Fitch, Auboise, Megazorb or another substrate, from those who have tried them?

Which litter have you tried that ticks the most boxes when covering these aspects:
1. Highly absorbent
2. Reducing odours
3. Is dust free
4. Won't get all over the place
5. Is economical and lasts well

My bun is litter trained house bun. We've tried several substrates but still trying to find "the one" that ticks all the boxes. She can do big pees and we don't like wet litter trays round here as that's not good for sorehocks... I change her litter daily but with some we've tried, twice daily looks almost necessary... I usually line the bottom with newspaper, then add the litter, then hay. I can't/won't do the newspaper and hay thing only. It would be too smelly and she has a bad habit every so often to dig/pull up and eat the urine soaked/non urine soaked newspaper...

What we've tried so far:

1. Sawdust (cheap, cheap, cheap) - bun was on this when we got her. We started introducing a new substrate almost immediately. (From having trawled the Web about sawdust and the danger of shavings that lie in the phenols from pine, treated pine is fine, Eg: wood pellets from pine. The 2 potential problems being liver and respiratory. The liver scare originated from the SF USA House Rabbit Society and isn't proved so far according to certain "scientific papers," but I hate sawdust anyway, it's way too messy and not worth respiratory risk to my mind...

2. Sophisticat Beauticat wood pellets (from £10, 30L) Absorbed really well; v good for reducing odour; lasted well; decent price from one store but hard to get near me and heavy to drag home; plus hard on the pawsies till it's been wee'd on!

3. Carefresh Litter Plus (reclaimed fibre, £8 approx, 7.5L - the one with multicoloured bits) Loved it, it's great for absorption and odours, nice and soft without falling apart, lasts very well, but still expensive as only comes in small expensive bags, doesn't fly everywhere.

4. Back2Nature (recycled paper pellets, about £11.50, 30L) Pretty much the worst absorbency so far; midway for absorbing odours though didn't smell itself and was very dust free. The pieces are soft however and don't fly everywhere.

5. Burgess Excel Bedding & Litter for Small Animals (straw pellets, approx around £4.50 upwards 8L or 4KG) about the same as the Sophisticat wood pellets. Same thing: hard pellets, absorbs well, good on odour control, hard on delicate pawsies. However more expensive, and bun loves to eat it. It does make her poops especially golden for that however...

6. Carefresh Natural (virgin wood pulp, brown stuff, big pack from £4+ for 14L; 60L £15+) bit of a smell and hardly dusty, but something there - smell...? dust...? Mid range absorbency, litter tray corner where bun does her wee's looks wet after a few hours. Better than B2N but not as good as any of the pellets, nor the Carefresh Litter Plus for Larger Species.


I'm now looking into the above choices which I've seen recommended on various sites for rabbits, small furries and horses. None are available locally so would be an online order with delivery costs, and I have limited storage space here.

Did see a recent recommendation on another thread here from a rescue for : http://www.probale.com/probed/, and was also quite taken by Hemcore though discovered it's been discontinued.

So which one is best to try next? :?

Has no-one here tried any of these litters?

Sawdust is a no-no.

Carefresh is megabucks for the amount you get through so I discount that (although it's a good litter).

Wood pellets are OK but very heavy when wet and not particularly stink-free if I remember rightly.

Hemcore is good but used to be impregnated with a scent of citronella. Not sure if that's any good for bunny respiratory tracts. Aubiose is an almost identical hemp-based bedding without any added scent and I used to use it for the piggies - it's a horse bedding.

Megazorb has always been my favourite BUT it can be very dusty and it tends to stick to bunny fur if you don't also cover it with hay.

I've just switched to Fitch bedding for the piggies and it's lovely stuff. It's a really soft paper bedding (bit like tea-bag paper), completely dust free, very absorbant, doesn't stick to fur and is and stink-free! A 20kg bale is about £20 including postage and a 10kg bale (which I have) was £14ish including postage. Size wise, I'd say the 10kg sack is about the size of half a bale of regular farm hay - maybe a little bit bigger as it's very 'square'.

So my recommendation is Fitch bedding :thumb:.

I like carefresh. I tried megazorb but found it had a funny smell and the small particles were more messy.

Care fresh is my litter of choice but i would go back to megazorb if I needed to for budget reasons.

Thanks Mackers. I'm keen to get peoples on here's opinions as all these horse beddings need to be ordered in big amounts. To spend £20 on any of them is still £20. I'd rather try a good one as I'm nowhere near a farm supplier. Sawdust, pellets and Carefresh, yes I totally agree. That's where I am with them also. Hemcore was discontinued but I researched citronella in the summer (it's good for keeping away flies.) In itself it is a safe plant and unrelated to the common plant it is thought to come from which is dangerous to buns.. gladioli or one of those garden flowers, i forget which now... Megazorb heard so many reports of bad smells, dusty... if any has bought any lately, it's be good to know if that still is the case. Fitch does seem like a front runner, though I haven't read many comparisons to Aubiose.

mabels mum said:

I like carefresh. I tried megazorb but found it had a funny smell and the small particles were more messy.

Care fresh is my litter of choice but i would go back to megazorb if I needed to for budget reasons.

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Which Carefresh are you using MabelsMum? I tried the multi coloured one ; lovely, but too expensive. The natural is not so good for smells and absorbency I found. Am using it currently. Hence wanted to try something that might be better when I order my next lot.

