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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Freedom Fuel (Wood Stove Pellets)

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    • blackfang
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        I’m going to home depot to get freedom fuel (wood stove pellets)

        So I’m wondering if it is really safe for rabbits?

        Feel free to check the website

        http://www.freedomfuelusa.net/

        I’ll check if it don’t include phenols, accellrants (sp?), cedar, 100% pure pine, and hydrocarbon.

        Thank you.


      • bunnytowne
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          I am not too sure about this product.    The feed stores have wood pellets for horse stalls.  That is the wood pellets we refer to  here on BB.

          The cost about 22.00 fro a 40 lb bag.  they aren’t meant to be burned or used as fuel.

          Also I found feline pine at the pet store in the 40 lb bag about the same amount of $.  This is fine for rabbits

          Not sure about that fuel type wood pellets though. 


        • mocha200
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            wood stove pellets are fine for rabbits as long as they don’t have any chemicals added. also horse stall pellets are totally safe for them and you can find them at like a tractor supply type store. feline pine is safe for them to but they are expensive. they are like $20 for like 40lb compared to $6.


          • Monkeybun
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              Posted By Taurus on 10/16/2010 10:53 AM

              I’m going to home depot to get freedom fuel (wood stove pellets)

              So I’m wondering if it is really safe for rabbits?

              Feel free to check the website

              http://www.freedomfuelusa.net/

              I’ll check if it don’t include phenols, accellrants (sp?), cedar, 100% pure pine, and hydrocarbon.

              Thank you.

               

              Woodstove pellets are totally fine as long as they don’t have the accelerants. Pine and cedar is fine in them, as the processing removes the oils and such that would cause the problems with buns.


            • jerseygirl
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                Their website actually recommends not to use it for litter/bedding in the FAQ’s. I would have thought it fine though. I think the pelleted wood is processed with steam so this removes some of the aromatic oils. Maybe if they state it be used just for it’s intended purpose this clears them of liability if it’s “misused”. ????
                Do you know the price of this product?


              • Beka27
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                  What Jersey mentioned… this is what it says specifically:

                  “Can fuel pellets be used as animal litter/bedding?

                  Due to the presence of tannins (compounds that interfere with iron absorption, leading to anemia), wood fuel pellets can be dangerous for animals with repeated contact. While products of similar appearance exist as cat litter and cage bedding for small pets, fuel pellets are made from a variety of waste woods, unlike pine for litter/bedding. However, there are no airborne concerns regarding tannins when burned as fuel pellets.”

                  Now, the picture looks identical to what I use. The pellets have a slight shiny coating on them, but they break into sawdust in the presence of water/urine. I have never heard any mention of tannins, so I don’t know anything about that. It might just be a way they are trying to cover themselves. If you’re not comfortable using this product, can you get horse stall bedding?


                • Elrohwen
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                    It sounds like they don’t want it used for bedding to clear themselves of liability. It looks like the standard WSPs that the rest of us use. The brand I buy also says to not use for animals, or something to that effect, but again I think it’s just because they haven’t done tests with animals and don’t want to advertise themselves as animal bedding (because they’d have to follow stricter standards). Do you use a grate over your litter? That might also make you feel better, because there would be no way your bunny could eat the pellets.


                  • Beka27
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                      Or a thin layer of hay over the top…?


                    • cactuspancake
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                        I got mine from a bunny farm that makes bunny products! They actually only use wood fuel pellets there… It’s called sweet meadows farm 40 minutes from Boston. My pellets were $9 for 50lbs. They are all natural and they dissolve into clumps when peed on! And they are brown…. And my bunny has brown in him lol. I trust the people at the bunny farm that use that with all their rabbits. (all rescue rabbits)


                      • mocha200
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                          Cactuspancake: Clumping litter is really bad for rabbits because if they happened to swallow some when you weren’t looking it could clump in there stomach or digestive system and make a blockage.


                        • Beka27
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                            Yes, I’m confused about your litter too… does it clump or does it dissolve into sawdust? Most wood pellets break down into a dry sawdust that easily breaks apart.


                          • blackfang
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                              I took some pictures for you to see.. (I’m sorry if images are too big but I dont know how to resize images)

                              This is what the wood stove pellets look like.

                              After two minutes, I shaked the bowl and this is what happened..

                               

                              I don’t think its worth it?

                              I think it will make HUGE mess to clean this up with Belle… the famous rabbit who gotta pee all the time..


                            • blackfang
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                                JerseyGirl —- “Freedom Fuel” the wood stove pellet cost me like 4.21 dollars

                                Beka — No, I cannot get horse bedding because it have 100% pure pine pellets. (pine and aspen aren’t good for our rabbits)


                              • blackfang
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                                  So, I have one more option.. There is a tracker supplies store about 30 mins away from me. The horse bedding is 100% pure pine pellets (not shaving) and cost about 7 dollars for umm I think 40 lbs.

                                  I’m kinda confuse.. some people said pine shaving isn’t good but pine pellets are okay.. so how is that possible?


                                • Beka27
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                                    It has to do with the way the pellets are processed. They are kiln dried and this bakes out the harmful phenols that arte present in wood shavings.


                                  • blackfang
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                                      Oh, so 100% pure pine pellets are 100% safe for rabbits?


                                    • mocha200
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                                        Yes. They are totally safe.


                                      • cactuspancake
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                                          Posted By Beka27 on 10/18/2010 01:03 PM
                                          Yes, I’m confused about your litter too… does it clump or does it dissolve into sawdust? Most wood pellets break down into a dry sawdust that easily breaks apart.

