Pine Wood stove pellets as cat litter?

[Sugaree]

Does anyone here use the pine wood stove pellets as cat litter? I used Yesterday's news with my Wally(RB) and am switching over my new gus with a whole bag i had just bought when i lost Wally. I was looking at cat litter online and came across a good amount of people that use it as it is less expensive. It is supposed to be just like Feline Pine. Im wondering if it would be worth switching to and if anyone has tried it. Thanks

[Catty1]

Here is a LOOONG answer from Yahoo Answers. Bottom line - you can phone the pellet manufacturer and ask!

(More posts at this link)
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071123022348AAoH5EW

Feline Pine works great for our three cats. If you're going to use it, I would suggest going to their website and ordering their sifter cat boxes. They really are a life saver. Feline Pine does take away the ammonia smell, but you do have to dump the saw dust out of the sifter bottom about every two or three days or it will start to smell like piny pee.

It lasts quite a long time, especially if you're using the sifters. We have never used clay litter so I'm not sure if it lasts longer or not. Now that I think about it, you did mention clumping, so I've got to say that I know nothing about the clumping version of feline pine. We only use the original pellet type.

Edit: Please do not use the wood stove pellets like the lady above me suggested. Feline Pine has been put through a special process that removes the volatile pine oil that has been found to harm cats. Some stove pellets still have that oil and they have been found to be harmful!

Second Edit: I'm going to go ahead and respond to punk_rawk_grrl's comments. It was my veterinarian who told me to avoid wood stove pellets. When I told him I was going to switch to pine pellets, I asked him if it would be safe to use stove pellets. He advised me to only use pellets that specifically say they are safe to be used as bedding for animals, otherwise I would be taking a chance with my cats' lives. Pine oil is nothing to mess around with when it comes to cats, plus some stove pellets have accelerants added to them which are just as dangerous to animals. I noticed that in your answer you didn't warn the person to look out for accelerants. Does that mean you didn't know about them or that you didn't think it was important enough to mention? Here's a link that gives information about volatile oils and accelerants being present in wood stove pellets: http://www.guinealynx.com/bedding_wood.h...
Here's a site that lists pine oil products as being toxic to cats: http://www.bo-kitty.com/Hazards.html
Here's an article that talks about additives, such as accelerants and binders that are often added to wood stove pellets: http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2006...

The brand of "stove pellets" you mentioned, are not just made for use as fuel, but they specifically state on their website that they are also meant to be used for animal bedding. http://www.sbcfiremaster.com/pelletfuelp... This brand of animal bedding is not one that I knew of, nor is it fair to state that it is just a random brand of wood stove pellets. I honestly think that advising this person to just go and buy wood stove pellets without making sure it is a brand that is safe for cats was quite irresponsible of you, and I am not in the least bit contrite for the tone I used when I warned her not to take your advise. The tendency for pet owners to put the cost of pet products over the health and well being of their pets is one thing I do not tolerate well. If it gives me peace of mind to know that I am doing my best to make sure my pets are well cared for, then it's worth the money. I'm planning on calling Firemaster as soon as the weekend is over, to get details about their product before I even think about using it. Did you do that?

I have edited my comment to say "some stove pellets", since there is obviously at least one brand of stove pellets that publically says they are safe to be used as animal bedding. I am also going to call Feline Pine and ask them personally what makes them different from regular stove pellets and ask them to provide a source that proves this.

Update:
Today I spoke to a representative from Feline Pine. It was a disappointing conversation to say the least. It turns out that Feline pine IS exactly the same as wood stove pellets. The only reason it costs more, according to the very rude person I talked to, is that it supposedly costs a lot to market wood stove pellets as cat litter. He also tried to claim that most stove pellets are made of hardwoods and not pine; therefore, it would not be as absorbent or odor fighting as Feline Pine.

I also spoke with a representative from Firemaster, and she was SO friendly and helpful. She assured me that their product was indeed 100% soft woods (mostly pine) and that their product had been found to be completely safe for cats. She said that they do market their product as pet litter/bedding as well as a fuel source, but that they do not charge more for it because of marketing. She said that the main reason their product costs less than Feline Pine is that Firemaster sells it in bulk and because they also have a large customer base. I asked if she knew if all stove pellets would be considered safe to be used with cats, and she said that she could only vouch for her product. She said that the only way to know if some other brand of stove pellet is safe for cats is to call and make sure before using it. I was very impressed by this conversation, and I intend to try this product with my cats.

I do agree with the lady from Firemaster who said that it would be best to call a company before using their pellets for cat litter. Anyway, that is my update and I hope it helps.

* 1 year ago

[gini]

Funny that you should ask. It had been recommended to me as well. I bought some and immediately liked the scent. At first you are to place a layer of pellets in the bottom of the litter tray with your old brand on top.

So far so good - somebody peed in it. End of story........I have three cats and the word went out - "don't use the litter tray to the right -
it has funny looking smelly stuff in it." So as a result I had one box that immediately became full with three cats using it.

It sat there for a week and they wouldn't touch it.

So now I am back to the heavy boxes (23 pounds) to lug home.

I would love to hear other people's experiences too.

I just saw the above again, and I did not use pine stove pellets - but the Feline Pine pellets for cats.

[kuhio98]

We've been using Pine Wood pellets as cat litter for several years now. No problems at all. All 5 cats are happy and healthy (and so is our bank account). We had been using cheapo clay litter before that. To help the kitties get used to the change, we started out with mostly clay litter with just a little bit of the pine pellets. We gradually added more and more pine pellets but still mix in clay since the cats like it.

[critters]

We use pine pellet horse bedding, brand is Equine Fresh, I think. LOVE it!! The last 10 bags I bought were $5.25/40 pounds. I make a trip to the feed store about once a year.

[moosmom]

I've used wood stove pellets as cat litter. They're cheaper than Feline Pine and you can get a 50 lb bag for $10.

[catmandu]

I AM TRYING THE RUFFIND BENTOLIN CAT LITTER AS IT WAS ON FOR 7.49 FOR 44 POUNDS AND IT SEEMS TO CLUMP BETTER THAN THE COZY CAT LITTER.
ITS A FINER GRAIN, AND IF IT LASTS LONGER THEN ITS WORTH IT AS I WONT HAVE TO DRAG BAGS THROUGH THE SNOW AND COLD!!!
:love::love::love:

[RICHARD]

Ed is like his father....
He don't care, as long as it's clean.

I bought a bag of FP and the Edster loves it. There is no smell and altho the sawdust is kinda a hassle, I love it.

Ed is a man's cat......He poops and pees in what ever is available.

THank the lord he never has had any spraying problems....knock on pine;)...
He took to it like there was no change at all.....

Of course, when you have multiple cats you know they talk to each other!:D