Smelly Rabbits

Advertise with us
shop deals on amazon
Love your rabbit
Shop deals on ebay
Rabbits Online Forum

Help Support Rabbits Online Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
G

GinChinSing

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2012
Messages
51
Reaction score
0
Location
Denver, Colorado, USA
My living situation has changed and I am now staying with a friend of my grandmother's. All of my animals are in a small room of about 10x11 feet. I now have four rabbits (2 male, 2 female). They are in C&C/NIC cages with towels and fleece bedding. All but one rabbit use a litter box. One of the males pees on his towels, which I change daily. I also change the litter boxes daily.

My "roommate" is upset with me because the rabbits smell apparently. I don't smell anything but rabbit and hay. I've tried explaining to her that all animals will smell a little. There isn't much I can do about it. She wants me to find a solution to the "smelly beasts".

Does anyone have an idea on what I can do to help limit the rabbit smell? I can't keep a window open because it's winter and she has an alarm system that she sets at night. I've heard that coffee ground absorb smell. Do you think this will work?
 
Oh my goodness. People are so fussy sometimes. I have 5 bunnies living in my room right now and do you see me complaining? Grr... Anyway, you might want to ask her what she is smelling. It could just be that the hay is dusty. Maybe try an air-freshener in the room. Or you could try thoroughly washing out the litterbox twice daily. That's why my room is my space and my space only. I feel a little "cage-aggressive" myself lol.
 
Can you keep the hay in a sealed container? My roommate always comes in and goes "it smells like hay in here!". Thankfully, I can counter it with "well your room smells like bird crap!"
But if your roommate doesn't have a pet....

Vinegar helps to take away the smell, too. Apple cider vinegar (ahh, the wonder liquid).
 
The hay is outside in closed containers. It's the hay in the cages that she's smelling. Every day I change out the towels and clean out the litter boxes. I also wash the water bottles. Every day I brush the rabbits with a damp brush to pick up loose hair and I clean the cages with vinegar. I've always used vinegar to clean animal stuff because it's safe. As a matter of fact, I've discovered Little Bun likes to drink it. Silly rabbit.

The only thing I can honestly smell is the natural rabbit smell and the hay in their cages. I don't even leave the trash or "dirty" bedding in the house because she won't let me wash it in her washer. I have to hand wash the towels and fleece outside. I honestly think the rabbit cages are cleaner than the rest of the house.
 
Frankly, she sounds like a nutjob roommate. I'd say your "smelly beasts" are as clean as can be! Q-tip says you can come over here and clean her cage ANY TIME!
 
You could try buying an air purifier, like at walmart. I've heard other people say they seem to work well.
 
Or change the type of hay. We used to use timothy but now have orchard grass--much better, less dustiness, and my allergies are way less. Or, wack her on the head and tell her to stop being an fluffybunnybottom. That last part was an animal that brays in the barnyard but I can't use the name here as it gets edited. We also have several purifiers thru out our house and they work exceptionally well.
 
yeah, sounds like the roommate is a bit controlling - your cleaning schedule is darn impressive and you're doing everything reasonable to keep the smell down while still feeding them a proper hay-based diet.
 
Well, I'm a complete neat freak so when people complain about smell I understand. I think 4 rabbits in a 10x11 room will smell a little. No matter how much cleaning.

For the rabbits that are litter trained, what litter are you using?

For the rabbit that pees on the blankets and towels, I would say cleaning those once a day isn't enough. I bet getting them out as soon as possible will help with the smell. My two are totally litter trained and I scoop out the pee from their boxes 2-3 times everyday. Doing it just once a day wouldn't suffice for my analness with smell ;) hehe

How long are you staying with this friend of your grandmothers? Are you paying rent or just staying there temporarily? Did she know you had 4 rabbits when you moved in?
 
She is a bit controlling. Yesterday I told her I had to go to the store to buy stuff I've needed all week and she told me no. Why? Because she was tired of seeing boxes in her house and wants me to finish unpacking. I understand not wanting to see boxes, but I can only put so much in a small room and half of another. I'm waiting for my mother to be able to take me to my storage unit so I can put the boxes in there.

I'm out of litter for the litter boxes at this point, so I'm just using hay, which sucks. That was one of the things I wanted to get today (hour long bus ride to the nearest pet store and another back). I know hay is about as absorbent as plastic and it's not helping the smell. I was using Yesterday's News for litter but Little Bun thinks it's food. I was thinking about making my own version of Carefresh out of paper bags you bring your groceries home in, though I'm sure it will take a lot of paper bags.

The bun that uses towels is not fixed. I was supposed to get all the buns fixed for the move, but something came up and the money had to be used for other, more urgent, things. He's slated for the snip here in December instead. I don't have enough towels to change them more than once a day. If I had access to a dryer, then it wouldn't be a problem, but heaven help me if I try to use her's.

