Pine Allergy

[Darfi]

I'm a little bit perplexed at the claim my friend Carley made about Prince before I took him (2 years ago)about Prince being allergic to pine bedding. She said he sneezes alot and acts unusual so the pet store suggested paper based bedding for him. Of course to avoid risking any discomfort and poor health for my dear Prince, I buy the paper based litter. Here is where I get a bit perplexed; Isis's cage is directly beside Prince's cage and she uses the pine shavings in her cage. They also play together outside the cage and groom each other ALOT. Shouldn't the pine be affecting him at such close quarters, or would it only matter if I had it in his cage too?

What exactly defines an allergy for a rabbit? Could the behavior that Carley saw be just a small cold/sneezes/sniffling type thing?

I've had Prince for about 2 years now and Isis for half a year. No pine induced allergies have been seen in Prince since getting Isis.

 

[JimD]

There's a lot of controversy over the safe use of pine with rabbits.
The aromatic oils are what are considered harmful to their respiratory system.
Kiln drying processes during manufacturing can make the pine safe to use.

The only shavings that I have used in the past are kiln dried aspen.

 

[maherwoman]

Pine bedding has chemicals in it that cause respiratory problems in rabbits, so that's more than likely the problem here. I would (A) switch all your bunnies to a paper or wood pellet litter (which is kiln dried, which burns off those chemicals), and (B) take your bun that's sneezing in to be checked, to be sure they don't have a respiratory infection from the chemicals. (You can find all this in the Litter and Litter Boxes section of the Bunny 101 part of the forum, if you'd like to read more about it.)

It's okay...I know that pine shavings packages have a rabbit on the label...so it's just something new to learn.

Hugs to you and your buns!

Rosie*

Edited to add: To answer your question as to why Prince doesn't sneeze/have problems when the bedding is in another's cage is probably because he doesn't have nis nose directly in the chemicals that pine shavings have.

 

[undergunfire]

Agreed with Jim & Rosie. You need to get your baby off pine bedding. It may not seem like it (because you can't see it happening), but it really takes a toll on their respiratory tracts.

Kiln dried or not...I don't trust pine, or cedar. Pine makes my nose and eyes burn, I can't even imagine what it does to an animal after a year's time.

 

[~BunBuns~]

I used to use pine bedding and it affected me and bunbuns i started getting rashes on my arms were the bedding was and Bunbuns was sneezing ALOT. So ive switched to carefresh, its a bit pricey but it absorbs really well.

-April and Bunbuns

 

[PixieStixxxx]

You really should get your buns off pine shavings. They do contain oils that are harmful to their systems. I have all of mine either on carefresh or compressed wood pellets.

 

[Darfi]

Okay, I double checked the shavings I have been using for Isis, they are indeed kiln dried. I haven't put ANY pine or wood shavings in Prince's cage due to my friend telling me he is allergic to pine.

The perplexion I was having, to restate it, is not that he sneezes or anything....but that he DOESN"T sneeze or anything even though he is close to Isis and her cage all the time. I use CareFresh for Prince, it's a paper based kinda fluffy stuff. So, all is well here in the health department when it comes to bedding, I just wondered if maybe back then Prince might have had a reaction to pine or some other substance. Maybe the pine my friend was using wasn't kiln dried. Anyhoo, thanks everyone, i'm glad I checked the bag to see if it's kiln dried.I wouldn't have known that without RO!

 

[maherwoman]

Oh, wonderful news that it's kiln-dried, and that he's not sneezing. I think it would be fine, as kiln-drying takes out those harmful chemicals.

Good job, you!