woodshavings vs hay???

last weekend we had a problem with Mileys bottom, it was constantly damp (see thread) i phoned the vets on Monday and we couldn't get an appt till today i was pretty sure that it was due to her sitting in her litter tray to eat/drink & poop, so over double the amount of time she would spend in her litter tray compared to when she was outdoors, but i booked a vets appt just to be sure. we then realised that it started to occur when we changed the litter from woodhsavings to hay after seeing this thread (i'm ashamed to say i didn't realise woodshavings are bad for buns until reading it on here you see them using it in p@h and advertised all the time with bunnies, my friends/family use it all the time too for their buns ) so despite this, to see if it made a difference, we swapped back to woodshavings... just to see if it made a difference, and it did!!! she's completely dry again!!! the hay obviously doesn't obsorb the urine casuing her to absorb it herself and get a damp bottom! so my question is...

which do you use in their litter trays and why, woodshavings or hay?

and..

is there a healthy woodshavings i could buy that is safe for bunnies for me to use in her litter tray? (i really don't want her getting respiratory infections!! )

:wave:

I use newspaper and hay. No probs.

PS I do clean them out every day, though, so that's perhaps why a thick layer of newspaper under the hay works for me.

I use Auboise underneath the hay, its highly absorbant and much better for buns than woodshavings :thumb:
I buy it from a local farm shop, just under £8 for a huuuge sack which last for ages Plus I think it smells lovely and fresh

hmm i did use newspaper underneath the hay, and i was cleaning her tray out twice a day, very strange how yours aren't affected and mine was :? i will look into Auboise, thanks!! :thumb:

A lot of people also use Megazorb, depending on where you are based more places seem to sell it.

think some use wood based cat litter is that right?

Newspaper and a thick layer of hay which is topped up at least twice a day. The thick layer of hay means their feet never touch the wet newspaper.

Newspaper isn't very absorbent & neither is hay, so you probably do need something else to help mop up the liquid. We use Megazorb (comes in big sacks and is quite cheap) but lots of people use Carefresh or other non-clumping, wood based cat litter.

I use newspaper to make cleaning out easier, with aubiose on top to absorb the pee. It's really good, supposedly 4x more absorbent than wood shavings.

jackyshouse said:

think some use wood based cat litter is that right?

Click to expand...

this^^^

lots of people on here use megazorb and carefresh. I use wood pellets non-clumping cat litter from PAH as it seems to be a lot cheaper. i used to use woodshavings but have changed to the straw and litter and never looked back. the litter is much more absorbent than the shavings. newspaper also helps but i find that by bunnies chew it up if they can see it.

wow thanks for that lots of suggestions, i'll get hunting!