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Forum DIET & CARE Yesterday’s News vs. Carefresh

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    • peppypoo
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        I’ve always used the natural-colored Carefresh litter, but am considering trying out Yesterday’s News just because I’ve heard good things about it. I don’t have any problems with Carefresh (well, it kind of smells after a good peeing/pooing spree, but I guess that’s to expected)…but then again, I’ve never tried anything else so I don’t really have a good point of reference for these things.

        Also, which will last longer…a 60L bag of Carefresh or 10lb bag of Yesterday’s News? The volume vs. mass comparison is kind of difficult to judge.

        Thanks


      • longhairmike
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          i buy the unscented 30lb cat version of YN. the pellets are a little bigger but overall its half the cost of the bunny sized pellets.
          i find that carefresh gets kicked out of the litterbox too easily as they jump out. YN also tends to wick the urine down to the bottom of the litterbox better which also helps contain the smell, for each bun’s litterbox i put two 20 oz cups of YN in and it is good for 5 days

          With CF they can jump back in the box an hour later and get it back on them. CF also seems to get ‘glued’ to the bottom of the box by the pee.
          right now i have CF on top of a layer of YN for Fubuki because the fur on her feet is gone.

          YN catversion often has manufacturer’s coupons stuck on the outside of the bag at petsmart. Last time i went it was a buyone-getone coupon so i brought home 240lbs


        • LBJ10
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            Yeah, I buy the big 30lb cat version as well. It is a pretty good value if you buy it at petsmart, especially when it is on sale. I think petco carries it, but it is like $7 more for some strange reason.


          • peppypoo
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              Thanks for the comparisons . There’s a good online sale going on at Petco right now with pretty comparable prices ($14.97/30 lbs), plus free shipping for orders of $60 and above. $60 sounds like a lot, but I’m buying a set of food/hay/bedding each for both Remi and Peppy, since they live in different places and don’t share supplies. The mailman will not be very happy trying to deliver 60 lbs of Yesterday’s News to my door, lol. Not to mention all the hay/food!


            • Sarita
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                Yes, go for the cat version – it’s the same thing. I always wondered why they think a rabbit needs a 10lb bag that costs more than a cat that needs a 30lb bag that’s cheaper…seems like discrimination :~) Let us know what you think of the YN.


              • SmokeyBunnyRobinson
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                  I’ve been using Yesterday’s News for over a year now and am never turning. For Smokey, who urine is very strong, it holds the odor really well. I also take months to go through a 10lb bag. Recently, the Petsmart by me stopped carrying Yesterday’s News and replaced it with just “newspaper litter”. It’s the same thing, to be honest.

                  Then again, I used Carefresh one time and didn’t really find it to be what I liked. The newspaper really holds over well.


                • Bumblebunny
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                    We have been using YN for 2 years. We switched to the cat version when Petsmart stopped carrying the rabbit version and found it to be basically the same and as everyone has said-cheaper. We try to stock up on several large bags when it is on sale at one of the chains. There was a problem with bunny digging in his box , but with screens from BB in the litter box and bunny taking care of business in the same place we do not use a lot of litter.


                  • LoveChaCha
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                      Have you tried wood stove pellets? You can get a 40lb bag for 5 dollars


                    • LittlePuffyTail
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                        I use Yesterday’s News and am very happy with it. I find it a bit pricey but super absorbent and it keeps the smell down. I’ve noticed that most pet stores sell it for a lot more than grocery stores and Walmart so if you buy it try those places first. I’ve tried using Carefresh as bedding but both my boys thought it was a snack so I had to take it out.


                      • Elrohwen
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                          I haven’t used Carefresh for the buns, but I have used it for gerbils and I much prefer Yesterday’s News. I liked Yesterday’s News best of the things I’ve used, though I’m currently buying wood stove pellets because they’re so much cheaper.


                        • cainan
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                            It’s interesting – I’ve had only bad luck w/YN and its smell. Not that it smelled like bunny pee, just that it smelled yucky in general after it was wet. Maybe I’m more sensitive to wet newspaper than most. Wish I could find wood stove pellets!


                          • mocha200
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                              cainan: have you ever looked for horse stall bedding? its almost the same thing and it is safe to use (there about the same price to). Thats what I use.


                            • meow1
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                                I also use equine bedding (wood pellets), I get it at tractor supply, and it’s a lot for like 6 bucks. Sunny only potties in one area of his box, so I only use about a cup a day and clean the box out daily. There is absolutely NO urine smell, and am very happy with it. I will never use another litter.

                                I know you didn’t ask about this type, but since some others suggested it, I thought I would give my opinion on it.


