Marshall's Bye-Odor

[Bonsai]

I recall this product from a few years ago and I wanted to see what you guys thought about it.

Marshall's Bye-Odor is a product you apply to rabbits' (as well as various other small animals, too) food or water and it supposedly controls the urine odor. When I get my Netherland Dwarf, it is essential that his odor be little to none. To accomplish this, I'm looking at all sorts of odor reducers, neutralizers, fresheners (without being aerosol or something smelly to avoid URI) and everything between.

It seems there was a formula change of some sort and I'm still finding mixed reviews on its effectiveness recently. So I'd like to know if anyone here uses it and thinks it works?

Here is the directions and the ingredients list:

Directions: Shake well.
Mix 3-5 pumps of Bi-Odor Waste Deodorizer to 16 oz water.
(5 pumps equals 1 tablespoon)
Add same dosage of Bi-Odor every time the water is changed.
For food, apply 3-5 pumps per feeding.*
It is important not to skip days.
Allow time (3-7 days) for your pet to adjust to enhanced food flavor.
Drastic results should be seen within 1 week of continuous use.

If satisfactory results are not seen,
gradually increase dosage until odor is removed.

* It is preferable to add to pet's water,
but same results can be achieved by adding to food.

Ingredients:
Deionized water, aspartic acid, threonine, serine, glatamic acid, glycine,
alanine, valine, methionine, isoleucine, leucine, tyrosine, phenyalmime,
histidine, lysine, arginine, cysteine, proline. May or may not contain sodium bicarbonate, hydropropyl methylcellulose, sodium benzoate.

What I'm worried about is when would it be safe to begin giving this to a rabbit and should amount vary depending on rabbit's weight? A Netherland Dwarf is obviously much smaller than a NZW and a NZW wouldn't be given the same dose as a Dwarf. Does anyone have advise on dosing for this? I'm thinking it might be easy to give this by mixing it up in mashed banana or on leafy veggies rabbit will eat than in water. Water bottles are notorious for leaking so you can't even know if they're really drinking that much!

So, anyone have thoughts on it? Does it appear safe/work?

 

[Blue eyes]

When I get my Netherland Dwarf, it is essential that his odor be little to none.

Not sure what you meant by this. Are you referring just to his urine? Or are you referring to the rabbit himself? There should be no odor to a rabbit at all. Urine most definitely has an odor, but with the right litter, you won't smell it.

I have 2 rabbits sharing a litter box in our family room. There is zero urine odor thanks to the absorbancy of the litter.

...just trying to better understand what you're after.

 

[Bonsai]

Oh, I meant urine. I know rabbits don't really have an odor. What kind of litters are best? Does aspen work well with controlling odor?

 

[Blue eyes]

I just use wood pellets (wood stove pellets) topped with hay. I have also used Yesterdays News unscented litter which is also good, just costs more.

I switched to the wood pellets for economy and was surprised that they work fantastic. I know they are a popular option for many on this forum.

 

[Bonsai]

I'll keep those in mind, definitely!

I used aspen outdoors for a couple weeks with my Netherland Dwarf but I couldn't really smell it to begin with, though it seemed better with the aspen than with just straw.

What kind of wood pellets are these? I've heard a lot of people say "no to pine" but they're pretty cheap if I'm thinking of the same product. Probably cheaper than the aspen lol.

 

[middlemuse]

I've found wood pellets to be much better at controlling odor than paper pellets like Yesterday's News. They DO give off a faint pine smell when wet, though. They are safe--apparently the kiln processing destroys the volatile oils that make pine dangerous.

I buy mine at Tractor Supply, where they're marketed as horse stall pellets. I have to drive from the suburbs to the exurbs to get there, but even figuring in the cost of gas, I can get 80 lbs for under $15, which is about the cost of a 20 lb bag of Feline Pine (the same product, marketed for cats) in local stores.

I don't know if it's necessary, but when I've just opened a new bag, I let a couple scoops of pellets air out on a tray for a couple days to remove the pine smell, just in case. Maybe somebody with more experience could comment on whether that's a good idea or just a silly one.


Sent from my iPhone using Rabbit Forum

 

[Bonsai]

That is extremely affordable, lol! I have a TSC within a mile of my house so I wouldn't even have to factor in gas. The money I spend on aspen would be better spent on pellets, it seems. I could use those for the cats, too! I just wonder if they'll work as well for them lol!

I think letting the pellets air out is probably a good idea. Rabbits don't do well with aromatic things... Who knows though, maybe they're safe since the oils aren't there? Its probably worse to breathe in essential oils than just the natural fragrance of something. But again who knows! Rabbits never cease to confuse me lol.

