Pine pellet litter should be changed regularly in order to keep your cat’s environment clean and hygienic. As a general rule of thumb, it is recommended that you replace all of the litter every one to two weeks. To ensure that your cat’s environment remains as clean and hygienic as possible , you should also give the litter box a scrub down with soapy water at least once a month. Additionally, it is important to regularly stir the pellets in order to aerate it.
But does this rule applies to all types of litter? Well… It depends. It’s not as cut and dry as you might think. It depends on the number of litter boxes, the number of cats, and the type of litter box. Before you proceed, if you’re unsure how do sifting litter box work, you should check out our guide.
Pine pellet typically last longer than conventional clay litter or paper litter, clumping or otherwise. Pine pellets are pretty absorbent. The ‘damage’ by liquid waste is mostly contained when the pine pellet absorbs the liquid and disintegrate. The liquid doesn’t spread as wide as when using the other types of cat litter.
How often to change pine pellet litter
For 2-tray sifting litter box users
Sifting litter boxes largely fall into 2 categories: a 3-tray system and a 2-tray system. A 3 tray system functions quite similarly to a standard litter box. The pine pellets that are soiled will stay into the trays as you clean out the solid waste everyday. Unless there’s concerted effort to scoop out the disintegrated pine saw dust, it gets passed back and forth between shakes. Find out which 3-tray or 2-tray systems works best for you in our guide on the best sifting litter box for pine pellets. Or you can always opt for the DIY route: learn how to DIY sifting litter box for pine pellets.
With a 2-tray system, the pine pellets disintegrate into saw dust when it comes in contact with liquid. It falls to the bottom tray quite readily when disturbed. And if you’re lucky, urine drips directly into the bottom tray with minimal contact with the pine pellet.
For those with a 2-tray system, it is recommended to clear out the bottom solid tray weekly. You can stretch that to 10 days or 2 weeks, especially if you have multiple cat litter boxes that are not heavily trafficked. This means disposing of all collected soiled pine pellets/ saw dust and giving the bottom tray a good wipe down with white vinegar cleaning solution.
Add fresh pine pellet to the top sifting tray to keep the pine pellets at a 2-3 inches depth. This is usually done every few days.
And finally, replace the pine pellets completely every month or so. You can do this under normal circumstance, i.e. when your cat doesn’t have loose or watery stool. Give both trays a good wash with soapy water.
For standard litter box users
This includes conventional litter boxes as well as 3-tray sifting litter boxes. This requires scooping out all soiled/disintegrated pine pellets, ideally daily if you can. As the wet pellets just sits in the litter box, it does more ‘damage’. You’ll need to top up fresh pine pellets more frequently and in larger quantity to keep the 2-3 inches depth.
Change the pine pellets completed every 2 to 3 weeks to keep it clean and fresh. And as always, deep clean the litter box by giving it a good wash with soapy warm water.