                              • peppypoo
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                                  I’ve tried to locate wood stove pellets around here, but had a bit of a hard time…I guess that’s what I get for living in a place where heating in the winter usually isn’t much of a problem, lol. However, I’ll keep that in mind when I’m ready to move on to the next bag of litter!

                                  Tried YN in Peppy’s litterbox last night; I can’t get over how much it looks like pellets, lol. Peppy took a few nibbles, but I don’t think it’ll be a big problem. So far, not as much sogginess, which is definitely good


                                • Elrohwen
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                                    Back when we were using YN we visited my parents for Christmas and took Otto. They got up an hour before DH and I and said that Otto was always begging them for food so I showed my dad the amount of pellets he could give. One morning I woke up and my dad said Otto’s not eating, just throwing his pellets around the cage. I look and my dad had filled up Otto’s dish with YN instead of food pellets. Lol. Otto’s no dummy! He was angry!

                                    Peppy, have you looked for horse stall bedding? It’s the same thing as wood stove pellets and the same price – you might have more luck finding that. I think Equine Pine is a common brand.


                                  • Bren
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                                      I have used wood pellets now for over a year and find them to be the best as far as pricing and also odor. I wouldn’t go back to anything else unless they came out with something new to try. You can’t beat the overall value, etc.


                                    • peppypoo
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                                        Elrohwen, I’ll definitely look around for horse stall bedding too. We may not have much cold around here in Texas, but we sure do have horses! lol

                                        Asked my boyfriend last night how the new litter compared. Conversation went something like this:
                                        Me: “So how was scooping out the litter?”
                                        Bf: “It was fine”
                                        Me: “Well, how was the used litter?”
                                        Bf: “Grainy”
                                        Me: “I mean, how was it after it had absorbed all the pee? Soggy?”
                                        Bf: “Yea, the used litter is….grainy”
                                        Me: “Okay, I just want a comparison of absorption quality between this litter and the old one.”
                                        Bf: “They’re too different…and how am I supposed to have a comparison? I need a standardized amount of pee to compare anyways.”

                                         Sigh, men. I guess a good review will have to wait until I visit next weekend and have a chance to scoop out her litter box myself 


                                      • Otti
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                                          Has anyone had any issues with their bunnies trying to eat the Yesterday’s News in large quantities? I’m thinking about switching from Carefresh, but I now use the blue Carefresh and tried to switch Sammy to the natural colored Carefresh (cheaper) but he was eating it as fast as he could so I had to return it and go back to the blue one.


                                        • carrievision
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                                            Another vote for the equine bedding/wood stove pellets. It absorbs very well, and we can compost it! And you can’t beat the price More to spend on tasty Oxbow food!

                                            I do like the equine bedding better than the wood stove pellets, it seems to cover the smell better. For us getting the equine bedding involves a drive out to the country where they have farm stores, but we know where the close ones are and try to stock up when we are headed in the general area. The big bag lasts a few months for our one bunny. The farm store near us is called “Southern States”, which i think is a chain store. Up north I remember it being called “Central Tractor” or “Tractor supply”, so maybe that will help anyone looking for the farm store in their area Ours also have a lot of nice fertilizer etc for the garden that is way cheaper than at the home improvement store.


                                          • Elrohwen
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                                              Otti, check out my post above. My dad accidentally fed Otto a scoop of YN in his dish and Otto just threw it around – didn’t eat it at all. Otto is a paper eater and will eat long shreds of phone book, but he never bothered with YN.


                                            • lashkay
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                                                I can’t make myself divert from anything but Carefresh Ultra (especially since I got a bag of the 30-liter and it’s lasting and lasting). i like the snow-white color, although it does flake off of the bunnies’ feet when they hop out of the litterbox, and adhere to the coconut fibers mats, but it’s something I can live with and there’s enough coconut fibers mat exposed that they still get their feet brushed and cleaned by it. I like that Carerfresh Ultra stays dry to the touch even when saturated and I’ve come to enjoy it because it makes cleaning the litterbox so easy even when the bunny has drunk a lot of water and there’s excess urine, I just blot it up with a paper towel and dump the used litter in the trash. I like what I’m hearing about the Equine Pine, maybe it controls odor better, and definitely a lot more cost-saving. But I’m loath to substitute anything that might affect their litter habits. Do you think my fear that subsituting Equine Pine for the Carefresh Ultra would deter them from using the litterbox, is unfounded? Has anyone switched directly from Carefresh Ultra to Equine Pine with good results?


