Smelly Bunny - Help Please

Hello,

we have a lovely white lop-eared dwarf rabbit called Cairo. He shares our house with us and has his own litter tray. The problem is, his tray gets very smelly very quickly and the only litter we've found that counteracts this is made from woodchips and is very expensive. He won't sit on a lot of odour remover cat-litters either, and sometimes he eats the litter, so we have to watch the chemicals.

We would like to use something cheaper and more environmentally friendly, like shredded newspaper, but it doesn't mask/remove the smell.

Anyone got any good tips?

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Comments

  • Hazel2000
    Hazel2000 Posts: 16 Forumite
    Hi there I have a dwarf rabbit that stays in the house too! I have the same prob Bugs (original eh!) uses a litter tray also, what i do is put down a couple of sheets of newspaper then a really thin layer of chippings then a couple of layers of newspaper again. I empty each day and give tray a rinse out when needed. As for the smell i find cleaning each day is the best. Does Cairo eat at your wallpaper and carpet?

    Hazel x
  • d.o.o.g
    d.o.o.g Posts: 342 Forumite
    I've not seen him eat wallpaper, but he loves our antique chairs :eek: and my shoes :mad:.

    Look at that, I gave you your first thank you :j
  • Lucie_2
    Lucie_2 Posts: 1,482
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    Awwwww, you're making me want a new bunny, my poor Millie died last October (but she was nearly 6). She was a wire/cable chewer & we had to devise many ingenious ways of stopping her getting around the back of the TV!
    I've had male & female bunnies & the female didn't smell as much as the male, so maybe it's a gender thing. Regular changing of the sawdust in the litter tray was the only thing to get rid of the smell. If you line it with newspaper it makes it easier to keep clean.
    I always used to compost the used straw/sawdust from her litter tray & hutch too.
  • tru
    tru Posts: 9,138
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    Males are definitely smellier than females :D

    We buy wood based cat litter for our bunnies (actually it's bunny, the male died a couple of months ago :sad: ), it's the best thing IMO.

    I can't use newspaper - it gets chewed up in minutes :rolleyes:

    We've got chewed carpets, wallpaper and wires lol.
    Bulletproof
  • patchwork_cat
    patchwork_cat Posts: 5,874 Forumite
    Is it the wood pellet ones that you use? I think that pets at home do big bags quite reasonably. Have you tried World's best Cat litter - the extra strength. It is expensive, but is clump forming, so you just remove solid bits - might be a problem if rabbit poos a lot - one of ours always has lots of poos and the other doesn't!
  • culpepper
    culpepper Posts: 4,076 Forumite
    How about sawdust? We used to get some lovely smelling sawdust for the kids gerbilariums . The pet shops do that in very big bags.
  • bulchy
    bulchy Posts: 955
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    I dont know anything about bunnies, but was wondering if they are like cats, you know how they say an entire cats wee smells stronger than a castrated one? Would this be the same for bunnies? Maybe it would be worth investigating, sorry if I'm wrong, was just a thought.
    Sue
  • alec_eiffel
    alec_eiffel Posts: 1,304 Forumite
    We have a free range lagomorph (standard rex) - she doesn't have a cage or any of that malarky. In her litter tray we put a thin layer of bicarb of soda followed by sawdust which is pretty cheap especially if you can get a huge sack of it. Emptied everyday keeps the smell down.

    We tried a layer of newspaper in the tray too but she just kept pulling at it so she could chew it - rather messy!

    Yes we have chewed everything - carpets, chairs, clothing, wires etc. Bless.
  • bootman
    bootman Posts: 1,985
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    Have you trie Auboise?

    Its made from hemp core if I remember correctly. I buy a huge bale from a local farm shop. It's real use I think is for horses stables. It costs me £6.95 and lasts forever.

    I have found that it eliminates the smell really well.
  • d.o.o.g
    d.o.o.g Posts: 342 Forumite
    Thanks for all the replies.

    Cario is neutered so that's not the problem ;) It'll prolongs his life by up to six months though apparently.

    Newspaper seems a good plan, but I suspect he'd pull it out of the tray.

    I like the idea of sawdust and bicarb though, that could be a lot cheaper. I'll look at the Auboise too.
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