                                           

                                          sorry bad choice of words…. it “dissolves” … it’s exactly the same stuff as the fancy wood pellets to buy instead of the newspaper. I used a bag of the newspaper, and the wood pellets are much better. Looks like sawdust when it gets peed on. Super easy to clean because the clean pellets stay intact.


                                        • cactuspancake
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                                            hey for the picture of the pellets in the bowl; it doesn’t look or act like that in the litter box. I’ll take a pic for you guys of it in action….

                                             


                                          • BinkyBunny
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                                              Taurus, I think the confusion comes from that fact that pine shavings cause health issues, where as pine pellets (THAT DO NOT other chemicals like accellerants added) are normally fine because the phenols have been processed out through drying and compression.


                                            • cactuspancake
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                                                Litterbox untouched by me, was cleaned 24 hours ago.


                                                Here (below) I scraped just a small amount from the back where I knew bunny went.


                                                here I took a scoop to show you the dissolved consistency. I tried as much as I could not to disturb it.


                                                Front of bag (below)


                                                Back of bag (below)


                                                Also it smells great and I can’t smell his pee even when I put my nose up to it. Hope this info helps make your decision.

                                                (PS Franz potties in another litter box that’s why there isn’t too much )


                                              • jerseygirl
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                                                  Posted By Taurus on 10/22/2010 04:47 PM
                                                  JerseyGirl —- “Freedom Fuel” the wood stove pellet cost me like 4.21 dollars

                                                  Beka — No, I cannot get horse bedding because it have 100% pure pine pellets. (pine and aspen aren’t good for our rabbits)

                                                   

                                                  Taurus, did you mean pine and cedar?  Aspen is rabbit safe. As mentioned, some pine products are good now too because of how they are processed. I’m not sure they can get same result with cedar.

                                                  I currently have something similar in colour to the pic you posted (in the bowl) and I’m not overly happy with it. It seems like hardwoods and the sawdust used to make the pellets is too fine. So when it’s wet it gets almost muddy.  I’ve used the pelleted pine (or lighter coloured pellets) and it breaks down much like cactuspancakes pictures and seems better all round.


                                                • Beka27
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                                                    I love the wood stove pellets. Definitely makes litterbox filling so much easier on the wallet.


                                                  • robinsrabbitsorg
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                                                      Wood stove fuel pellets, are very hard to find that are safe for animal use. The HRS indicates that these are ‘safe’ to use as litter and an instant hallelujah hollowed over the rabbit loving community, mostly because it can be purchased in bulk (40 lbs is bulk for a rabbit owner) and last. Rescues everywhere opted for these as a safe and cost effective litter substrate for their rescues. The problem. NONE are actually rabbit safe. If you find 100% hardwood pellets that do not contain glue, binders, plastics etc added or chemical compositions to prepare them for fuel use, please let me know. EVEN the bags that say 100% natural and all of these things, say not for human or animal consumption right on the bags. I contacted a manufacturer of the 100% all natural type of wood stove fuel pellets and was deeply distraught by the findings. There had been some issues with some of our rescues that could not be pinpointed. They stated that “they are all natural without binders or glues, however they create carbon dioxide gasses when combusted in any fashion as well as acids and therefore should NOT be used in any way shape or form for animals; as when they urinate on the pellets made for wood stove use; these gasses and acids are released. ALL wood stove fuel pellets are prepared the same way for use in wood stove furnaces as well as the type for preparing food (grilling type) in order for them to burn ‘effectively’ for this use. SO, not only is the House Rabbit Society wrong, they are liable for any illness or health problems with anyone using a recommended product by their organization that is deemed the absolute best worldwide. Any further questions? Nope. Call the companies, they will all tell you the same. The ones that are processed with the intended use of animals, do NOT have the same process as these and are INTENDED for animal use. As soon as our rescue made the switch to aspen wood pellets (think green pet or kaytee animal made wood pelleted litter/bedding) the sneezing and eye ailments CEASED within just a couple of days. And we HAD scatterless pans. THEY ARE NOT SAFE. Our organization is striving to RE-EDUCATE the public on topics such as these deemed ‘safe and recommended’ by other organizations. Just as the same is for beddings. ONLY USE THE WOOD PELLETS in your rabbits habitat. HRS states that pine stall pellets are safe because the phenols are removed during processing. We beg to differ. They may be ‘removed’ however the pine itself turns into powder and expands rapidly, creating major eye irritation as well as lacks in proper absorption of rabbit urine, causing health issues from the odor created even when changed daily. We are still researching this claim, in order to confirm our theory, that the phenols are NOT completely removed during processing this wood type into pellets. So far, bunnies had major offsets when using the pine stall pellets, with these studies we will hopefully change what people consider to be ‘safe’ for their pet rabbits. These things truly are NOT safe. There is a very limited number of TRULY safe products, substrates, etc that are actually SAFE for your rabbits. We hope this information is helpful and in no way shape or form are indicating that any outside organization is a ‘bad’ organization, we are just researching further and discovering that once recognized information is FALSE, none to blame but poor research.


                                                    • Bam
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                                                        Thank you, robinsrabbitorg. This is a very old thread, and we ask members not to revive really old threads, because it creates confusion. Many of the members that wrote in this thread are not currently active. You can start a thread of your own using this link: https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/afv/post/aff/1/Default.aspx

                                                        I’m locking this thread now.

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                                                    Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Freedom Fuel (Wood Stove Pellets)