Bedding/Smell Issue

[Nes]

BF & I got into a HUGE fight yesterday over the bunnies, not aided by the fact they are pregant AGAIN!! and after spending our entire relationship taking care of a pregnant dog (of a former roomates), pregnant bunnies and worry about my cat getting pregant it's the last thing we want to do AGAIN (we love baby bunnies, but it would be nice to have a month to ourselves where no one is pregnant!! ).

Anyway he blew up at me about the smell of my bunnies & he's right - it totally doesn't bother me but it does bother him and since we're going to be living together really soon it is something I need to fix.

Right now the girls are on a pine litter bedding & a commercial litter. I clean the cage up of soiled bedding everday - but I might also just need a stronger litter.

What else can I do to reduce bunny smell?

Also the girls are spreading bedding EVERYWHERE as they make their new nests - short of taping carboard to the sides (eww!) is there anything I can do to discourage this behaviour?

Last time they were on a corn litter/bedding and I just gave them newspaper to rip up for the nest but I switched to pine shavings because it is SOOOOOO much cheaper!! (like $15 for two weeks vs $6 for... well probably about 5-6 months (horse sized bedding bag))

The other option is just that we build them a nice hutch & they can live out on the balcony, which isn't a bad thing, I just like having them in the appartment .

tx!
Nes.

 

[manda]

both problems are very easy to fix. if you dont want pregnate bunnies dont have males and females together until you get them both fixed.

and there is not much you can do about the odor other than change it more often. it will stink if its dirty, if its not dirty it wont stink.

also, pine is BAD for bunnies

 

[Pet_Bunny]

I find wood pellets absorb odor the best. For example, some people here use products like Woody Pet. Some pet stores are bringing in wood pellets now but they are more expensive than the types that you can get in hardware stores. Each type of wood pellet can be different from a different brand. Some might have a stronger pine smell, some might absorb better, as I have found. I get my pellets at Home Hardware.

You might want to spread some baking soda on the bottom of the litter box to absorb odor too.

Rainbows!

 

[Bassetluv]

Hi Nes,

There are a lot of reports that have surfaced over the past few years about the use of pine shavings for animals such as rodents and rabbits...I would definitely tend to steer clear of it if at all possible. For instance, this disclaimer was written by a company called Harlan Teklad, who supplies pine shavings for laboratory animals:

"Please note that we supply softwood pine shavings to the research community because there is still a demand for it, primarily with housing larger farm-type animals, such as sheep, goats and pigs. However, regardless of the amount of heat processing, some residual resins and aromatic hydrocarbons remain in all types of softwood bedding materials, including pine and cedar. These have been shown to cause elevated liver enzymes, and some respiratory irritations and ailments in several species of small mammals. For this reason, we do not recommend the use of pine shavings as a contact bedding material for rodents, rabbits, guinea pigs or other small mammals."

Wood pellets such as Magnum or Woody Pet tend to be clean, efficient, and cheap. (I see that you live in Ottawa; I do too...so you might know of Ritchie's Feed and Seed. They sell Magnum Horse Bedding, which is a pelleted product similar to Woody Pet. It is a 40-lb bag which sells for around $7 or $8 per bag. There is also a store here that sells Woody Pet (which is very popular with many rabbit owners). It's called Country Depot and it's at 4836 Bank Street.

Personally, what I now do when my rabbits are housed indoors is, I have litter boxes in the cages filled with wood pellets, and the rest of the cage is filled with old cotton towels and newspaper lining the bottom of the cage under them. (Value Village sells used towels very cheap, you can pick some up for a dollar or two per towel). I simply change them every day with new towels - one of my rabbits is very clean and uses the litter box, so the towels in her cage don't get soiled very often, while the other rabbit tends to use the entire cage, so his towels definitely need changing every day. Then I simply toss them in the washing machine once I have enough to do a load. There is never an odor when I use towels for bedding, so long as they are changed frequently.

(As a side note, if you are worried about your cat becoming pregnant, I would highly recommend having her spayed. I know that the initial cost of spaying is expensive, but is definitely worth it in the long run. I think I recall reading that you wound up with pregnant bunnies from an ex-roommate? If so, I do applaud you for taking on their care, as not everyone would be so kind-hearted.)

