Cat litter?

[VelvetLion7]

I was at Winco the other day and was looking at litter. . . I know that clumping cat litter is a definite no, but does anybody know anything about  paper cat litter?  It looks like bunny litter just it says it’s for cats. . . would this work as a bunny substitute?  (Usually we use Carefresh, but that’s kind of pricy and I’m looking for a way to cut back.) 

[Sarita]

Are you talking about Yesterdays News (for cats?) – that is fine. It’s the exact same thing but packaged larger and cheaper too.

[VelvetLion7]

I don’t think it was Yesterday’s News- I would have remembered that cause I was looking for it. It was recyled paper though, something similar to YN I’m guessing.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Cat litters to steer clear of are : All clay litters, all clumping litters, all scented litters.

Cat litters that are OK are like Yesterdays News, and the like. Recycled pressed pellets-as long as they are unscented should be fine

[angelicvampyre]

I am using Dr Harry’s recycled paper litter and it works well not as good as the back-2-nature stuff but about half the cost.

[jerseygirl]

Plain old paper cat litter should be fine. It’s often cheaper than the bunny version too!  Yesterdays News has a cat one and a small animal one. Same stuff/ different price.

AV, that Dr Harry stuff is good and soft too but still over priced don’t you think?

 

[angelicvampyre]

JG – yes normally however it was buy one get one free and i had a 50% off coupon that I got in a show bag a while back but never had need for and well the lady at the supermarket took both deals so i got two bags for the half the normal price of one so it was cheaper then anything else, i am still on the hunt for other stuff going to check out the big pet shops and warehouses in the new year and see what they can offer me.

[snickers]

KITTY LITTER IS BAD?! crap! I didn’t get the memo. what will it do to a bunny?

[jerseygirl]

Depends on what you’re using snickers. Here’s HRS 101 on it. (under heading 8.4) http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/litter.html#litter

[snickers]

arg. he’s been in kitty litter for 3 years now, by his previous owner. I am in the process of using up the last of this kitty litter, and switching to wood stove pellets. cheaper and more fun for him to dig in. thanks for the heads up

[angelicvampyre]

Well the Dr Harry is failing, i am cleaning twice a day due to smell and it clumps and is horribale so i am going to try something else.

[RabbitPam]

One small way to cut back with Carefresh is to just use the original, that has no coloring at all. And they cost less for the larger bags. I used to have to use it exclusively for Spockie’s dainty Rex feet. Plus I needed the white stuff for my allergies. But a really big bag of the blah gray basic bag can last for quite a while actually, since it’s compressed. One time a pet store owner let me buy a bag sold only to store owners at a really good discount. She was using something else.

If you want to try shavings instead of pelleted wood, you can safely use Aspen shavings. I use aspen pellets, pine pellets for cats is fine too. They absorb odor well. Many people get untreated wood stove pellets at a good price if you live in the north or country.

[Karla]

Finding the right type of litter is hell! I think I have been through all types here. I have even tried the clumping cat litter, the crystal litter, the pine shavings, the pellets et.c. I just haven’t found the right litter. So I am using wet matts now – a sort of diaper matt you put on the bed in case the baby has an accident during nighttime. I cut them to pieces that fit the toilet. They are very absorbant and if I change them once a day, it doesn’t smell.

Rabbits just have to pee more than cats! I don’t remember having all these problems when my cat used a litter box. And one of the bags I bought said the litter should only be changed once every 2-3 weeks. Well, after 2 days, the litterbox was soaking in pee.

[Monkeybun]

2-3 weeks? Thats just… wrong. I wouldn’t leave my bun to sit in icky pee soaked litter for that long She’d kill me! lol

Monkey loves her carefresh. She likes how soft it is, and helps me change her litter all the time. She shoves it into the corners for me then she usually flops in it and rolls around before going back to being dainty little girl. I rarely smell rabbit pee, carefresh is awesome.

[angelicvampyre]

I am thinking of just sucking it up and paying the cost of carefresh and being done with it. But i worked it out that $14 for one bag is really high so going to see if there is a cheaper alternative buy buying in bulk or going to one of the bigger warehouse petstores

[Karla]

Posted By Monkeybun on 12/24/2009 10:12 PM
2-3 weeks? Thats just… wrong. I wouldn’t leave my bun to sit in icky pee soaked litter for that long She’d kill me! lol

Monkey loves her carefresh. She likes how soft it is, and helps me change her litter all the time. She shoves it into the corners for me then she usually flops in it and rolls around before going back to being dainty little girl. I rarely smell rabbit pee, carefresh is awesome.

 

Well, I have to defend the litter (although it sucked ) because apparently it was supposed to be super absorbant, so there wouldn’t be any moist spots in the toiletbox at all for 2-3 weeks. I do have such a cat litter, which works wonders for my cat…but it just doesn’t work for bunnies. Seriously, they pee 5 times more than cats I think!  

