Best Sifting Litter Box For Pine Pellets Tested in 2023

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The best sifting litter box for pine pellets is easy to clean, has holes small enough to catch clean pellets, controls odors and minimises litter tracking and scatter.

I’ve used pine pellets in ordinary litter boxes for years, but they are difficult to clean without throwing the whole litter bed away. So I was really excited to try sifting litter boxes to see how well they work with pine pellets.

I bought several branded litter boxes to test with my family of 7 cats, and endeavoured to trail each box for 2 weeks.

I found that the Purina Tidy Cats Breeze Hooded Litter Box came out as overall best sifting litter box for pine pellets. This litter box might not suit all cats, or all budgets though, so I’ve listed the best litter box for each category.

Best Overall

Tidy Cats Breeze Hooded

Easy to clean

Good scatter control

Great odor control

Buy on Chewy

Best For Large Cats

Tidy Cats Breeze XL

Easy to clean

Large size

Good scatter control

Buy on Chewy

Best Budget

Arm & Hammer Sifting

Cheap

Easy to clean

Sturdy build

Buy on Chewy

Our Best Sifting Litter Box for Pine Pellets

1. Purina Tidy Cats Breeze Hooded Litter Box (Overall Best Sifting Litter Box for Pine Pellets) Go to Review
2. Tom and Sora Pine Pellet Litter Box (Runner Up – Best Sifting Litter Box for Pine Pellets) Go to review
3. Pet Mate Arm & Hammer Large Sifting Litter Box (Best Budget Sifting Litter Box for Pine Pellets) Go to review
4. Purina Tidy Cats Breeze XL Litter Box (Best Pine Pellet Sifting Litter Box for Large Cats) Go to Review

Top 4 Best Sifting Litter Boxes for Pine Pellets

I tested all of these sifting litter boxes with pine pellets and they worked really well. I have written a detailed review of each one below.

Purina Tidy Cats Breeze Hooded Litter Box

(Overall Best Sifting Litter Box for Pine Pellets)

• Dimensions: 16.9″ x 15.7″ x 21.3″
• Type of litter box: Covered
• Color: White/green
• Use with other types of litter?: Yes
• Best for: Overall best sifting litter box for pine pellets

This litter box is easy to use, easy to clean and has great odor control. The hooded design limits the tracking and scatter of litter, but some cats can find it too small.

Of all the sifting litter boxes I have tried, the Purina Tidy Cats Breeze Hooded Litter Box is the best.

There is a slight caveat, in that this litter box is really designed to be used with Breeze litter pellets. These are made of mordenite zeolite, and don’t break down when wet. When these pellets are used, the urine falls through the holes in the sifting layer and are absorbed by a disposable absorbent pad placed in the drawer below.

However, the Breeze also works brilliantly with pine pellets. Many cats prefer these to the Breeze pellets because they’re not as hard on their paws, and they certainly work out cheaper than the Breeze pellets. An absorbent pad isn’t needed, and the sawdust simply falls into the drawer below. It is easily emptied by sliding the drawer out. You don’t need to take the hood off, or remove the sifter.

That’s the main advantage of the Breeze, it is so easy to use. Unlike other sifting litter boxes with multiple trays that need to be stacked and restacked, this one has a sifting base to separate the sawdust from the wood pellets, and a drawer to catch the waste. It’s much less work not having to stack the sifters each time you clean it out. This litter tray is incredibly easy to clean. You just pull out the drawer from the bottom, empty the sawdust, wipe it clean, and then reinsert it.

Emptying the waste sawdust this way is super easy! However, because the tray/drawer is only designed to capture urine within an absorbent pad, there’s not much room for the inevitable build up of sawdust when using pine pellets. If you let it build up too much, the urine-soaked saw dust goes above the opening level, resulting in a mess when the drawer is pulled open. So you need to monitor the sawdust level and empty the drawer regularly.

Having multiple cats using the litter box meant that I often got caught out with the drawer overfilling. However there is another way to use the Breeze which suited me better and meant less regular emptying. With this method, you place an absorbent pad in the bottom of the clean drawer, before the cats use the litter box. When you come to clean it, take the hood and sifter off so you can empty the drawer from the top. Simply collect up the corners of the absorbent pad, with the sawdust inside and dump it in the trash. This method is more fiddly and less eco-friendly, but it means you don’t have to empty the drawer so often.

Whichever method you use to clean the litter tray, you need to remove the poop first using a scoop or doggy poop bags, and shake the pellets so that the soiled saw dust drops through the sifter.

Thanks to the hooded design, the litter box provides excellent odor control, as long as the poop is regularly scooped. The hood also prevents litter from being kicked over the sides of the tray and scattered on the floor, and it also stops the cats peeing and pooping over the side. I find pine pellets excellent for odor control anyway, and didn’t notice any urine smells whilst my cats were using this litter tray. There was a smell when the cats pooped, but immediate poop-scooping fixed this.

