Dealing with "saw dust" from pelleted litters (Cat Country Litter)

I'm leaning towards putting Cat Country(wheat grass pellets) in all of my boxes with a layer of paper small animal bedding on top.  This is yet another desperate attempt to keep feline asthma under control(along with many other measures).  My problem with the Cat Country(and Pine based litters I've tried) is that it breaks down into saw dust.  I'm not sure how awful this is for my cats but I can't imagine it's good for them.  Any tips for dealing with this aspect of an otherwise dust-free litter?  Is it much of a concern with asthma?

I like NaturesMiracle (corn cob but smells like pine) and it doesn't break down any finer, it's already soft but doesn't send up dust when poured.  You might also try sWheatScoop which is made of wheat and very soft, the consistency of flour.  I have used it when we have declawed cats in rescue because their feet are sensitive.  I don't remember if being dusty, but if it was, it would be like flour and would be absorbed by the body and not aggravate it like dust from clay or paper.  For awhile there was a natural sand litter available, but I have not seen that for a long time.  I used it for training kittens.  It was like fine sandbox sand but had something added that helped contain odors, but it had no scent that I could smell.

I'm avoiding potential allergens like corn and wheat.  I used World's Best for years and recently stopped due to the dust/potential for allergies.  Otherwise, I liked the litter.  I've tried SweetScoop in the past and didn't like it and I think the Nature's Miracle is scented plus.. yeah, wheat.  I'm kind of at a loss.  It's difficult for me/the vets to tell what aggravates his allergies/asthma.

You could try the new Blue Buffalo litter that is made of walnut shells.  I can't say it has no dust, though.  It IS the best odor preventer (with no smell of its own) I have ever used.  I don't use it at home because it's expensive, but I use it in the Petco condo where the cats are.  It does have some dust, but no odor. 

Oh man.. I hate to be turning down every suggestion you've made but we've tried that too!  I tried the clumping as well as the pelleted versions and there was a lot of dust with both of them.  I would blow my nose after scooping and.. brown dust would come out.

I don't know what else to try.  The wheat grass pellets(Cat Country) are great for odor control(not a huge concern of mine but a plus) and they apparently have some action(in a lab experiment) against the coronavirus.  The saw dust does seem to stay in the box so.. maybe it's not much of a concern.  I just need something to mix in with it as most of my cats refuse to use it for defecating, only urinating.  

OceanBreathes said:

Oh man.. I hate to be turning down every suggestion you've made but we've tried that too!  I tried the clumping as well as the pelleted versions and there was a lot of dust with both of them.  I would blow my nose after scooping and.. brown dust would come out.

I don't know what else to try.  The wheat grass pellets(Cat Country) are great for odor control(not a huge concern of mine but a plus) and they apparently have some action(in a lab experiment) against the coronavirus.  The saw dust does seem to stay in the box so.. maybe it's not much of a concern.  I just need something to mix in with it as most of my cats refuse to use it for defecating, only urinating.  

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I've used the Blue Buffalo and found that you have to be careful which type you get. I accidentally picked up the regular clumping litter one time. Talk about dust! It was ground so fine it was practically all dust when you poured it into the litter box. The multicat clumping litter was sooooo much better. It has a coarser texture and very little dust. I haven't found any litter that's totally dust free, but this is one of the better ones.

If you're using the kind of litter that breaks down into sawdust you need a double litter box. The insert has small holes in the bottom, like a sieve or colander. The sawdust drops into the lower box so the kitties aren't stepping in it. You can't shake the insert to make sure all the sawdust has fallen through, then take the bottom part outside to dump it and clean it.

I did an amazon search for sifter litter boxes and came up with a number of options. It looks like they even sell just the insert that you could use in your existing boxes if they're the right size.

Depending on the size of the pellets you're using, the sifting box as suggested by GoldyCat is a good idea. I've heard that the "lift and sift" box often gets pellets stuck vertically, so it may or may not work in your case. Folks using wood pellets have claimed to use feline pine's litter box and the breeze system litter box without much problems. I'd bring a few samples of your clean litter and bring it to the store if you decide to check out the breeze litter box or the lift and sift one. Feline pine's box is only sold online.

