Pine litter associated with furniture?

[royblazer]

Hi there! 

I don't own a cat yet, but am planning on having one in the future. In my research, I came upon pine litter (i.e. a brand like Feline Pine) as an alternative to other litter like clay based ones.

However, I consulted with a friend, and he said that it was a bad idea. Reason being that they could associate the smell of the litter (pine) with wood furniture, and then start peeing on that. I have a bunch of wood furniture around the house, which I personally can't detect much of a smell from. But has anyone heard of this claim before? Or anyone with their cats using pine litter even have close to this issue?

 

[margd]

That's a new one on me!  There are a lot of people on this forum who use the pine based litters and are very happy with them.  If you are concerned, there are other types of litter.  You can go with corn based (e.g. World's Best Cat Litter) or walnut shell based (Blue Naturally Fresh Cat Litter).  I use World's Best - it's expensive but my cats like it and it seems to have good odor and dust control. 

 

[catminionjess]

I have 3 cats and none of them have peed on my wood furniture since switching to pine litter. I read tons of reviews on different pine litter brands before giving one a shot (always used regular clay litter) and never read one that mentioned that kind of behavior. Did your friend have a cat that did?

 

[royblazer]

 
I have 3 cats and none of them have peed on my wood furniture since switching to pine litter. I read tons of reviews on different pine litter brands before giving one a shot (always used regular clay litter) and never read one that mentioned that kind of behavior. Did your friend have a cat that did?

Nope. He currently has 3 cats that use Arm & Hammer unscented, and just said that his cats hated pine litter. I'm not quite sure where his claim came from.

Thanks for the input.

 

[catminionjess]

No problem, happy to help! Yes, some cats may not like it. Mine don't like covered litter boxes. Mine were also confused by the pine litter at first. Probably the best method is to mix in half old litter type with new litter type to make the transition. I started with one litter box (I have 3 boxes) to see if I liked it and if they would like it. Now they seem fine with it. I think one would prefer if I we went back to the clay litter, but he will use the pine just fine. When you do get a cat, just try out different types of litter to see what kind it likes and that you like. There are options.