You know Angelic, sometimes the cheap litter is much more expensive in the long run because it doesn’t work at all. I wish I had Carefresh.

 

 

 

[RabbitPam]

That’s true. And if it is absorbent, I found that for a while I was actually making it too deep, and wasting litter. It was more economical to do a nice cover of the pan, but not piled high, then change it more frequently, like scooping it out every other day and adding a fresh new smaller scoop right then.
Sammy won’t use her whole pan, just one corner. Marcus discovered he could just rotate the pan since Maryanne did the same thing.

[Monkeybun]

Moose only uses one corner of his, Monkey uses ALL of hers, silly thing. But I put their hay right int heir boxes too, so the clean end of Moose’s gets ally hay-ed lol. Gotta clean that out now and then

[TARM]

I useually use Equine Fresh and I’ve gotten really spoiled on that stuff. My bunnies can go for a week on that stuff in one large box before it starts to smell. Oliver and Ozzie are way too dignified to use horse bedding, their dainty bottoms require Carefresh, which Amber “pays” for by doing chores (that kid does more work to support those rabbits, it’s amazing). Anyway, in order for me to get the Equine Fresh I have to go seriously out of my way to either Tractor Supply or Southern States and I haven’t been able to make it out there in recent weeks. I usually buy 4 bags at a time and that’ll last me about 3 months (for 4 rabbits and 2 ferrets, that’s pretty darn economical at $7/40lb bag). What I wound up doing is going to petsmart and getting the store brand paper pellets like Yesterday’s News. I got 20lbs of that for $10. I’ve used YN and that stuff was decent but after a week the cheap stuff STUNK and was so gross to clean out of the boxes! I know, that’s what I get for letting it sit for so long but after a year of routine weekly cleanings it didn’t occur to me to clean more frequently.

I have got to make getting more Equine Fresh a priority this week. GOT. TO. I’m using up the last of the paper stuff but I’ll be changing those boxes much sooner this time.

[angelicvampyre]

Dr harry’s if failing bad. they have a smaller then normal litter tray as their big one does not fit in their travel cage and I am having to change it twice a day, and then three times today as it smells so bad and it is not that great as it does not seem to soak it up and just is horrible. In the bigger litter tray i was not noticing it as much but in the smaller on it is terriable! I have even had to give my guys a foot bath as it was that bad, going to the shops tomorrow and see what they have to offer down here, if I can get carefresh i will as from what i have seen in my research it does the trick well.

[Boysclub]

i just use aspen shavings and clean their litter box everyother day. they only use a corner and move all the rest to the other side. i also out stall dry on the bottom so they arent breathing in anomia, we use it at the horse barn i work at. i getthe shavings for $2.50, the big big compressed bag people generally buy for horse stalls…i love having buns and being involved with horses. i tried using YN but my cats kept trying to jump in there and use the buns litter instead of their own…so we had to get rid of that idea. the shavings are good for me and the buns seem to like them. to change their litter, i just dump it in the green bin and the city takes it away!

[jerseygirl]

AV, have you tried look for Oz-pet wood litter? There website seems to list alot of places that stock it.

[angelicvampyre]

JG – will try and track them down. Went to the pet shop today as I am out of litter and wanted to see what she wld recommend and she said – “Litter for rabbits why would you do that?” so I explined and she said ‘Well that is a losing battle never heard of a litter trained rabbits….” So after explaining that both mine are I asked what cat litter she had that would be suitable for rabbits she siad to use the crystal clumping stuff, argh NOPE so i found some breeders Choice recycled paper pellets in coles so will try that. i think the big pet shop near me sells the Oz-pet wood pellets but in bulk lots so will try this stuff and then try that and see how we go. I am lucky i can switch my guys litter around and it does not seem to upset them so if I run out and have to get something else we just do that and it’s fine

[jerseygirl]

Litter for rabbits why would you do that?” so I explined and she said ‘Well that is a losing battle never heard of a litter trained rabbits….”

Oh dear! Yes, well pet shops aren’t always a wealth of good information are they… I just read a recent report on stove pellets and how Aust is getting into them. Only thing is we’re exporting them os as they’re in big demand in Europe. What about us cash poor bunny slaves? They just don’t think of the little people!

[angelicvampyre]

I know I was shocked so i did my try to educate but I could see she thought I was a nut bag with lots of bunnys running around my house pooping eveywhere while a lone litter tray stays in the corner never getting used. However the breeders choice I got seems to be better then the Dr Harry stuff, cleaning today and everything was not as wet as normal and to the point where I was late getting up so instead of getting cleaned at 8am then got cleaned at 12noon so i think this is better but still expensive might be a good option for traveling as I can always pick some up if I run out.

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