It is worth mentioning that the litter scoop supplied with the Breeze doesn’t work well with pine pellets. The holes are too small, so the pellets get stuck on the scoop. However, this is easily resolved by using a different litter scoop. If you already use pine pellets, the litter scoop you currently have will likely work perfectly.

In terms of size, this litter box is 15.7″ wide x 21.3″ deep, with a height of 16.9″. The fact that it is hooded means if feels more closed-in for the cat, and it may be unsuitable for large cats. However, Purina do an XL version (not hooded unfortunately) which is our choice for Best Sifting Litter Box for Pine Pellets for Larger Cats.

Overall, I really love this this litter box, and highly recommend it for use with pine pellet cat litter.

Pet Mate Arm & Hammer Large Sifting Litter Box

(Best Budget Sifting Litter Box for Pine Pellets)

• Dimensions: 18.88 x 15.21 x 7.86 inches
• Type of litter box: Open
• Color: Black & white
• Use with other types of litter?: Yes
• Best for: Best budget sifting litter box for pine pellets

I found this litter box really easy to use, easy to clean and is available for a great price.

The Arm and Hammer Sifting Litter box features a 3-pan set up that includes two regular pans and one sifting pan. The sifting pan is equipped with holes, which enable clean litter to fall through easily, supposedly eliminating the need for scooping or shaking. Additionally, this pan features antimicrobial protection, effectively combating bacteria that can cause stains and odors. The bottom of the pan is sturdily built to hold heavy litter during and after the sifting process.

The holes are an adequate size to stop pine pellets falling through the sifting pan, so this litter box works brilliantly with pine pellet litter. However, you do need to use it differently than if you were using clumping litter, and there isn’t really any need for the second litter pan. In fact using this litter box with pine pellets is even easier than with clumping litter. 

To use this litter box with pine pellets the steps are as follows:

1. Set up the pans: put the sifter containing pine pellets on top with a regular pan underneath.
2. When it comes to cleaning, first remove solid waste with a scoop or doggy poop bag.
3. Next, lift the pan and shake and agitate the pine pellets so that the urine-soaked sawdust falls through into the bottom pan.
4. Dispose of the waste sawdust, and clean the bottom pan.
5. Replace the sifter and top up the pine pellets.

It really is quite simple to use, and very easy to clean. I emptied the litter box every couple of days, and I found the odor control in terms of urine was really good. The antimicrobial coating helps keep bacteria at bay and prevent odor and stain build-up. I didn’t notice any ammonia smells coming from the litter box at all. The poops however, did smell. Pine pellets aren’t that great at masking poop odor as they don’t tend to cover the solid waste entirely, and because this is an open litter box, the smell did travel. It was easily remedied with regularly scooping of the solids.

There are a couple of hacks which are good to know, to make using this litter box even easier.

1. Line the bottom pan with a garbage bag to collect the waste sawdust. You can then simply dump it in the trash when you come to clean the litter box, and you don’t have to clean the pan.
2. Place 1”-2”  blocks of wood under the sifter to elevate the sifter away from the bottom pan. This leaves some clear space for the waste sawdust to fall through into the bottom pan, so you don’t have to lift and sift so much.

One of the downsides of this litter box is the size. Although it is described as large, it isn’t particularly big. My cats are medium sized, and it is only just big enough for them. If you have large cats, the Breeze XL is a more suitable litter box.

Another negative about this litter box is it’s low sides. The box is less than 8” deep, which means that a lot of litter gets tracked outside the box. 

If you can overlook these factors then I think, for the price, this really is a great sifting litter box to use with pine pellets

Purina Tidy Cats Breeze XL Litter Box

(Best Pine Pellet Sifting Litter Box for Large Cats)

• Dimensions: 19.5″ x 29.25″ x 15.25″
• Type of litter box: Open
• Color: Grey/green
• Use with other types of litter?: Yes
• Best for: Large cats

This litter box is easy to use, easy to clean and is excellent for scatter control. It is also the perfect choice for large cats.

The Breeze XL is a larger version of the standard Breeze litter box. It is designed to be used with the Breeze pellets, but it also works brilliantly with pine pellets.

The main advantage of the Breeze system is how easy it is to use. Unlike other sifting litter boxes that require stacking and restacking multiple trays, this one has a sifting base that separates the sawdust from the wood pellets, and a drawer to collect the waste. The pine pellets are poured onto the sifter, and when they get wet, the sawdust simply falls into the drawer below. You can use it with or without an absorbent pad in the bottom tray. Emptying it is literally a breeze, just slide out the drawer and dump the contents in the trash. 

As with the standard Breeze litter box, when using the XL with pine pellets, the sawdust can quickly build up in the drawer, which is designed to capture urine within an absorbent pad. The design doesn’t leave much room for the inevitable build up of sawdust which occurs when using pine pellets. If you let it build up too much, the urine-soaked sawdust can rise above the opening level, resulting in a mess when the drawer is pulled open. So the sawdust level requires monitoring, and the drawer emptying regularly. Alternatively, you can use an absorbent pad in the bottom drawer and empty it from above.