It was the multicat that I used and had bad results with in the clumping form; not sure what the pelleted version was. :/

Thank you both for the sifters/sifter box suggestions.  I'll take a good look but I might end up doing a DIY version.  One of my boxes is huge(a gardening tub) so this wouldn't be so easy but it won't be coming with us when we move.  I have two Breeze boxes and I'm trying out a mix of the zeolite pellets they come with(I got a bunch of bags on clearance) combined with the wheat grass pellets.  My other boxes include a large storage tub(favorite of all the cats) and three XL sized regular, high sided litter boxes.  The feline pine box looks nice but might be a bit too small/low for my guys.  Of course, same problem with the Breeze boxes.  I see they have sifting liners, too, but I know cats generally hate plastic liners and will tear them up, anyway.  

I have no experience with the two respiratory relief formulas that Precious Cat puts out but did see both in Petco today.  (This is the same group that makes the Dr. Elsey's Cat Attract and Kitten Attract and other specialized litters.)  One of them is clumping clay, and the other is a silica gel formula.  If you haven't tried either of them, you might want to try them out.

http://www.preciouscat.com/product/respiratory-relief-clumping-clay/

http://www.preciouscat.com/product/respiratory-relief-silica-gel/

We welcome reviews of products here on The Cat Site, so if you try them, please write a review.  Here is our review page for the Precious Cat litters, and we don't have any for those products yet.

http://www.thecatsite.com/products/category/litter/precious-cat

We also have one article about the history of cat litter by Mary Anne Miller.  You can read it here:

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/cat-litter-the-dust-settles

If you are only trying to keep dust down I have 2 suggestions:

Always pour the litter as close to the tray as possible.   Even better to slit the litter bag open in the tray and remove the bag instead of pouring it in.

Take a spray mister bottle with water and finely spray the top of the litter.   The slight amount of moisture will prevent dust from rising unless your kitty is one who likes digging forever.

My favorite litter is pine.   I never noticed it being dusty and when the pellets get broken down from urine it remains damp from the urine so Im not sure where the dust comes in. 

I was strongly leaning towards trying the silica gel based Respiratory Relief but I read too many scary things about crystal litters.  My SO and I were both researching them and the "final blow" to the possibility of using them was reading of two instances where cats got crystals stuck in their eyes and I believe needed surgery.  My cat with the bad lung issues can not go under anesthesia and is prone to "if anything can go wrong, it will" sooo.. I'm extra cautious with him.  There seems to be a respiratory irritation risk for crystal litters, even if they don't cause "silicosis."  I found the Precious Cat Ultra to be too dusty(for us humans as well) and it's the same as the RR clay litter so.. that one is out.  I'm honestly afraid of the risks with clay litters in general, hence using World's Best for so many years.  I like the Cat Country but I worry about being able to purchase it locally when I move(no good deals online!) and they're reluctant to use it for defecating. 

I'm doing so many things to help with his rhinitis(worse than it's ever been:/)/other respiratory issues right now that it would be difficult to judge how a particular litter is affecting him.  

Zoneout - I did what you mentioned last night when I dumped/cleaned 6 of their litter boxes(I think I always pour like that).  The water spraying method sounds good.  I actually sometimes do that with vinegar, which I use to wipe the sides of the boxes in between cleanings.  The cats don't object.  

The guy at my local pet store said that green tea litter is a hot item.   Though I have never tried it personally.  I dont think its dust-free however.    Under no circumstances do I use any type of clay litter.

Oh, I've heard of the Green Tea litter and there were some dust complaints.  It's also more pricey than the wheat grass litter.  Same idea, it seems, though.

I avoided clay for many years but switched from World's Best to the Dr. Elsey's in hopes that it would be less dusty, and possibly less allergenic than corn.  I won't be trying it again.