 

[Nes]

My bedding is a mixture of pine & spruce - I was conserned about those woods with the rabbits when I bought it, I know cedar is bad for horses, it's interesting that pine is bad for rabbits. The funny thing is my rabbits have actually been sneazing LESS or pine (appartment doesn't have great air-quality & I suffer along with them when the porch isn't WIDE open). I guess I won't buy another bag after this one :X. I'll try the horse pellets - but they don't make great bedding for horses so I'm not sure how much I'd like them . I actually really liked the corn-based I was using before & even switched my cats over to that litter it's just TOO expensive.

Towels & baking soda are great ideas (don't know why I didn't think of it) I'll try both and let you know.

The last litter i used had these blue crystals in it and was GREAT for odor control but everytime I changed the litter it made MY eyes water so I wasn't comfortable using it with my poor buns! The smell faded after a few hours so it didn't sting so much but they are so much more sensative it didn't seem ok.

We're not worried about the rabbits becoming pregant after this batch. I really want to be able to hang onto the babies and hand them out to good homes like last time, but it's just not possible so 8 weeks they are gone to the pet store. (The petcetera near our home takes them in & does a good job of informing people before they sell them - I checked!!).

Sadly the BF & I don't have the money to spay our cats. Orignally I got two females since I knew it would be too much money and I could do it later (indoor cats) but one grew balls (literally) & I coudn't give them away. As much as I don't want inbred kittens adding to the over population giving them away isn't helping the problem either : so I'm trying to find a resuce agency that will help us out (if anyone knows someone!!).

Actually we didn't just adopt that roomate's male rabbits, I also took her dog & 4 puppies with me to my 1 bedroom apartment & hid them from the landlord for a month until they were old enough. That was fun... and almost got me kicked out so I don't recomend it!!! :?

Thanks guys, keep the ideas rolling!

nes.

 

[naturestee]

Have you looked into low cost spay/neuter programs through shelters? Mine does cats and dogs for only $30 each. Try calling your nearest shelter and asking. If they don't do it they'll probably know somebody who does. The last thing they want is more unwanted animals on their hands.

I'm putting in another vote for the wood pellets. It's the best stuff I've used- most absorbent, least odor, least cost. Wood shavings have never worked well for me, even with little guys like hamsters. They're kicked about so easily and they really don't absorb much. And you really smell the urine as compared to wood pellets or paper-based stuff like Carefresh.

 

[KirstyBaby_18]

Im having a very similar problem as you!! Our rabbits cage smells horrible! Even though we clean it everyday! We just use the wood shaving bedding as well (cant remember if its pine or cedar - i think its the one thats safer). We bought some extra strength CareFresh to try as litter, but our bunnie is going through some things right now so she just digs it all out of her litterbox.

What ive tried that i know DOES work is the Air Sponge. I see youre from Ontario, i am too andi bought it at my local Shoppers Drug Mart. It was about $7 and its this spongy thing inside of a margarine-looking container and we just took off the lid andput it beside the cage and it absorbed the odors SO well, but it stopped working after a couple weeks. But it definately works for awhile! And it may work longer for you too! Id definately try it if i were you! Good luck!

 

[Haley Rose]

There's a product called yesterday's news that works very well, I also use the pressed saw dust pellet's they use for horse stall's much cheaper....

 

[Nes]

Oh yeah!! I've seen those air-freshners before & used to have one in my hockey bag!! Are we sure the strong smell of a scented air-freshner won't hurt their senses? That's one thing I'm REALLY conserned about

There seems to be alot of votes for these wood pellets... hmm, can you buy them in small bags? I can just give my barn the shavings but it would be harder to get ride of all those pellets if I don't like them!!


I have tried the ottawa humane society - it's actually MORE expensive then our vet!! :shock:

Nes.

 

[KirstyBaby_18]

Nes wrote:

Oh yeah!! I've seen those air-freshners before & used to have one in my hockey bag!! Are we sure the strong smell of a scented air-freshner won't hurt their senses? That's one thing I'm REALLY conserned about

Well, that air sponge thing isnt really an air freshner, itsmore ofan absorber. So i dont think it does any harm!

 

[JimD]

Did somebunnie mention WOODY PET??!!??!!

I have 8 indoor bunnies that all have their own cages and litter pans, and I HIGHLY recommend using wood pellet litter. I've used most of the other products mentioned and will put my money into pellets. I use Woody Pet and haven't had an odor problem since.

If you choose to use shavings, kiln dried aspen shaving are presumably safe for the buns. It's the aromatic oils in pine and cedar that are suspected of being dangerous to the buns.

To help eliminate lingering odors, I used a 50/50 mixture of white vinegar and water to clean the litter pans and drop pans.

The are also some feeds that contain ingredients that claim to help eliminate odor in the urine.

