Hay Everywhere!

[MiniLopHop]

I dearly love my Becky. She dearly loves her hay. I do not love her hay everywhere in my house, including the bed! Any suggestions how to keep it from going everywhere? We have carpets and I tried to vacuum but it didn't work very well. :vacuum:

I'm just constantly picking up stay pieces of hay that she or the cat scatter all around. :banghead

Also, any suggestions on how to keep the cat from eating the hay would be grand. He thinks he is a rabbit and eats it, then throws up later. I can't keep him out of her pen because they play together all the time and it upsets them both if they are separated. Crazy Cabbits!

:stikpoke

 

[maxysmummy]

oh man, hopefully your cat will learn through trial and error.

for our rabbits we use a hay rack... it was actually meant to be one of those dish drying racks that we got from the $2 shop. we just stuff it with hay and it keeps it relatively in the one spot

 

[elrohwen]

My rabbits have a plastic pet store cage that is the hay and litter box area. I have a couple hay racks attached to the walls of the cage (I like to use random metal basket things from BB&B - usually for holding soap and things in the bathtub). They scatter hay all over the place, but at least it only scatters in the plastic cage for the most part and not all over the house. You don't need a petstore cage to do this - just a plastic bin or something that you could set up as a litter box and hay area and then keep hay out of the rest of the habitat.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We have hay racks in each hutch--not completely a solution but it does limit the scatter. I use a shop vac, a large one, as hay has a tendency to plug up regular vacuums. As to the cat problem and a solution--have to eliminate access to the hay.

 

[Krissa]

I use a broom and sweep the floor (yes the carpet) two or three times a week. Then I vacuum. My cats would eat the hay when it was fresh but now that the bales are older the cats are not as interested in eating it.

I also have taught the cats not to play with the hay. When I saw them playing with it I would clap my hands, yell no. Later I got a squirt bottle and would squirt them when they played with it. They petty much leave it alone now. Don't let them see you squirt them, you want them to associate the squirt with the action, not with you.

 

[kkiddle]

I keep the hay in a soap holder--like one you would use in the shower. It has suctions on it, but I keep it on the wall with those Command hooks. To keep it in one place, I keep a lid from a tupperware container--one of the big ones--under it and put his litter box under it as well. That way, if any strays out of the box or Cheeto decides that he wants to make a mess, I can just take the lid and dump the hay into a garbage bag.
As for the cats, I have no idea. Sorry =) I've never owned a cat, but I'm assuming if you associate hay with bad things, the cat will get the idea.
Hope I helped and good luck!

 

[MiniLopHop]

Thanks everyone for the ideas. Sweeping with the broom works so much better than the vacuum. I'm going to look for a good rack rather than letting her dig around in the box I have for her now.
As for the cat, I think this may be a self limiting behavior. He seems to be getting the point that if he eats the hay it is going to come back to haunt him.

 

[AngelnSnuffy]

Instead of buying a "rack" you can also make one out of a gallon milk jug. Upside down installed. Cut the bottom off where you can stuff it and cut a bigger opening in the top and ziptie to cage.

That is weird that the cat eats the hay, lol.

 

[kirbyultra]

LOL "Cabbit"!

Yeah, sweeping then vacuuming is the way to go. My rabbits have figured out that if I put the hay in a rack, they can just as easily draaaag it all out onto the floor so they can eat it more comfortably. Blah!