 

[Chrisdoc]

I have two netherland dwarfs and a cross angora who are all house rabbits and I use the wood pellets and they work fine. You just have to remember to change every couple of days although it depends on the bunny; I know some people change every day. It means that it hardly smells. I certainly couldn´t stand to have smelly bunnies in the house. Mine are such clean little boys

 

[Bonsai]

Wanted to thank you guys for the suggestion and feedback on the pine pellets! We started using them with our cats and they work like a dream! We don't smell them at all, though we do pick out the poop so as to reduce smell further (and sanitation, honestly) but we're super thrilled with this litter! It was a test run, but if this is all it takes to keep rabbit odor down, then the bye-odor is not even required lol. Runs me $6/40lb - much better than what we were paying! 1/4 a bag was all it took to fill up 3 cat pans, too. Soooo very cost effective and it smells so much nicer in that room! By day 3 with normal litter, it smelled like a latrine in there. Now we can't even smell them.

 

[middlemuse]

I'm curious, did you have any trouble switching the cats to it? We're not cat owners yet, but it's probably in out future and it seems like it'd be convenient to have only one kind of litter to deal with.

 

[Blue eyes]

Wanted to thank you guys for the suggestion and feedback on the pine pellets! We started using them with our cats and they work like a dream! We don't smell them at all, though we do pick out the poop so as to reduce smell further (and sanitation, honestly) but we're super thrilled with this litter! It was a test run, but if this is all it takes to keep rabbit odor down, then the bye-odor is not even required lol. Runs me $6/40lb - much better than what we were paying! 1/4 a bag was all it took to fill up 3 cat pans, too. Soooo very cost effective and it smells so much nicer in that room! By day 3 with normal litter, it smelled like a latrine in there. Now we can't even smell them.

It took me awhile to figure out that you can use much less of the wood pellets in the box then you would normally think. I used to put it about an inch or more thick. Gradually, I realized that because it expands so much, I didn't need to use half that amount. My litter pan is 18" x 24" and a 40 lb bag will last about 18-20 refills (2 rabbits sharing).

 

[Bonsai]

I'm curious, did you have any trouble switching the cats to it? We're not cat owners yet, but it's probably in out future and it seems like it'd be convenient to have only one kind of litter to deal with.

We had no problems whatsoever. Some people transition slowly but we were in a pinch and it was this or our pans were gonna be empty. Needless to say, we threw pellets in and our cats took to them instantly. No transition needed, at least not for us.

It took me awhile to figure out that you can use much less of the wood pellets in the box then you would normally think. I used to put it about an inch or more thick. Gradually, I realized that because it expands so much, I didn't need to use half that amount. My litter pan is 18" x 24" and a 40 lb bag will last about 18-20 refills (2 rabbits sharing).

I had heard it expanded quite a bit or at least "less is more" with them so I started out with a little bit of pellets. Thank you for sharing your amounts, I'll definitely keep that in mind. My cats' boxes is pretty much covered enough that you can't see the bottom and that seems sufficient for them.

 

[Blue eyes]

My cats' boxes is pretty much covered enough that you can't see the bottom and that seems sufficient for them.

It's nice to know they work well with cats too. Believe it or not, I've never had a cat (mildly allergic) but I've recently been considering getting a Siberian in the next couple years (if I do ok with them). So I really am in the dark about caring for cats. Sounds silly to say that, but I've just never cared for one before. The pellets would be an inexpensive litter choice for them then, which is nice to know.

 

[Troller]

Hmm, I get my wood pellets at Lowe's or Home Depot usually $4/40lb. This is great from August-May but when summer hits then they are no longer carried and I resort to Horse Pellets, which look, feel and act exactly the same but I can't get them cheaper the $7/40lb.

 

[whitelop]

Just to chime in here about the cats on the pine litter. My mom tried pine litter a few years ago, Feline Pine and her cats HATED it. They didn't like the way it felt on their feet. They started using the floor in front of the litter box (and kept that up right on to my house).
So now with those same cats, they no longer have litter boxes, they go outside like dogs. Anyway, I use the pine pellets for Ellie and she loves them, I love them. And if I put hay over the top of them, my cats love them. Because walking on the hay is like walking in the grass!
Can you believe that?! So sometimes I have one cat to use the rabbit litter box at night and I have to immediately change it.

So if you're switching your cats from regular clumping litter to pine pellets, beware that they might not like the feeling on their feet. Because they're really not that pleasant to step on! But if you put hay down, its like going in the grass! LOL