i have feline pine and it stinks up my whole room. when he pees the strongest odor of pine stinks up my whole room. i am switching over YN.

I can smell ammonia pretty strongly with my cardboard strips once they have been peed on. I try to keep the layer pretty thin and change it often.

I do believe YN is the best in odor control because they infused the litter with an ingredient that eliminates odor on contact. I wonder what that ingredient is. Does anyone know?

Neigey really likes the shredded litter:

 

awww he does LOVE it lol. he is so cute! i like how u have it all set up with the hay and everything. is it just an old cage? is that the only litter box u have to use? prob way better w/ 4 bunnies.

charlie loves to pee on cardboard. anytime we have a box or a strip he would pee on it lol.

equine fresh has been the best as far as odor control for me so far. it only smells strong of pine when i first put it in the litter box. after that i dont smell anything. i also love that i can use enough to barely cover the bottom of the pan.

the yn just says powerful odor blocking pellets. i couldn't find any ingredients.

so far the cardboard is a good oder control then?

The cardboard ISN'T. Ammonia smell is far far worse than the pine smell you've got mocha.

I love Neigey, he's awesome. Sitting in the hay rack... lol. <3 his binkies!

Kim, I suppose the odor control ingredient in YN is a secret. LOL.
--Yes, I now only have this cage for litter for my 4. I started out with four litter boxes and then gradually decreased as they accepted Neigey more and more.

mocha, no, the cardboard is bad for odor control. I have used wood stove pellets in the past and even they did more for keeping the stink down. The smell is a definite draw-back of the cardboard strips.

Petzy, I don't have a bag of YN around anymore and I'm trying to research online, but I can't find a darn thing about ingredients other than newspaper.

it's a secret...
I will email the co.

--no secrets: no odor controlling ingredients in YN rabbit litter. They said it is just the density of the pelleted reclaimed wood fibers that are absorbing the smells. Reclaimed wood fibers are from newspaper, magazines, kids' homework etc. This might explain why someone on here posted seeing "pieces of plastic" in it. The paper gets stripped of inks and such as much as possible, though.

Plain cardboard is not as dense obviously as pelleted wood fibers which is why I am getting some odor with my cardboard strips..

Tell them that Neigey ate an entire 10lb bag so you need to know every ingredient they use.

well, Elrohwen, Neigey gets real rabbit food not paper pellets in his bowl (like some rabbits, for xmas)

Hahaha. Some rabbits aren't as lucky as Neigey and have to put up with a breakfast of recycled newspaper (and secret ingredients) every once in a while.

OK. My compromise is to continue making the shredded cardboard litter but to keep the ammonia smell contained by partially covering their littercage. I don't think it will be a problem since there isn't a lot of dust in the strips.

 

Sorry I haven't checked back on this thread until I saw it linked in another thread.

The rescue didn't discontinue using the cardboard, we were given cardboard litter to try it and see how well it worked for us. We just haven't gone out to buy any more. They are huge squares and not comfy on the bunny feet though, so we have to mix it with carefresh.

I very rarely notice a smell with Equine Fresh. All of my animals are in one small room and I can only smell them if I'm standing right over the litter box on box cleaning day. I'd say that's pretty darn good odor control. :0)

Oye! I need to get on this! So sorry for my delay. The cups full of the litters are still sitting in my kitchen waiting for this very simple experiment. Geesh! My husband thought of a good idea to test the odor as well - add the same amount of garlic to each and see which one is more garlicy after.

So we'll try to do this Saturday!

Garlic? I think I prefer ammonia! -- It is fitting, though, especially since intact rabbits' manure has an onion scent to it.

I found out much of the ammonia that I was able to smell came from the hay that gets soggy in between the cardboard strips.

I was able to go 5 days without changing my quartet's littercage. The cover definitely keeps the barn odor from any peed-up hay in. I have also noticed that my rabbits potty habits have improved, possibly because of the new litter. I can't say. I'm just happy to have less clean-up work.

I took a photo to show that the cage bottom under the strips stayed completely dry even after 5 days and 4 rabbits using it.

 

Petzy what is ammonia?

It is in urine, has a pungent odor. It becomes a gas quickly hence the strong smell. If you let your rabbit pee on hay it becomes noticeable right away.

Posted By BinkyBunny on 02/19/2010 09:03 PM
Oye! I need to get on this! So sorry for my delay. The cups full of the litters are still sitting in my kitchen waiting for this very simple experiment. Geesh! My husband thought of a good idea to test the odor as well - add the same amount of garlic to each and see which one is more garlicy after.

So we'll try to do this Saturday!

 

I am imagining cups of litter sitting in your kitchen... I worry you might accidentally cook with it, LOL.

I know you run a busy site, BB, but did you do the stink test yet?

I stuck with my strips of corrugated cardboard. It turns out to be very sustainable.

I got a sample bag of the Eco Animal Bedding (basically cardboard squares). The chips are quite thin cardboard. I'm not real convinced with it...maybe it's just the smell of wet cardboard I don't like. One thing I did do was put some vinegar in a tray in the room as an odour absorber. You could use a wide shallow bowl. I think this really works!

