After hearing many great things about Feline Pine, we decided to give it a try and picked up a bag.

The first thing you notice is the look. It is basically small pine pellets, instead of your standard scoopable, which looks like sand. The pine is supposed to absorb the moisture/odor and keep the litter box and surrounding areas odor free, except for the pine smell from the litter itself.

With Feline Pine you are supposed to be able to use less litter to do the job, as they say one inch is all that is needed once your cat is totally adjusted to it. The pellets will expand and break up into sawdust with your cats urine, no need to scoop out clumps. You will still need to scoop out the clumps of solid waste, but the pine is supposed to absorb the odor so there will be no odor, or hardly any, between scoopings. It is time to change the litter once the box is full of just sawdust instead of pellets.

It is recommended when you first try Feline Pine that you pour in just one inch and then cover it up with three inches of your normal litter, do not mix it up, you are supposed to let your cat do that.

We decided to try this in one of our litter boxes, we have two. I poured in one inch that was recommended and then another three inches of our normal litter. As usual, the cats went to investigate as soon as it was done being filled. Frisky likes to be the first one to christen a clean litter box, he sniffed around a little, pawed at the litter a little bit and then did his business. So far, so good.

The first problem came when Cuddles went to use it for the first time. Cuddles has a habit of digging a little hole, all the way down to the bottom of the box. Once she got the feel of the little pellets on her paws, she jumped out of the litter box and just stared at it. She eventually went and used the litter box in the back, the one with just the regular litter.

I figured she just needed to get used to it and let her be, but the next time she went to use the litter box, she did the same thing. Maybe she just needs more time, she doesn't like changes.

Then the second problem came, Frisky discovered the pellets. Now this shouldn't be too much of a problem right? Wrong. You see, Frisky likes to fling the litter when he scratches in the box, I am constantly sweeping up litter from around the litter boxes and now he's flinging pellets too. As if that wasn't enough, he discovered that the pellets, even though they are small, are fun to bat around in the kitchen. Take it from me, these little pellets are hard and can hurt if you step on them.

Even with these problems, I decided that Feline Pine deserved more than just a couple of days and continued on with it. Changing the litter box, when it all turned to sawdust, was easy. They recommend you pour the sawdust into your garden, if you have one, since it is environmental friendly.

I kept up with it, with each box change, I would put less of the normal litter in the box, hoping the cats would adjust, or at least hoping Cuddles would adjust. Each time I changed the litter box, she would investigate, but would not use it and continue to use the other litter box. Frisky continued with flinging the pellets and playing with them. After a month and a half of trying, I gave up and went back to our regular litter.

Product Claims

100% dust free - I noticed no dust when pouring the litter into the box, unlike with scoopable litter. The sawdust it turns into does not product plumes of dust either.

Non-Tracking Pellets - This is true, the pellets do not track all over the house as some scoopable litter does or traditional litters. They can end up all over the place if your cat plays with them though.

No Odor - The pine does a very nice job in absorbing litter box odors.

Conclusion

I do have to admit that Feline Pine did live up to their claims and I did enjoy not being enveloped in a cloud of dust when changing the litter box. Unfortunately, because of my cats, Cuddles wouldn't use it and Frisky played with the pellets, we had to discontinue using it and go back to our normal litter.

My recommendation would be to go ahead and try it. Not all cats will react the same way mine did, but be prepared if they do and it could take about a month for your cats to get used to it.



Recommended: Yes