people say rabbits smell..

[tamnjo]

I know there are a couple threads like this but I wanted to start one where people can post their suggestions on how they keep there house smelling decent.

I need some ideas. I use water and vinager but they still smell. It's getting to be winter over here andI can't keep my window open anymore. Even if I clean their cage every week and their litter box every day.. there is still a smell. I clean their scent glands when they get icky. They might have to go back outside if I dont find a solution, as I don't want to go with air fresheners.

So.. post your success! Thanks everyone:brownbunny

 

[Spring]

What kind of litter do you use? If you use a good absorbent litter like compressed wood pellets, there should be no to minimal smell in a healthy rabbit. I would suspect an underlying health issue causing the smell, because that's very abnormal.

Here's a thread about smelly bunnies as well.. will be good to have a read through that

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=29341&forum_id=48&jump_to=384780#p384780

 

[aurora369]

What kind of litter are you using? Are they 100% litter trained?

I use a compressed wood pellet litter designed for horse stalls. I clean the litter boxes every second day, and I never smell anything. My four are in a large NIC double stacker cage in my living room, which is just by the door to my room.

I find that if the pee outside the litter box even a little bit, it smells quite strongly. Make sure the litter box sides are high enough that they're not getting their bums over the edge to pee.

Give us more information about your cleaning routines and what kind of litter you use, and we'll see if we can help keep down the smell.

--Dawn

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Do they have bedding like blankets?

Do they live in the same cage and do the rabbits themselves smell as if the other is spraying them?

The only time mine stink is if their boxes get dirty, if they pee on anything like blankets or direcly on their new cage floor where there is nothing to absorb it. :X or if they are having pooping butt issues and get messes on their fur.

Also if they choose to mark things like blankies, areas, and humans with their little stink poos they can make. That goes away but it can really stink bad for awhile.

Tony is bigger and unaltered so he's worse.

 

[Bunnicula]

I agree with Bo B - blankets and other bedding items are smell magnets. I find that the towels/blankets I use for our 4 have to be replaced every other day (daily with Gingiver who ALWAYS pees on them).

Hope you find a solution to the smell. We've got a 14-animal household, so we often battle that, too. Sometimes I wonder if our house has a smell that we've just grown used to. :shock:

-Mary Ellen

 

[ra7751]

Hi,

I have a little bit different suggestion. We have only rarely had an scent gland issues here. Our bedding for most of our rabbits is newspaper and hay....and that is what we use in the litter boxes too. If we have a smelly rabbit....there is usually a medical problem. So here are a few things to look for too.

Unaltered rabbits will smell..both male and female. Males are worse and we have a corner where we can smell "boy bunny" as we have a couple that are not healthy enough to neuter. Improper food, too many pellets/proteins/carbs or low quality pellets can cause a smell. If a rabbit produces too many cecels due to this....or is in a position where it can't eat it's cecals....possibly with a wire bottom case or it's maybe a little overweight or even an older rabbit that has restricted mobility...that could lead to a smell. A strong fecal odor that is not cecals could be caused by parasites. Coccidia has a very pronounced odor. One of our special needs rabbits smelled so bad that we could smell her from the far end of our house....she was heavily infested in hookworms and we had never seen them in a rabbit up until that point. A concentrated urine smell can be a urinary tract issue such as an infection or bladder sludge/stones....and it could also be the early signs of an EC infection as the spores are shed and inhibit the function of the kidneys.

Our experience has shown us that a healthy rabbit that has an environment that is kept reasonably clean usually does not smell unless there is an underlying problem. I think Spring also mentioned that. I would have no problem suggesting a physical by a vet. Most will prefer to do some tests. I will say that fecals are not totally accurate. Doesn't hurt to do one just to see what is in there...but many times it is cheaper just to treat for worms and we have never had any issues with the drugs used. A urinalysis is also a possibility....I would suggest a cytology of a urine sample just to take a microscopic look for bacteria and/or excessive crystals. To sum up here...I would go after the cause and not the effect.

Randy

 

[Bo B Bunny]

I agree that it can be a medical condition. I would check for those things as well as the things that I said because I think ANY rabbit who is peeing on a blanket or floor and things like that is going to smell after a couple of days if that's not found.

As soon as I found where Bo was peeing in his new cage - and fixed the problem with litterboxes - there is no longer bunnypee smell from him.

I agree on the unaltered thing. Tony is hard to keep "fresh" lol. He's not bad but just more noticeable. Same with Clover but she's not really bad at all. We dump her box every other day and she is fine.

Mary Ellen, I always worry about that too! LOL! I go around sniffing the house before people come over LOL!

Do you end up with tons of laundry like I do? I am always washing blankets and I do that in hot water, lots of laundry detergent and I use OxyClean with it and then if they are bad rewash them with a tiny bit of detergent and rinse them twice after that - I always rinse the bunny stuff twice and use a small amount of downey. I SWEAR! they sniff the clean blankies and do rolly flops on them LOL!

 

[Bunnicula]

Bo B Bunny wrote:

Mary Ellen, I always worry about that too! LOL! I go around sniffing the house before people come over LOL!

Do you end up with tons of laundry like I do? I am always washing blankets and I do that in hot water, lots of laundry detergent and I use OxyClean with it and then if they are bad rewash them with a tiny bit of detergent and rinse them twice after that - I always rinse the bunny stuff twice and use a small amount of downey. I SWEAR! they sniff the clean blankies and do rolly flops on them LOL!