Adding vanilla to their drinking water is supposed to help reduce urine odor, as well. This is also recommended to help prevent flystrike. Vanilla DOES NOT repel flies, but helps reduce the urine odor, thus attracting less flies.

 

[Haley Rose]

The pellet's break down into saw dust as soon was they get wet so deposel is very easy , I haven't seen small bag's 50lbs is what I buy.....

 

[Haley Rose]

I've heard about putting vanella in paint to keep the smell down???? thats some multipurpose stuff

 

[JimD]

Haley Rose wrote:

The pellet's break down into saw dust as soon was they get wet so deposel is very easy , I haven't seen small bag's 50lbs is what I buy.....

Woody Pet makes 30 lb bags and then uses it as a marketing tool. They say that since it comes in 30 lb bag, Mom and the kids can even carry them.

And..... No that isn't one of my kids...


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[font="Futura, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"]WHY SMALLER LIGHTER BAGS[/font]



[font="Futura, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"]Our survey tells us that about 90 % of Horse Folks are Women and in most cases the kids help out with the chores. Because of this we spend more money packaging Woody Pet Professional Animal Bedding in 30 LB. bags (smaller and lighter than most other bedding manufacturers) just to make it easier for Mom and the Kids.[/font]

 

[BekasBunnies]

Pine and Cedar are both bad for the bunnies. I use the corn cob litter. Seems to keep the smell down better than the paper ones. Also, when you clean the cages, litterboxes, ect, use vinegar. It's the only thing I've found that will really get rid of that horrid "bunny" smell. My litterboxes are dumped every other day and scrubbed with vinegar. Every day, sometimes, if needed. If I smell that smell when I walk in the door at night, the kids are in big trouble for not doing the cages and boxes right. Doesn't happen very often tho. (I got them out of bed at 10 or 11 pm a few times to take care of it and they learned! LOL)

~BARB~

 

[Pipp]

KirstyBaby_18 wrote:

Well, that air sponge thing isnt really an air freshner, itsmore ofan absorber. So i dont think it does any harm!

Kirsty, I'm in BC, and I know exactly what you mean!I had forgotten, but yes, those sponges work like all get out! They're for industrial shops, they don't mask the odor, they absorb and eliminate it!They're great!!

I forget the brand name, but we'll have to look next time we're in Shoppers.

sas andthegang :bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance:

 

[Pipp]

BekasBunnies wrote:

Pine and Cedar are both bad for the bunnies. I use the corn cob litter. Seems to keep the smell down better than the paper ones. Also, when you clean the cages, litterboxes, ect, use vinegar.

Hey Barb, do your bunnies eat the cob litter? That's been my fear, my guys eat everything. But right now my litter boxes (well, the bunnies' litter boxes) have pine stall shavings in them, and I'm not sure they're the low emittance variety. :? I'm not too too worried about it because it's only used in the litter boxes, where, being freerun buns, they don't spend a lot of time. (They don't spend nearly enough time, actually :disgust. As Bassetluv's post so aptly points out, it's a 'contact bedding' issue. I don't think they have enough contact to hurt them. But on the other hand, one can't be too careful. But then again again, could be an equal riskgetting a blockage from the cob litter... onder: 'Tis a puzzler.

Thanks for your post!



sasand the gang :bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance:

 

[Nes]

Pipp, I was worried about that too when I first started my rabbits on corn-cob litter but never had a problem with them eating it I even give mine those dried out corn-cobs every now and then so I know they like corn - I don't think the litter tastes that good, after all it's only corn-based

The only reason I stoped using the corn-based it because it was expensive ($14-17 for a bag that lasted 2 weeks (messy buns)) and I wanted to find a cheaper solution - but really the stuff is GREAT for keeping down the smell.

I SCRUBED the cage yesterday & according to the BF it smells MUCH better - also adding baking soda to the litter seems to have helped .

I'm still going to buy one of those pucks when I find it & we'll go from there but I doubt there will even be a hint of rabbit other then the shavings I'm still getting ALL over the appartment!!

Thanks for your help guys!!
Nes.

 

[BekasBunnies]

When I first started using the corn cob litter, Scooby would eat a little bit of it. He doesn't even nibble it anymore. He just wanted to test it at first I think. No problems now at all.

~BARB~

 

[tailof2rabbits]

I highly recommend Woody Pets. :thumbup
I live in a one bedroom condo and it's been an amazing help at keeping everything neat and smelly-good. Hehe. The bunny farts cannot be helped though.:wiggle