Is cedar bedding okay to use?

[Tailfeathers]

Quote:
I use RLE. Just make sure it is the "Food Grade". You mentioned that you got it in a clear bag with a handwritten label. My guess is that they are taking it from the RLE bag, rebagging it, and selling it to you for a higher cost than what you need to pay.

God Bless,

 

[Tailfeathers]

Quote:
No, you weren't born under a lucky star but rather just experienced what you should have. All the other stuff about it being toxic and other stuff is hogwash. It doesn't matter if it's ingested or breathed. It doesn't do any harm to adults or chicks. As I have said many times, I have cedar in the litter of my brooders - and I'm putting day old chicks on it.

People have been using cedar for eons. If it was really all that dangerous don't you think the EPA - which seemingly labels everything as being carcinogenic, poisonous, or some other way dangerous - would have required something be done about cedar a long time before now????

You'll see a fair amount of comments along the lines of, "Cedar bedding is not good for ANYONE. Not chicken, chicks, rabbits, nice, other small critters , or even dogs. Honestly I don't know why they even sell it." However, you'll also notice that there is never a following factual, documented, evidenciary reference behind those statements. I've researched this extensively and as far as I can tell that is because there isn't any.

In fact, all the evidence I've seen and experienced proves just the opposite. So use it or don't use it. It's up to you but as you can see from Sally, myself, and others, we use it and don't have ANY problems.

God Bless,

 

[Akane]

Documented proof is easy to get. Just go looking. There are plenty of studies and links to studies on sites that talk about it. Go call up any research facility and ask why they don't use cedar and many don't even use pine. The effects of the toxins impact the results of what they are testing. Ask anyone who's had a pet in a confined area with lots of cedar what happens. I've seen a guinea pig nearly die from it before being moved to a cage without cedar. They'll drink more water in an attempt to clean the toxins from their system, get gunked up eyes and noses, eventually start coughing, and if you don't catch it by then become inactive with labored breathing. Ask horse stables that have experienced what happens when they use all cedar in their stalls. It's not pretty and can kill a horse that's stalled alot. Much like black walnut shavings. It's been proven again and again and again that cedar is toxic. The amounts coming off it have been measured. The effects have been measured. It's even been shown to harm humans. I'm just freaking tired of dragging up all the studies myself. Go do some actual research before you claim it's safe and there's no proof.

 

[Tailfeathers]

Well, if document proof is so easy to get, you should have no problem posting the links to it here.

As far as asking anyone what happens, I have already told you. Plenty others on BYC have too.

You can say "again and again and again" all you want but there is NO proof! It's real easy to say you're tired of dragging up all the studies yourself. I would have thought by now you'd have them memorized.

And btw, I HAVE gone looking and I have found NOTHING! The ONLY, SINGLE, ISOLATED thing I have EVER come across was ONE site that was an Animal-Rights activist site that pointed to ONE study and even the study itself said there was NO concrete evidence that cedar was harmful - especially in small, everyday quantities and use. So I can claim there is no proof.

God Bless,

 

[ladycrotalus]

Googled "Cedar Toxicity" these came up

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2926083
http://www.ratfanclub.org/litters.html
http://www.trifl.org/cedar.shtml
http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Is_Eastern_red_cedar_toxic.html
http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/guineapigs/a/woodshavings.htm
http://www.ratsrule.com/cedar.html
http://www.anapsid.org/cedar.html
http://www.anapsid.org/cedar2.html
http://www.rabbit.org/care/shavings.html
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/rabbits/41936
http://www.aracnet.com/~seagull/faq/whynotcedar.html
http://www.afrma.org/rminfo2a.htm

I honestly dont see why people need to tempt fate. If there are numerous reports of animals getting sick and dying from being on cedar, why continue to keep animals on it? If something is strong smelling as cedar, think about if you would like to live on it 24/7.

 

[ravencreek]

I have also been using cedar for all my animals....And so have my parents and grandparents,neighbors and friends. I can't say I have ever lost a hamster(even had a female give birth and raise babies in it), rabbit or any other critter to cedar. Its a heck of alot cheaper(we have to do things cheap) than pine and it keeps the bugs away. I have it in my coop just not in the nest boxes. I keep straw in those.

 

[Tailfeathers]

Many of those links are the same ones that others on here have posted before. It would do anyone well to actually read all of what they write and take into consideration who is writing them and what they are associated with.

Then to remain fair and balanced try Googling for the opposite (i.e cedar+"not toxic") and you'll see there are plenty of opposing points of view. It's been several months since I took the time to list a bunch of links of my own that I found on the internet. If you want, you can do a search on here for cedar and me as the Author and you'll probably find it.

In that post I even quoted several statements from I'm pretty sure some of those same links you listed that proved their claims were just conclusions they had drawn based on presuppositions. If memory serves me correctly it was the Rat Fan Club site. And then of course there is the classic line that I just love that says even though there are no outward signs of problems, it's still there but you would need to have an indepth toxicological examination of the internal organs to see it. Yeah right! Like we are going to do that.

Now we have a third person who has given first hand account of the non-affects of cedar on their animals - including a long line of precedence with other family members and neighbors. Dare I think that will make any more difference?

Let me see if I can put an end to this debate (although I seriously doubt it) by a simple pointing back to what I said about the EPA in my first reply. Are we to believe that the EPA who now regulates arsenic in the water to 10ppb (parts per billion) when for years and years and years it was 50ppb, would let such a "toxic" material to be used in such a haphazardly way as to let anyone under the sun buy it from the shelf and use it however they choose? When everything under the sun is regulated to death? When everything under the sun has to have a warning label on it IF it has the SLIGHTEST possibility of doing harm????? When we have to have every single ingredient with the exact amount of that ingredient listed on whatever we buy? And yet, any of us can walk into a store, buy however much cedar we want, and use it however we wish? Oh yeah, it's bound to be really toxic!

People were drinking the water with arsenic levels at 50ppb for decades, perhaps centuries, and yet the American lifespan kept getting longer. Somehow I think we'll all be around just as long as ever even though we are coming into contact with cedar. And I think our birds will too.

If I thought for a second that I could end all this hoopla over cedar by doing an experiment, I would put FRESH 100% cedar shavings in with my Day-olds, in the coop, and in the nesting boxes and then report the findings. But somebody would still find a way to say, "Well, the damage is there you just can't see it." Or, you just didn't do this or that right or long enough or whatever.

Chicken Little thought the sky was falling in but that didn't make it so. Animal-Rights whackos think animals should have lawyers and the same rights as humans. But that don't make it so. Folks have known for a long, long time that cedar is a natural insectide (it keeps the bugs away) and that it has a smell that stays for a long time but to say it's toxic - nope, that just don't make it so.

And with that, I think this dead horse has been beat enough.

God Bless,