Aubiose is a slightly smaller 'chip' than the Hemcore was but the sack was the same size AND cheaper. Not sure if you can get that anywhere other than horse feed suppliers. I've never found Megazorb had a funny smell but I do agree that it can be dusty. My last 4 sacks, only bought a few months ago, have all been very dusty but I cover it with hay so don't find it a problem and the buns don't have any issues with it. Wouldn't want to use it unless it was contained by a litter tray though. If it was spread on the floor it would go everywhere :roll:. Aubiose is heavier and would stay put as I used to spread it all over the floor of the shed and run for my old girl who struggled to to into litter trays.

I use wood pellet litter, I get it from the horse feed suppliers in a large sack, I collect it when I buy my hay bales but you can order it online http://www.millbryhill.co.uk/equestrian-530/horse-bedding-592/blue-ribbon-horse-bedding-73108.htm it's the same as the wood pellet cat litter. I like it because of its absorbency and because it's heavy I find it stays in the litter tray :thumb:

I have only tried Megazorb but only because I can get it in BIG bags of 80 litres and its very good!

Its VERY absorbent and I could leave my litter tray for three four days and the wee would mostly be soaked up. I change mine every two to three days and the megazorb soaks up a lot of the wee, I only really smell the wee when I'm emptying it. But If I emptied it every day or two there would most likely be hardly any smell at all.

I wont use sawdust or shavings as I don't like them, carefresh I found too expensive for a little tiny bag and I havent tried fitch yet but I've heard its good!

I love megazorb, it does come in tiny pellets that can get all over if you don't cover it (as others have said) but all I do it put a layer of megazorb under a layer of hay, it works great!

We have used bio-catolet which works great but too expensive for 8 buns.
Megazorb has been fantastic but have got a bag of Easibed and giving that a go but not sure how that works.

I love fitch. Soft, absorbent, doesnt smell. My guinea pigs have newspaper fitch and hay. Wonderful stuff.

Rabbits have newspaper and hay cos there are eight of them and its cheaper.

My buns are outside. I use Megazorb in their trays and it works fine. I buy it from the local feed merchant, two bags at a time. The bags arent heavy and last a good while. I think I pay about £8ish per bag (I buy it with my horse's feed so dont notice the price so much :roll

I also use it in my Guinea pigs. Messy critters Guineas, but the megazorb copes will with them!!

I use fitch for all mine. I've never tried megazorb or the others. For me, fitch is really cheap and I can collect rather than pay postage!
It does the job brilliantly.

Fellie said:

We have used bio-catolet which works great but too expensive for 8 buns.
Megazorb has been fantastic but have got a bag of Easibed and giving that a go but not sure how that works.

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The posts on some of the piggy and rat forums I read were saying how the wee runs through and collects under the Easibed. Good for horses using deep litters as the top layer stays dry and horses lie on it. Not sure it sounded that good for buns to have puddles of wee collecting in their shallower trays.

Miss Binky Bunny said:

The posts on some of the piggy and rat forums I read were saying how the wee runs through and collects under the Easibed. Good for horses using deep litters as the top layer stays dry and horses lie on it. Not sure it sounded that good for buns to have puddles of wee collecting in their shallower trays.

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Yes - I can see how this will happen - so not sure why some bunny owners do use it? Ah well - got another bag of megazorb arriving soon so will continue to use that - not sure what to do with 20kgs of Easibed though :lol:

Sarah1991 said:

I have only tried Megazorb but only because I can get it in BIG bags of 80 litres and its very good!

Its VERY absorbent and I could leave my litter tray for three four days and the wee would mostly be soaked up. I change mine every two to three days and the megazorb soaks up a lot of the wee, I only really smell the wee when I'm emptying it. But If I emptied it every day or two there would most likely be hardly any smell at all.

I wont use sawdust or shavings as I don't like them, carefresh I found too expensive for a little tiny bag and I havent tried fitch yet but I've heard its good!

I love megazorb, it does come in tiny pellets that can get all over if you don't cover it (as others have said) but all I do it put a layer of megazorb under a layer of hay, it works great!

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Thanks Sarah, the absorbency sounds good. Bun digs up her litter sometimes even when it's covered with hay, so the tiny pellets may not work as well for her.

Looks like I'm narrowing my list down to Fitch or Aubiose, or back to wood pellets again.

I've tried all of them, and have about 4 different types of substrate in my garage for different furries, they all have their merits depending on what you want. From what you've said about the other substrates you've tried and what you are looking for I would opt for the fitch.

I use Back2Nature because that's what Lopsy's always had. I find it expensive but otherwise fine for one bun with a tiny hutch and a little corner litter tray he can just about fit his bunbum in. Won't be using it (except as a 'get used to' thing) in his new litter tray in his new hutch so glad to read this thread and see I have other options!

I also use woodshavings, but NOT as litter, that's just foul! I didn't know about the phenol problems until I started reading on here. I use them as an insulating filler: so, I start with the metal base of the current hutch, put down a couple of sheets of newspaper to cover it, then a 1/2" layer of woodshavings (more as the weather gets colder) then a 1-1&1/2" thick layer (when compressed) of decent hay. Lopsy doesn't wee outside of his tray, nor does he spend much time in his tiny hutch, so I'm not killing him, am I? We used the same technique with my old Nethie except he did use it as a litter tray (oh, the 90s..!). I won't be using the same bedding practice in his wendy house though.

It's care fresh natural that I use. I haven't tried the coloured one.

I use megazorb and it suits me well because of the absorbancy, the ease of availability, and the fact that it fits into an 80L bin. Just wanted to mention that before I used megazorb I used pets at home wood litter and found it good, so that might suit you better since you can order big bags online with free delivery if you order enough, rather than have to carry it back from a shop: http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/p...--1/non-clumping-wood-pellet-cat-litter-30ltr