Advice on bedding?

[existenziell]

One of my rabbits has allergies. I took her to the vet after I got her because I thought she might have had an infection but it's just allergies (sneezing and runny nose). The vet told me to give her some children's benadryl for awhile and I did (that helped a lot), but I didn't want to keep her on that forever.

I think she is allergic to the bedding I have been putting in there. It's Carefresh Natural which says it's low dust. I took her bedding out for awhile in hopes that would help (she was using her litter box). However, she decided one day to stop using the litter box so now I have to resume using bedding. I also have this stuff that I use in her litter box which is back-2-nature (it says it's virtually dust free).

Anyways, any advice on the bedding I should be using? I know not to use wood shavings.

 

[agnesthelion]

Were you using bedding in the cage and then had a litterbox too? That could be why she stopped using her litterbox.

Not very many of us use bedding in addition to a litterbox. It confuses bunny and interferes with litter habits as then they think they can go anywhere in their cage.

Some flooring options used on here are fleece, carpet samples, tile, coroplast, rubber foam mats, baby blankets, etc.

For litter a common choice is wood stove pellets (with no accelerant) which you can get at most hardware or farm supply stores for $5 for a 40 lb bag. Very cheap and super effective at controlling odor.

So, long answer short i would attempt to bring a litterbox back in and take bedding out and see if that resolves the problem. I couldn't imagine having a house bunny not litter trained....?

Best of luck!

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

I use fleece in my cages. It provides traction and something soft without being dusty or expensive. I do wash it weekly. In the litter boxes, I use wood pellets.

If you are having litter training issues, you can use fleece or towels as they are easy to clean. The downside is that it doesn't really help teach a rabbit to use the litter box as any urine is absorbed. However, of you can change the towel daily (or as needed), it should work like using other bedding and keep the cage clean. You should have a few towels so you can swap them out and wash them.

 

[existenziell]

There wasn't bedding and a litter box. I took the bedding out, but left the litter box. She was using it for awhile, but the one day she started peeing on the bare cage floor. Kind of an issue. I would do the blanket idea, but I don't have a washer and dryer so washing stuff all the time would be an issue. She also likes destroying fabric.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We use kiln dried pine and also have some litter pans filled with shredded newspaper.

 

[caramel17]

I use paper bedding, which is mostly just shredded up newspaper and any other paper we can find around the house, I also have the paper bedding that you can buy... I'm not sure what its called, but if it has any dust, it is very minimal, but I usually only use this when I need to cover the bottom of a nesting box.