Other bedding ???

[PEPPA GEORGIE]

I use carefresh but it is quite expensive and we go through a lot of it so was wondering what else i could try in their trays???? Any ideas, someone said the wood pellet cat litter is out as it clumps. What about would pellets that turn to sort of sand for cats are they the same, they dont clump ????

[Elrohwen]

Feline Pine is safe for bunnies and is non-clumping. Equine Pine is also good if you can find it in your area. Wood stove pellets are probably the cheapest thing you can buy, but may only be available during the colder months. I use Yesterday’s News and I find that I can use less if I put a paper towel or newspaper under the litter.

[RabbitPam]

Feline Pine and Equine Pine do the job and have been specially prepared so they don’t have certain chemicals that are added to some regular wood stove pellets. You have to be careful to get UNtreated pellets if using wood stove.

I just switched to Aspen pellets, which are known to be a safer wood than pine, and that works well. Absorbant and controls odors.

I would recommend Yesterdays News also, since it’s a pellet form. Good for bunnies. I had one bunny only like the care fresh because he tended to get sore feet as a mini rex, and the other bunny loves pellets only. Ultimately, it can be up to them. If your bunny insists on having Care Fresh, stick to the original that doesn’t have color added because it’s cheaper, and try to buy a larger bag that will last longer. When testing the other brands, get the smallest bag possible.

I may be donating my open bags of Feline Pine to a local shelter now that my bunny is using the Aspen.

[jerseygirl]

Is this for bedding or litter? Or do your 2 sleep in their trays (as many do…) ? If you do choose something like Yesterdays News, get the cat one. It’s supposedly the same stuff as the rabbit one but cheaper. That is, depending where you buy from.

An economical way is to line with sheets of newspaper then top with lots of hay.  Not so great on the odor control and likely has to be changed alot but if you can get hay cheap it could work.  Even a shallow layer of carefresh then lots of hay on top.

This page lists some alternatives… http://www.thehayexperts.co.uk/Litter.11/

[Cake]

I wanted to switch to wood stove pellets as they are very easy to get here in WI. However, how does absorb? I use aspen pine right now and that stuff rocks! I’m still spending more than I would like to though.

Also, if someone would let me know. I found a store that carries rabbit feed really cheap but wasn’t sure this was good. Can someone tell me if this is ok?

18% protein
20% fiber
3% fat

I have a young netherland dwarf (If that makes a difference)

[jerseygirl]

I would say it’s not ideal. That the fiber is high than protein is good but you want it to be upwrd of 20%, protein lower than 16 % and definately no more than 3% fat. Is this an alfalfa based feed? It may be ok for a short time for a growing bunny but I’d think about rationing it.

Sadly, the best I can get is alfalfa based pellet – 16% P. 20% F so I ration it too 2 Tbsp / day.

[Cake]

I just saw the ad in the paper and it was really cheap. (Maybe you get what you pay for)

The stuff I have now is a Timothy pellet

13% protien
23% fiber
1.5% fat
.08 calcium

It’s $10 for a 5lb bag. Is that pretty good?

[PEPPA GEORGIE]

Thank you i have got some wood pellets and am going to see how they go.
However on a totally diff track yesterday i let peppa and georgie out in the garden and they loved it and had so much fun. Then when it was getting late they were put back in their pen and later let out to play just in the room but peppa jumped on sofa climbing behind my head as usual and then peed over my shoulder. not good…. Then i put her away and ignored her and later forgave her and let her out and she seemed to run round peeing in four diff places.
Not sure if she is remarking after being outside or if she is angry that she wants to go out again but cant at that time and is displaying her annoyance.
Any suggestions ………

[BinkyBunny]

Posted By Cake on 06/03/2009 06:41 PM
I wanted to switch to wood stove pellets as they are very easy to get here in WI. However, how does absorb? I use aspen pine right now and that stuff rocks! I’m still spending more than I would like to though.

 

I have used both before, and though pine did well, aspen supreme is better in my opinion. It really seemed to absorb the odor better instead of just masking it.  Lately though the Aspen supreme has gone throug a pellet size change – not as compact. They should be back to normal now – it was just a temporary thing (the bags themselves will have a white sticker on them indicating whether it’s just the temporary one).  But the larger looser pellet did not do as good as a job as the more compact pellets.  I mix it with Yesterday’s News until Aspen Supreme gets their normal pellet size back.

[snoopy]

 I was using care fresh as well.  We now are shredding newspaper in the paper shredding and it’s working great in the litter box.  

 

Michelle

[KytKattin]

I have just recently went back to carefresh, as I like how it absorbs. YN doesn’t seems to absorb as well. Carefresh doesn’t do as well with the smell though. I do like carefresh because I can also easily see how much they are going to the bathroom, particularly in the urine department. Hubble has also been spot on with his litter habits since the switch, and that makes the extra expense worth it for me (either that or he is thanking me for the bigger cage, box of hay, and less forced snuggles). I do want to try Equine fresh someday though, even if I just put it under the carefresh. I still use YN for the rats, as well as aspen supreme. Sometimes I still wonder about aspen supreme and the safety thing even if it is thought to be safe, but I’m just way overly paranoid. I would use it for the rabbits, but the YN did well enough with the smell that I never found the need. Maybe I’ll use the YN under the carefresh if I find Equine fresh to not work for me, or I can’t find it in my area.

For equine fresh users, do you tend to fluff it up as recommended for horses, or just let the urine do the ‘fluffing’ so it, in theory, would hold more urine? Also, after it has been peed on does it smell only like urine, or like pine/urine?

[jerseygirl]

I think the fluffing is just for when you use it as horse bedding so it spreads further.

[RabbitPam]

BB,
Glad to hear Aspen Supreme is back to normal size. I will buy a new bag. Twice this week Sammy has peed just outside her box, and I think it’s related to the switch to Aspen. Maybe she needs the smaller pellets.

[BinkyBunny]

rabbitpam – the stores may carry the old stock funky stock for awhile, so hopefully the good stuff will be back on the shelves soon. I have found that because they are not as compact that they do not control odor as well, and if you have a bunny that likes a rather neat box, then this may cause problems. Is Sammy a neat freak? LOL (Rucy sure was)

[MooBunnay]

I use “Equine Fresh” or “Lone Star Bedding” – which is the same stuff as woodstove pellets but is sold in places like here in Texas where we don’t really need woodstove pellets

As far as the peeing outside the box – it sounds like territorial marking to me. It sounds like she is trying to claim some areas as her “own” – it helps to put out some extra litterboxes in corners of the room where the bunnies like to mark, and also to not allow bunnies up on the couch because for some reason it seems to be their favorite place to mark!

Also, when you say “trays” do you mean their litterboxes? or are they on wire with trays underneath?

[RabbitPam]

She has been a neat freak until this week, with two urine puddles beneath her hay and a big pile of poops around her water dish. I think it’s a form of protest, though I am watching her carefully. When I first tried to decide on a litter, she was really neat except when she hated the brand, then she threw it all around and demanded to be let out while I cleaned it up. She’s been so neat that I have barely seen a stray poop outside her house. She even goes back into the house to use ONLY the litter pan! I didn’t know they could be that fastidious. LOL

I stopped in at Petsmart on my way to work today, but they had big blank shelves where the new bags should go. One old bag left. So I wait.

[Author]

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