Can you photograph the eco animal bedding up close/ I am surprised it is thin. Corrugated cardboard is rather thick.
I don't have any problems with smell as I discard the layer of hay often that inevitably falls on top of the strips. But I don't mind cardboard scent!

Sure.  I might even to the absorbancy test too. May as well.

I meant to add this pic earlier. I thought might inspire you to make a larger version. Now, I don't think rabbits would use a wheel so maybe you could use a manual  treadmill & the dogs to power the shredder...

Eco Animal Bedding. I'd say they are on average 1/2 inch square pieces. This isn't Ecobale company by the way.

I'm new and I don't even have a rabbit   .................... but I was wondering if anyone had ever used DE (diatomaceous earth) to control odor in the litter boxes.  I use it in my chickens' coop and it really works!  I just sprinkle a little bit on top of their wood shavings.  This is the company that I buy it from and they have a lot of info about DE.  www.dirtworks.net/Diatomaceous-Earth.html

It MUST be FOOD GRADE though, in case they eat it.

I am familiar with DE but I have to wonder what food grade DE is. Diatomaceous earth as a substance is a sedimentary rock product. Any rock, no matter how finely ground, isn't digestible for rabbits and can cause blockage in a rabbit's GI tract, especially if sprinkled on regular, edible litters such as papar-based ones or shavings. I do agree that it controls odor well, but it should only ever be used under a grated litterbox where a rabbit cannot reach it.

Posted By jerseygirl on 03/06/2010 05:45 PM

 

I meant to add this pic earlier. I thought might inspire you to make a larger version. Now, I don't think rabbits would use a wheel so maybe you could use a manual  treadmill & the dogs to power the shredder...

This is getting to be very David Suzuki... however, your idea is adding fuel to the fire around the eco footprint of pets. --I feel if only I could build this treadmill for my dogs to power a shredder to produce litter for my rabbits out of used cardboard, that I can then compost and use as fertilizer to grow grass for the rabbits to eat...

wow. Jersey, you and I together might solve global warming

LOL!

 

Posted By jerseygirl on 03/07/2010 11:44 PM

Eco Animal Bedding. I'd say they are on average 1/2 inch square pieces. This isn't Ecobale company by the way.

 

 

These are way large pieces. No wonder absorbency was poor. It is the inside corrugated part that has the ability to hold liquids.

wow. Jersey, you and I together might solve global warming

*snort* haha...I'm holding my breath & doing my bit.

Food grade DE is sourced from land water deposits instead of salt water ones. It's commonly used in pet foods I think. I'll point Kafrn this way as she knows a bit about it.

They use it for dogs to control parasites, even internally, but dogs are so different from rabbits. I would like to ask a vet if ingestested food grade DE really would be dangerous for rabbits. It is heavy fiberless and turns sludgy once wet. I just wouldn't want that in my rabbits' gut, you know.

I found this litter comparison table in the HRS articles www.rabbit.org/journal/1/liver-disease.html

LITTER COMPARISONS

	DUST	ABSORPTION	HEALTH HAZARDS	DISPOSAL
Paper Pulp	Low	Good	None observed	Can be flushed, bagged or composted
Dry Grass Pellets	Low	Good	None observed	Can be flushed, bagged or composted
Generic Clay	High	Good	Irritating to eyes and respiratory tract	Heavy. Unsuitable for garden compost
Dustless Clay	Low	Good	Irritating to GI tract if swallowed	Heavy. Unsuitable for garden compost
Shredded Paper	Low	Fair	Excessive ingestion may cause blockage	Can be bagged for disposal service
Corn Cob	Medium	Fair	Fungal spores may cause mold, can cause fatal blockages if ingested	Can be composted for garden
Straw	High	Poor	None (unless allowed to mold)	Bulky but light. Can be composted
Pine Shavings	High	Good	Phenols may cause liver damage	Can be composted
Cedar Chips	Medium	Fair	Phenols may cause liver damage	Use as mulch around trees & shrubs
Chemical Sand	Medium	Good	Causes deadly blockages in GI tract when ingested.	Can be flushed
Peat Moss	Medium	Fair	High in nitrogen (swallowing unlikely)	Can be added directly to garden soil
Compressed sawdust pellets	Low	Good to Excellent	None observed.	Can be bagged or composted.
Silica-gel litters	Medium	Good	Toxic if eaten; must be placed where rabbits can't eat.	Must be bagged for disposal service.
Pectin-based litters	low	Good	will cause GI problems or obesity if eaten to excess. Will not holddown bacterial growth.	Can be bagged or composted.
oat-hull litters	low	good	will cause obesity of eaten to excess. Will not hold down bacterialgrowth.	Can be bagged or composted.

*Vesell, E.S. (1967) Induction of Drug-Metabolizing Enzymes in Liver Microsomes of Mice and Rats by softwood bedding. Science. 157, 1058