crops up. It appears that pine fragrance is not very popular with cats. Now that's something that we can't do anything about. After all you're using pine cat litter solely for its fragrance, and there's your cat wrinkling up its nose at the very idea! That apart, pine cat litter is completely safe for your cat. All toxic substances have been removed from the cat litter.

There is an environmental advantage in using pine cat litter. It can be composted once the cat's solid waste is removed. The composted litter can be put to use as manure for gardens, instead of adding to the ever-growing landfill of garbage.

The ball really is in your cat's court... depending on whether it likes the pine litter or not! If it does, then you're looking at a home that's free from that very distinct odor, that too at negligible cost. If not, then you'd better get a nose mask while you replenish the litter box with the litter that Mr.Tibbs favors!