[MattMouse]

I'm using Carefresh litter right now, but I have a couple problems with it.

First, it's not as good as I've found wood shavings like pine to be when absorbing odors. But I know pine is dangerous for bunnies because of the dust and fragrance oils, so I can't use it. But my house is very, very tiny and the bunnies tend to get that litter smell every day. I don't have the time or money to spend on litter to change it every single day. It's not necessarily dirty enough to need cleaning, it just smells.

And second, Carefresh is these little pellets of papery stuff, but the buns kick it all over the place and my floor and bed are just covered with the litter pellets. I can never get it cleaned up because it sticks to the carpet when I try to vacuum.

Is there an alternative safe wood type litter that I can find at a pet store? Something that will absorb more odor and not make such a mess all over my house? Or maybe I'm SOL and just have to live with it.

 

[Dragonrain]

Welcome to the world of owning bunnies!

As you probably already discovered, they go to the bathroom alot. Which isn't really a problem once they're litter box trained, but alot of owners would probably recommend that you clean out their litter box every single day - if it's dirty enough that it smells, it needs to be cleaned. I usually clean my littlerbox everyday, or every other day.

I've never used carefresh for my boys, I use a paper cat litter called "yesterday's news". Wood stove pellets also work well, and are cheaper. Sometimes if I run out of stuff to use, I'll use newspaper and that seems to work ok too, as long as I change the box often enough. But I keep my rabbits in my bedroom, and even with the door closed and such I never smell their litterbox. The key is just that you do have to clean it out alot. If it's too expensive for you to use carefresh and clean it everyday, then I would say switch to something cheaper. Because even if your using the best litter in the world, you're still going to need to clean the box often.

Ahh yes, the kicking stuff out of the box issue. Zeus is an expert at that. You can try wrapping something around the cage where the litterbox is, so that it's harder for them to get stuff out of the cage. I duct taped an old towel up on the side of the cage around the litterbox. I have a wood floor, so I don't really have a problem with cleaning it up, I just sweep it. But you could maybe get a gaint piece of plastic, or a crappy cheap rug, to put around/under the cage. That way you can pick it up and clean it instead of having the litter stick to the floor.

Good luck! Hopefully you can find something that works for you. Bunnies can be such messy little critters.

 

[oreyo]

I had the same problem but when my dad bought me litter for my rabbits last week he got me pine shavings. i got mad a first but i used my little brain so i used the pine shaving but put news paper all over it. now my rabbits cant smell it or eat it and it holds the smell really good and very clean. all u have to do is keep putting newspaper over the other everytime it gets dirty and now i change my litter box like once a week because the newspaper absorbs the urine really good and the pine shavings dont get dirty quick.. i get my newspaper from school its free lol but u can get the newspaper where ever i dont think its a problem. but be sure not to use the shiny paper where they put advirsment. use the regular ones like usa today or ur states paper i use orlando sentinel, so i hope this helps u cuz it really helped me its cheap and excelent on smell and safety.

 

[Dragonrain]

No offence, but I really wouldn't recommend using pine shavings for rabbits, even if you are covering it with newspaper.

Studies have shown that it's not eating the shavings that is most dangerous - but breathing in fumes from the pine that include toxins that can get into the blood stream from the lungs, and are then filtered by the liver.

These toxins have been shown to raise liver enzymes and can lead to liver damage and failure, and ultimatly death.

I really wouldn't count on paper to protect your rabbits from the toxic fumes of the shavings. My guess would be that they would be able to go right through the paper, and that your rabbits would still be breathing some of it in. And how do you even keep the paper covering the pine all the time? Your rabbits don't ever move the paper off? I could be wrong of course, but I still wouldn't ever use pine - you know the saying..."better safe then sorry". There's no reason why you should use toxic litter when,thankfully, they're are plenty of safe alturnatives out there

 

[moonchild]

Breeders have told me that kiln-dried pine is safe to use on rabbits, and I have used kiln-dried pine shavings before with no problems.

There is a litter box on the market called "Scatterless Litter Pan," and I'm sure you could find it if you did a search. It is a litter pan with a wire grid, like you would find on a wire bottom cage. The poop falls through the wire into the box. I have seen one that someone made himself. He said he put non-sented clumping cat litter in his, because the rabbit can't reach the litter. He would then remove the wire and scoop as needed, so he could clean it out several time a day if he wanted, and he used very little litter. I tried this myself with a box I made and it worked well. I had to put a little hay on top of the wire to encourage my rabbits to use it.