                                              • Elrohwen
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                                                  I know MB has problems with Monkey and litter – she’ll only use Carefresh. I think most bunnies don’t mind the switch though, so I wouldn’t worry about it. Even if your buns don’t like it for whatever reason, it’s only $5 a bag or so – not much lost. By the second or third day there’s so much hay covering my litter that my buns probably can’t tell what kind of litter it is – just use some hay if they’re hesitant.


                                                • lashkay
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                                                    Thanks, Elrohwen, when my current bag is almost out, I’ll try some Equine Pine.


                                                  • peppypoo
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                                                      Peppy is taking the switch from Carefresh to YN perfectly well..other than a few nibbles of the YN when she first saw it, she’s using it with no problem. Less odor/sogginess and cheaper too! I’m pretty happy with the change


                                                    • jerseygirl
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                                                        Bf: “They’re too different…and how am I supposed to have a comparison? I need a standardized amount of pee to compare anyways.”

                                                        Lol!
                                                        Well Peppy, there is a way…. you’ll have to set your bf up with some measuring jugs, scales, some carefresh and YN samples and some water

                                                        Lashkay, you could add a little of the carefresh on top of any new litter you try at first. If the boys react ok, you will likely be able to go ahead with using just the new litter.


                                                      • lashkay
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                                                          Excellent idea, Jersey! You’re worth your weight in Gold! I’ll definitely do that. Thanks


                                                        • jerseygirl
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                                                            lol! I’m just repeating advice given on the forums before.


                                                          • peppypoo
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                                                              First of all, sorry for the bump! I really like the YN and recommended my mom switch Remi over too; I wanted to link her to a thread I saw with pics of a neat litter box cleaning setup, but have been searching everything I can think of and can’t find it. One of the members was using a wire mesh material to make the poops easier to separate, and filtering the used litter with a modified bucket. Could anybody point me in the right direction? Thanks!


                                                            • jerseygirl
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                                                                Mr Bill posted that. https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/113849/Default.aspx

                                                                Binky Bunny has a video also, showing the litter box screen.


                                                              • littlemissflip
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                                                                  I actually use a combo of YN and Carefresh. I put a thin layer of YN at the bottom of the litter box, and then a layer of the CF on top… I’m not really sure WHY I do it this way. I used to use YN exclusively, but when we got Captain Danger, his previous people were using CF. So I wanted to stick with the litter he was familiar with, but I was reluctant to completely give up the litter I was familiar with! A year later, and I’m still using the combo, which really seems to be amazing in terms of absorption and odor control….


                                                                • DawnT
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                                                                    Question about the liter.  I can really use wood stove pellets?  I have been using care fresh for 3 years (as long as I have the buns)  Does any one if it would dirupt their litler use by changing liter?


                                                                  • peppypoo
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                                                                      Thanks, JG, for linking that thread. I will now email it to my mom for Remi!

                                                                      DawnT, if you look through the thread, some people had to do some adjusting for their buns. You could do what littlemissflip does and slowly decrease the amount of Carefresh too. Personally, Peppy had no problem with a complete switch other than a few experimental nibbles initially.


                                                                    • tobyluv
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                                                                        I went to Petco a couple of weeks ago to buy some litter, and their bags of YN (for cats) had buy one get one free stickers on them. The coupon stickers are good through the end of the year, so I saved one to use next time. It seems that I can only find the YN for cats now, but you get more for your money anyway. I get the unscented version. Hopefully there are bags of it around that still have the bogo free stickers.

                                                                        I don’t like Carefresh, it’s too lightweight and I prefer a heavier litter. I had a bag of wood stove pellets that I got from a friend who lives in a different town, and I liked those, but I haven’t found them in the stores here. I also liked Oxbow’s Eco Straw litter, but I could only find that online and it was too expensive to keep using due to shipping charges. Plus, one of my bunnies like to munch on it. I know it’s safe to ingest and made from straw, but I was afraid that he was cutting back on eating hay since he was eating the litter pellets.


                                                                      • thebunnier
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                                                                          Where can I find wood stove pellets please? I am interested in trying them but I have no idea where to buy them thanks


                                                                        • thebunnier
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                                                                            Hi! I was wondering where you found wood stove pellets please? Like where could I find them? I live by a fleet farm, and of course like walmart and target (I kind of doubt that they would have them ). Thanks


                                                                          • kamdynandsunshinesmom
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                                                                              I would definitely go for yesterdays news I use to use carefresh but was going through a ton of it when I got a 2nd rabbit. Yesterdays news last me 2 months because I put some shredded newspaper in it.


                                                                            • Sarita
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                                                                                Thebunnier – this post is 2 years old and we ask that you do not respond to old threads – please start a new post – I am going to lock this thread.

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                                                                            Forum DIET & CARE Yesterday’s News vs. Carefresh