Because the Breeze XL doesn’t have a hood, it is much easier to take the surround off and empty the drawer from above. If you aren’t emptying the litter box every day, it’s advisable to use an XXL absorbent pad in the bottom of the tray to catch all the urine and sawdust. Otherwise the urine can overflow, and/or cause odor.

One drawback of this litter box is the initial purchase price. It is sold as a starter pack and includes pellets, a scoop (which isn’t suitable for pine pellets) and absorbent pads. The litter box itself isn’t sold separately, so you are paying for some items you won’t need if you’re using pine pellets. 

As well as offering more room for bigger cats, the sides of the Breeze XL are nice and high, which helps prevent the scatter of litter. Overall, it’s a great sifting litter box to use with pine pellets and is an excellent choice for larger cats.

Tom and Sora Pine Pellet Litter Box

(Best Sifting Litter Box for Pine Pellets – Runner up)

• Dimensions: 22″ x 18″ x 9″
• Type of litter box: Open
• Color: Turquoise & white OR Coral & white
• Use with other types of litter?: No
• Best for: Runner up Best Sifting Litter Box for Pine Pellets

One of the very few sifting litter boxes which is designed specifically for use with pine pellet cat litter. The slide out drawer design makes cleaning quick and easy, and it offers more room than the Breeze hooded litter box.

I got very excited about this litter box – finally one actually designed to be used with pine pellets!

My first thoughts were that the purchase price was a little high for what it is, but when I unpacked it, it seemed to be well made and good quality. 

I found the litter box easy to assemble. It consists of a bottom pan with a drawer, a sifting pan, and a top level surround. Clicking them all together was a bit fiddly but I managed to do it in the end. A scoop is also supplied which is perfect for use with pine pellets. 

This litter box works in a similar way to the Breeze. When you come to clean it, the solid waste is scooped out, then the pellets are stirred around so that the sawdust drops though into the drawer below. You then pull out the draw and dump the contents in the trash. It can be used with or without an absorbent pad in the drawer. 

The sifter is noticeably different to the other litter boxes I tried. It has unique shaped holes that are specifically designed to allow only sawdust though and not pellets. It is an effective and efficient way of separating the pine pellets from the soiled litter, as no unused pellets dropped though to the tray. However, I found that it is actually too well-draining. Quite a lot of urine went through the sifter to the drawer below, without being soaked up by the pine pellets.I tried putting more pellets in the sifter, and also put some in the drawer below as well. This helped solve the issue, but meant the drawer had to be emptied even more often. I also tried using an absorbent pad in the drawer, which was effective, but was a lot of hassle as I had to cut it to fit. On the plus side, it means that the pellets in the sifter stay clean and dry, which is ideal if your cat is fussy and demands a clean litter box.

The drawer is a lot bigger than the Breeze, so doesn’t need emptying quite so often. However you can’t let it get too heavy and saturated or the tray twists when you lift it out. You also can’t let the sawdust build up too much or it gets scraped off when you slide the drawer out. The drawer still needed to be emptied at least once a day.

When you look at the dimensions of this box, it seems quite big. The elevated surround does a good job of keeping the litter in, so the scatter control was pretty good. However, at its highest point, the surround curves inwards and over the pellets. This takes away some of the “floor space” in the litter box so it ends up being smaller than you think. Whereas the hood of the Breeze litter box contains the litter and waste, the Tom and Sora litter box doesn’t have this. As a result, one of my cats managed to pee over the side of the litter box which made a bit of a mess. 

The Tom and Sora litter box comes in two colors, turquoise and coral. These might not be to everyone’s taste, but I got the turquoise one and I really like it. Overall this litter box performs well with pine pellet litter. It’s easy to clean, and drains well so the pine pellets in the sifter are always clean. It is a great choice for small to medium sized cats, and is a good alternative to the Breeze.

Sifting Litter Boxes Not Recommended for Pine Pellets

Unfortunately some of the sifting litter boxes I looked at were not suitable for use with pine pellets, mainly because the holes in the sifter were too big and let the pine pellets drop through with the waste.

The sifting litter boxes unsuitable for pine pellets include:

• Van Ness Enclosed Sifting Litter Box
• Frisco Sifting Cat Litter Box
• Luuup Litter Box Sifting Tray

These sifting litter boxes work best with clumping cat litter.

Our Verdict

The litter box testing I did for this article was really worthwhile. I discovered that although there are a lot of sifting litter boxes on the market, not many are suitable for use with pine pellets. This is surprising, as pine pellets make such great cat litter. They are cheap, low tracking, have excellent odor control, and are sustainable and biodegradable. 

The Breeze litter boxes came out on top during the testing process, even though they are designed to be used with a different type of litter. The Purina Tidy Cats Breeze Hooded Litter Box performed best overall for small to medium sized cats, and the Purina Tidy Cats Breeze XL Litter Box is recommended for larger cats.

If sifting litter boxes aren’t for you, then you might prefer the convenience of the Litter Robot. Check out our article on the best cat litter for Litter Robots.