This is a temporary situation for up to three months until I get on my feet again. It's a long story but the short version is that my landlord lost ownership of the apartment I was living in and I didn't have the money to move into another place for roughly the same price. Rent has gone up and I'll need closer to $900 for rent every month instead of the $750 I was paying for my two bedroom. I've been looking for another two bedroom of at least 950 square feet for less than $1000 a month because that's what I had before. It was a tight fit, but doable. Of course, if I can find a house or a three bedroom of 1000+ square feet near the bus line in a good neighborhood for less than $1100 a month, I'll jump on it. It's a hard find. Lol
 
Well I'm just a tell it like it is honest person. So here's what I think.

If you can't afford your own place, and you are relying on this friend of your grandmothers to help you out, then it is her house and her rules.

If she wants you to finish unpacking because she doesn't like the boxes, it's her right to ask that. It's her house.

If it takes an hour to get to the nearest pet store and back, then that's what you need to do. Like you said, hay doesn't absorb at all so that is no doubt the contributing factor to smell. I think you need to go get litter.

If you don't have enough towels then go get more. They sell towels at Dollar Stores for a buck.

Listen, I'm just trying to be honest here. This woman is not your equal roommate. She is helping you out in a time of financial need. So she has the right to make the rules and only her. What I hear is alot of reasoning as to why nothing is your fault.

I wish you the best in finding a place of your own as well. And I'm very sorry to hear of your apartment troubles.....but I wanted to give a clear and honest opinion only to help you here...not just tell you want you want to hear.
 
Try using puppy training pads instead of towels. I find towels retain urine smell and it gets unpleasant really quickly.

Since I started using the puppy training pads, I don't smell any urine at all.

You can probably find them in the pet section of the dollar store. That's where I get mine.
 
I second the pee pee pads. The pee smell doesn't come out of towels even after they've been washed, especially if you're having to hand wash your towels.
I would also try to find something other than a towel if you want cushion, maybe some fleece or something. I think buns tend to pee more on towels than anything, I know mine does. But she doesn't pee on the velvet or fleece blankets she has.

Since you're having to go to the pet store on the bus, you could also stop at the laundromat and wash your blankets. I would try to do that like once a week at least that way you can wash them thoroughly. I would use a bit of bleach or vinegar to try to get the smell out. I bleach all my animals blankets/beds. (I know you're probably busy and its probably hard to get around on the bus, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do)
 
I do also use fleece usually but I think it accidentally went to the storage unit. I'm going to look for it today. I've been washing the towels in 75/25 vinegar/water. I just looked up the closest laundry mat. It's a 20 minute walk, though if I didn't value my life, I could make it a five minute walk by cutting through the train yard. Lol.

As for that pet store, I'm really disappointed in it. I went up there to look both for bedding and ghost shrimp (for my turtles). They were out of Yesterday's News and they only get 5 ghost shrimp in a week. They did have a ton of wood based bedding though. I passed on it. I also asked management if they would special order 150 ghost shrimp a month for me and they said no. It's about $60 worth of shrimp a month. Not a lot, but still some money. I had to buy minnows for my turtles instead and I wasn't happy. The turtles were though. Lol

On another forum that I visit (model kits), I asked about the best way to store model kits for the long term. They suggested getting the end rolls from newspaper companies. I would imagine that this would be just fine to make my own bedding out of as well, yes?
 
whitelop wrote:
I second the pee pee pads. The pee smell doesn't come out of towels even after they've been washed, especially if you're having to hand wash your towels.
Click to expand...


If you wash the towels in hot water, with vinegar and plenty of detergent, and double rinse, it seems to get the pee smell out. Nature's Miracle also gets pee smells out really well too.
 
I wonder if Walmart sells by the bolt. I bought a bolt from Hancock Fabrics a few years ago and didn't realize until after I got home that they didn't give me the sale price. I wasn't happy, but the fleece has come in handy in so many ways. It's got to be the best fabric in the world.

Tomorrow I'm contacting my local news paper about the end rolls. I did have a laundromat question though. Do you think they would mind having stinky rabbit pee fabric in their washers and dryers?
 
They probably wouldn't mind. hahah. I used to wash my dog beds at the laundromat, my weinie dog would pee in her bed and I washed them there. People wash their baby clothes in there, babies leak pee and poop and vomit onto their clothes all the time.
So theres no difference. :p
Throw some bleach in there and it will be fine!
Chances are they won't know.
 
You may not want to use bleach. It isn't good with synthetics like fleece. I have baby bunnies that pee on everything and I've found if you wash it in hot water and add some vinegar (at least a cup) along with the detergent, to the wash, it gets the pee smell out really well.

If your walmart has a craft fabric section, then they probably do have fleece. Mine has a thin fleece for $3/yd, and a thicker softer fleece for $4/yd. I like the thicker fleece myself.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top