 

[oreyo]

No offence, but I really wouldn't recommend using pine shavings for rabbits, even if you are covering it with newspaper.

Studies have shown that it's not eating the shavings that is most dangerous - but breathing in fumes from the pine that include toxins that can get into the blood stream from the lungs, and are then filtered by the liver.

These toxins have been shown to raise liver enzymes and can lead to liver damage and failure, and ultimatly death.

I really wouldn't count on paper to protect your rabbits from the toxic fumes of the shavings. My guess would be that they would be able to go right through the paper, and that your rabbits would still be breathing some of it in. And how do you even keep the paper covering the pine all the time? Your rabbits don't ever move the paper off? I could be wrong of course, but I still wouldn't ever use pine - you know the saying..."better safe then sorry". There's no reason why you should use toxic litter when,thankfully, they're are plenty of safe alturnatives out there

i know wat ur saying but i use really thick and big newspaper and alot ontop of each other and a really little amount of the pine just small enough to cover the box, plus the only time my rabbits go in their litterbox is to poop which is just a couple of seconds and also my rabbits live in a florida room ( outside room with screening covering the room so fresh air is always available i think that helps with the odor. everyone has their own opinion and im always trying to get the safiest things for them but like i said before my dad got it for me and he dident know its bad for them but i think what im doing right now is good and safe for them. but dragonrain - i really appreciate ur comment ur really a big help in many things ( iv read alot of ur threads and posts) thank u ! what is the best bedding and that is cheap? my parents keep complaining that their spending alot of money on my babies :mad2:

 

[moonchild]

Just check the package of the pine shavings. If it says "kiln-dried" it should be safe. The chemistry changes during they drying process. A lot of wood pellets contain pine unless it says "hardwood pellets" on the package. Feline pine is also safe for rabbits, which of course is made out of pine. Wood fuel pellets are a seasonal item and usually are only sold during the winter months, at least in the area where I live.

 

[VanillaRat]

Aspen is a safe wood kind of litter to use.I buy big bags at Wal-Mart and recently just found some at Zellers.I do not have rabbits,but I do have rats,mice,a hamster and guinea pig and this is what I use for them.

You can also get Yesterdays News.I often mix aspen and YN together and it works well.There is also a hemp kind of bedding which I used before and that is also safe.

Pine and cedar are no-nos!

 

[kathydip]

I use wood stove pellets. We buy a pallet before they stop selling them for the season.
for the cats I use wood stove pellets and feline pine.
I never have a problem with the bunny boxes smelling. I change them every other day. On the day they are not getting cleaned I moved them around the rooms so the buns can used to each others scent.
The cat box smells pretty quickly. I am not sure how they stink so badly. But when I add feline pine it really does help control the odor.

Are your buns fixed? I am trying to figure out why some people say their buns boxes stink and others don't have a problem.

 

[moonchild]

I have three females and one male, all are fixed. One of my females stinks all the time unless I wash her butt almost every day. She is a bit over weight, (which might have something to do with her poor grooming) and all my attempts to get her to lose weight have failed. Sometimes she gets a waxy build-up on her bottom from her anal glands. None of my other rabbits have this problem. Her poop smells worse than my other rabbits.

 

[MeggieQC]

I haven't read the whole thread but I strongly recommend "carefresh"

 

[VanillaRat]

I haven't read the whole thread but I strongly recommend "carefresh"

The OP don't like "carefresh".

 

[MeggieQC]

Sorry, what is that supposed to mean? I don't read "slang" or whatever you might call it in english

 

[VanillaRat]

Haha...that wasn't "slang"...just short for "original poster".It is a forum abbreviation.I was simply saying that the OP doesn't like carefresh.They said they had some issues with it.It wasn't "slang".

 

[kathydip]

What about the scented carefree? At least I think it's the carefree brand - but I am sure it's a lavender scent. It smells lovely. I know someone that uses it for their buns. They said it works really well.

 

[MattMouse]

Thanks for all the helpful replies.

I decided to try that lavender scented Carefresh. I just put it in today, so we'll see how that goes. I guess it'll have to be trial and error while I figure something out. I couldn't find any kiln-dried pine at my local pet store, so I decided better safe than sorry and I'll stay away from all their wood litter. So far, though, they just ate the litter I put in this morning. -_-

I think I'll try to change the litter every other day now. I was doing it every 4-5 days before.

 

[Dragonrain]

Good luck. I really think that no matter what litter you use, the important thing for keeping smell down is to clean the box often.

Let us know how you like the lavender carefresh, I've never tried it before.