Need to avoid hay..

Poppy can't eat hay but I still use it in her litter tray. The problem is she keeps trying to eat it.. Now, as brilliant and amazing that is for me to see, it does her no good as we have had to pull out hay that has got stuck down her throat several times. We just did now and she became very distressed, what we pulled out must have been 20cm long

Basically she has 2 front top teeth and 2 back teeth and the positioning of them means it isn't possible for her to eat hay, it goes down, but she can't break it up so I'm worried something could happen in the night or when we aren't here to watch her.

What do you think I could use in her litter tray instead of a puppy pad and hay? It's a 32L storage box so deep, I could use wood based cat litter mixed with the last of my Fitch. Or maybe get a smaller litter tray and just use wood base pellets.. Not sure!

With the others it is hay hay and more hay, but I think it's dangerous for Poppy so want to find an alternative!

I couldn't figure out whether this should go in Housing or Diet or Health.. Maybe all of them :lol: So went with RC!

I use wood based cat litter pellets in mine, I find them very absorbent and no smells, you don't need to use a lot either

Zoobec said:

I use wood based cat litter pellets in mine, I find them very absorbent and no smells, you don't need to use a lot either

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I use the same, I also put a layer of newspaper / magazine under the litter.

I'd go for paper based or wood based cat litter.

Have you tried readi grass? It's chopped so a lot shorter than hay about 2" max per piece. Another thing to look at would be chaff (horse feed) which is finely chopped grass, straw or alfalfa (even finer than readigrass) eg http://www.simplesystemhorsefeeds.c...sp?id=33&name=GreenGold%3Csup%3E%AE%3C/sup%3E Might be possible for her to eat safely?

Tamsin said:

I'd go for paper based or wood based cat litter.

Have you tried readi grass? It's chopped so a lot shorter than hay about 2" max per piece. Another thing to look at would be chaff (horse feed) which is finely chopped grass, straw or alfalfa (even finer than readigrass) eg http://www.simplesystemhorsefeeds.c...sp?id=33&name=GreenGold%3Csup%3E%AE%3C/sup%3E Might be possible for her to eat safely?

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Yeah, she smells it but that's about it :roll: :lol: I've tried everything and she tries to eat it, but it goes in and comes straight back out. The only other thing she can eat apart from her pellets is a crunched up fibre first stick but even then she just licks it up. Even chopped up veg to the point where it looks like dusty bits doesn't get touched. She used to be able to eat a bit of carrot, broccoli and cauliflower but she had more teeth then. She does like licking banana off our fingers if we have one, everything bad for her :lol: I've seen horse chaff in the garden centre actually so will get some and try it

Thank you We're going to get her a shorter litter tray and just use wood based cat litter. It's just having to keep an eye on her to make sure she hasn't got any stuck down her throat, she just sits there 'eating'. I don't know if she could get a bit long enough down there to cause a bigger problem :?

I took Benjie off hay with his snuffles because of dust & Thumper couldn't digest it.
Both had a selection of tree leaves for fibre, & both were fine on them. They'd need to be crispy dry for a dental bunny so they "melt in the mouth". Hawthorn is the preference.

Aly&Poppy<3 said:

I've seen horse chaff in the garden centre actually so will get some and try it

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Browsing the net it looks like some are mixed with other things so do check the ingredients and make sure it's just grass etc. and doesn't have molasses or anything weird mixed in