Best Cat Litter-Box Combo - homemade, safe & low-cost

For me, cat litter has never been non-tracking, inexpensive, easy to use, not stinky and non-toxic all at the same time. They all had their shortcomings. My cats should not have to deal with any extra questionable ingredients. I've read that clumping agents like sodium bentonite can do a number on cat's lungs and digestive tract. Silica and other litter dust can also scar our lungs and maybe even cause cancer. Some litters add mineral oil for dust control, which most often is a petroleum byproduct. Litters made with GMO corn could contain glyphosate herbicide residue. Glyphosate is also used on non-GMO wheat to speed up drying time before harvest. Food-based litters could attract pests and breed toxic mold in a wet and warm environment of a litter box. And let's face it, most of these litters are much more expensive than our toilet paper. I've tried using my own hardwood sawdust shavings, but they are way too dusty. Of course, one can go to a local lumber mill and get a more coarse sawdust for a buck or two for a large garbage bag, but if not kiln dried and from trees that have acids toxic to cats, it might not be such a bargain. Another pet peeve of mine is that sawdust natural litter can stay wet with pee on the bottom and create a stinking mess, while the dry sawdust on top gets tracked out of the litter box by the cat, just like most other litters. A promising alternative seemed to be the use of kiln dried pine pellets. Nothing else added, like this 40 pound bag from Tractor Supply that I got for about six bucks, together with a box that would allow wet disintegrating pellets to fall through its bottom to another box for easy disposal and dust containment. Having just sifted my sawdust through hardware cloth, my first prototype was built with wide cedar planks and a quarter inch spaced galvanized cloth. This worked extremely well at dropping loose sawdust to container below, but it did take up valuable real estate inside the box. I also did not like my cats possibly scratching the hardware cloth, and I worried that at some point a wire might break off and hurt their paws. So I searched for pre-made plastic alternatives, but they seemed small, flimsy, and did not allow for enough space on the bottom to hold all the expended when wet sawdust shavings. Getting my own plastic boxes from a building or office supply store to modify and use, might just be a better alternative. There are lots of containers out there to choose from. This one appealed to me because of its nifty little wheels that could be removed and put back. But when nested together, the gap formed in between them was only an inch or so. Then I found a slightly more shallow container with similar width and length, but when stacking it, it didn't sit quite well from side to side. When stacked on the same container, the gap was again only an inch. Finally, I found a container that was three inches deeper than the last one with similar width and length. This allows the shallow one to nest about three inches above the deep one, providing the space needed for used litter to drop and settle below. The almost clear exterior allows me to see how much litter builds up and when it's time to empty it. The top rim sits flat and is fully supported across its width on both ends. The length is not supported, but these containers are stiff enough not to need it. Top handles rest on a bottom frame, making this setup pretty rigid. Now, to make holes in a top container, I measured the pellet's diameter and it was close to that of a quarter inch drill bit. I drilled a test hole in plastic and could not fit the pellet through. At first, the holes were marked to be about an inch apart, making sure each row is offset, not to line up with others to prevent cracks in a straight line. But later, I realized there were not enough holes and more added. Having a solid sacrificial block of wood underneath helped slow down the drill's exit. The pilot point drill bit used here was not ideal. A special plastic drill bit with a sharper point and lower rpms might have done a cleaner job. There was zero pressure applied other than the weight of the drill. Any pressure would start a small crack and a high rotation did melt the plastic a little. Some holes have burrs underneath, but most loose or frayed plastic could be pulled off by hand. This polypropylene plastic is harder or less elastic than polyethylene, so its stiffness made drilling harder, but only a few tiny cracks were visible like this one. Overall, it worked out great, but I will keep an eye out for a box with softer, more rubbery feel for easier drilling. Testing it out with sawdust seemed to work okay, but soon after filling it with about 2 inches of pine pellets and the cat taking it for a spin, I realized the number of holes was just not quite enough for all used litter to fall through. So, back to drilling more holes, making the average gap 3 quarter inch center to center and a half inch side to side. Now suddenly, litter that cats have peed on easily makes its way to the bottom box. Simply by grabbing the handles of both boxes together, shaking them up and down and rolling the litter by tilting the boxes side to side, most disintegrated pellets disappear through the holes. The beauty of this system is that only the fresh pellets remain on top, so cats don't track loose litter out of a box. Their poop is very easy to scoop off the top and dispose of separately. I tap it off with fresh pellets to make sure there is enough to catch the pee. If any pee does pass through, the saw shavings should absorb it on the bottom and any odor stays neutralized there as well. Knowing that this litter is nothing but pine shavings, I can safely use it to mulch my evergreens. My cats love it and totally stopped using their prior box that I left them for easy transition. I finally found a solution that's non-tracking, inexpensive, easy to use, not stinky and non-toxic. And that's my happy end to the litter box conundrum. Ciao!