Fabric bedding before being fully litter trained?

[Little Max]

I am working on litter training Max. He has a litter pan with pine horse bedding pellets in it and he’s pooped in it already, but I’m not sure about pee. His cage has a plastic dog crate tray as the floor, and for bedding there’s a layer of straw that he sometimes nibbles on. (The hay I feed him is it a separate basket). He keeps pushing aside the straw to stretch out on the plastic bottom, so I know he thinks it’s comfy.

My question is, could I replace the straw bedding with a fleece blanket on half the cage bottom, and leave the rest uncovered? Or will that hinder his litter training because he’ll pee on the blanket?

[Limit]

I was under the belief that pine was bad for small animals due to the phenols they produce? Cannot for the life of be remember if this was pine or cedar and it’s a tad late here in england for me to check it out…

However I would, for now, leave it completely bare. It won’t hurt your bun and it sounds like he’s a bit hot if he’s pushing it out the way to lay on the cooler surface. Having no bedding down except for in his litter trays will encourage him to go there too

[Little Max]

@ Limit
Both pine and cedar shavings are bad for small animals because of the dust and the “fumes” they release. But the tightly compressed pellets are fine.

I did what you said, and took out all the straw, only leaving a little bit inside his cardboard house and a small patch around it so if he wants to lay on it he can. The upper level of his cage has wooden flooring covered with a fleece blanket, and at night he sleeps up there, sometimes in his bed and sometimes pressed against the cage bars, so he may be pretty hot… How do I cool him off without having him in a draft?

[Limit]

Posted By Little Max on 3/29/2017 9:15 AM
@ Limit
Both pine and cedar shavings are bad for small animals because of the dust and the “fumes” they release. But the tightly compressed pellets are fine.

I did what you said, and took out all the straw, only leaving a little bit inside his cardboard house and a small patch around it so if he wants to lay on it he can. The upper level of his cage has wooden flooring covered with a fleece blanket, and at night he sleeps up there, sometimes in his bed and sometimes pressed against the cage bars, so he may be pretty hot… How do I cool him off without having him in a draft?

Ceramic tiles that are cooled are great, or frozen bottles of water? Not sure where you are but there’s those things called ice pods too – or even pet cooling mats might work depending if your bun chews x

[Author]

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