I do more kitty & bunny laundry (and vacuuming and floor washing) than I do human laundry. Of course, there are more of them than us.

Good additional thoughts from Randy.

I was thinking more a "animally" general smell than a foul odor. There's a definite difference between the smell that means a need for clean-up and the one that says something isn't quite right. I've learned to detect that in our cats (breath that says tooth/gum issues, the skin smell that smacks of ketones, etc.). It's probably good to smell our bunnies just like we should do regular visual and hands-on checks for any signs of illness.

 

[naturestee]

IMO a healthy neutered bunny has a fresh, somewhat "powdery" smell to them. I don't know why I call it powdery it just seems to be the best way to describe it. Maybe slightly like baby powder? I only notice it when I have my nose buried in bunny fur.

Bunnies that have smelled bad to me (aside from just being intact) have had clogged scent glands, excess cecals, mushy fecals, lots of pee on their fur, or other problems. Intact bunnies seem to have stronger smelling poops, probably because they are using their scent glands on them more. Some intact bunnies also get slightly wet or matted fur under their chins where the scent glands are which probably adds to the scent problem. I've also noticed that rabbits fed cruddy food don't have the nice smell to them. I noticed that with both Fey and Sprite and a new intake at the shelter yesterday. They just lack that "clean bunny" smell even if they look clean. And unbonded bunnies are more likely to scent their poops too, even if they are neutered.

Oh, and wood pellet litter is definately a godsend! I used to use Carefresh and it had this odd smell when it was wet with pee. And newspaper is a toy for them, LOL!

 

[tamnjo]

I use newspaper as bedding. Which probably doesnt help much. In their litter box I use newspaper and hay. They don't stink it's just they don't smell good either:brownbunny

 

[Spring]

I would try using compressed wood pellets, it will help so much if you are just using newspaper! It's fairly cheap too, and you can find themin feed stores .

 

[Bo B Bunny]

here I thought I was the only one who buried her face in her bunner's fur!

I love my Bo and love to do that and he does smell sort of powdery - when he had problems with his tummy - he smelled kinda funky.

 

[ec]

i thought everyone smelled their buns' fur!

Not sure if I would say "powdery"; definitely "fresh," though.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

I love bunny fur!

Tony has more coarse hair but it's still nice. He has a really THICK fur too. When I do that to him he looks at me like "are you trying to groom me? cause you aren't doing it right!" LOL!

Clover isn't at all going to allow it. I get to kiss her on the head and that's about it.

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

I smell their fur, it's kind of a habit that I don't notice I do. My prof suggested that the first thing women do is smell a baby when they pick it up, so maybe it's like a motherly instinct that carries over? LOL.

I find newspaper amplifies the smell. I hate the smell of wet newspaper, so mix that in the urine smell and the fact that it sits wet, it makes for a smelly mess. Also, if the poos sit in urine, it makes the smell worse. I changed newspaper 2-3 times a day for my bunnies because I couldn't stand the smell. I eventually gave up and went to towels or pelleted wood bedding. I don't have a smell problem at all anymore and I can guarentee that the smell before was not due to illness and since it's been a problem with all bunnies so I can safely say it was the newspaper. I used to use shredded newspaper in their boxes but they liked to pee on it and that smell was so bad but if they pee on straw, the smell is not nearly as powerful.

 

[Bunnicula]

I currently use Carefresh, which does the job here. Of all the litters I've tried, that seems to be what Gingivere is most comfortable with. But I am curious what type of wood pellets some of you use. I would like to try some and see if it's even better. Do you use the recycled pine pellets?

 

[BratBunny]

We use Woody Pet and Yesterday's News For Rabbits.

 

[maherwoman]

I want to also add the suggestion of adding vanilla to the buns' water. It can either be natural or imitiation (honestly doesn't matter, as they will be getting such a small amount, and both work great), and I add 1cc per 32oz of water. It does WONDERS for cutting down on the ammonia in their urine!!

Also, to add what I use in their boxes...wood pellets (called wood pellet horse stall bedding) with loads of hay on top.

Also to add another note: when I had Fiver neutered recently, I put newspaper in his litterbox while he was healing...and WOW what a difference...it was so much smellier than using the wood pellet litter...so I really recommend checking around your area to see if you have a tack & feed place near you, so you can pick up a big ol' bag of wood pellet bedding! We get a 35lb bag for about $7.

Hugs!

Rosie*

 

[Bo B Bunny]

The vet wants Bo on carefresh. I can't stand that stuff - so stinky.... but she is going to allow him to be on woodypet topped with carefresh and hay.... *sigh* messy stuff me thinks!

 

[naturestee]

What about Woody Pet topped with plastic canvas for Bo? It would be easier on his feet as long as he doesn't eat it. *looks at every one of my buns except Oberon!*

Edit: Oh, and I use kiln-dried pine pellets. They don't have to be recycled, but many are made from waste from lumber mills so they are still environmentally friendly. The kiln-drying gets rid of the dangerous phenols, which are the reasons we're not supposed to use cedar or pine shavings. The brand I use is Eagle Valley ABM, although I buy Marth when I can't get that. Feed/farm store brands are the cheapest. Some are sold as horse stall bedding such as Equine Pine. Feline Pine is the expensive pet store version, mine costs $5 for a huge bag.

Best. Litter. Ever.