Are PINE Shavings really bad for ALL rabbits?

[Pugzy]

I have a Flemish Giant/Chinchilla Rabbit mix that I adopted as a baby in December 2012. He's now a house rabbit and roams around freely and hops in his HUGE litter box only to eat and he very seldom stays in it (although he does rest in there once in awhile).

Now I've heard bad things about pine shavings so I stopped using it, especially because he eats in his litter box. But pine shavings is so much cheaper than everything else and financially, I'm sort of struggling. But I've heard bad things about it. Do you think the rules about avoiding pine shavings ONLY apply to rabbits that live in their cages?

 

[DaddyBird]

I have only heard that cedar shavings are bad for rabbits due to the fumes, not pine. I think aspen is preferred due to lower dust but I have never heard of anybody having issues with pine.

 

[llmjdd]

I have a Flemish Giant/Chinchilla Rabbit mix that I adopted as a baby in December 2012. He's now a house rabbit and roams around freely and hops in his HUGE litter box only to eat and he very seldom stays in it (although he does rest in there once in awhile).

Now I've heard bad things about pine shavings so I stopped using it, especially because he eats in his litter box. But pine shavings is so much cheaper than everything else and financially, I'm sort of struggling. But I've heard bad things about it. Do you think the rules about avoiding pine shavings ONLY apply to rabbits that live in their cages?

Hi Pugzy Any type of wood shavings in general are pretty bad for all rabbits. The reason being they interfere with their already poor respitory system. I changed many years ago from shavings to wood pellets and the difference is amazing. Also it is so so so much easier to clean out as the wood pellets absorb all the liquid and the poops are easy to clean anyway!!! Wood pellets are generally expensive from pet stores as they are small quantity. But I'd recommend you try it out and see if you like them. You can then buy easily in bulk where they can be as cheap as 60p (I'm in the UK so it might vary wherever you are) per bag. One thing I'm currently trying to find out is if cat wood pellets are suitable as they are often cheaper as more cats are a more popular pet. I see no reason they wouldn't be suitable but due to how awful clay cat litter is for rabbits, I'm going to fully check it out first. Good luck!

 

[DaddyBird]

If you want to go the wood pellet route, you can get those at a farm store sold as horse bedding. They will be a lot cheaper than the pet store.

 

[llmjdd]

If you want to go the wood pellet route, you can get those at a farm store sold as horse bedding. They will be a lot cheaper than the pet store.

This is a great idea!

Another route to obtain them cheaper is via companies that produce and sell them for heating systems - similar to oil fired systems. Not sure how available that would be wherever you are but it is certainly the cheapest way here in scotland!!

 

[DaddyBird]

If you have a TSC near you, they sell both the bedding and the wood pellets for stoves.