Best Litter Material for a Rabbit | Pet Rabbits

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Amy: What is the best litter material for my bunny?

Mary: Well a lot of people argue about what's the best litter material so we're going to talk about a couple of different kinds here.

Amy: Okay.

Mary: So people can make informed decisions. So one kind of litter we don't have here today is a pelleted newspaper litter. It's pellets...

Amy: Yesterday's news!

Mary: ...this size. Yesterday's News is one brand of it. You can find other brands as well. It's absorbent and it can pick up the rabbit urine. It's not inexpensive but a lot of people love it and find it very very useful. Another kind is called feline pine and that is what this litter looks like and it's a hard pelleted pine, also very useful for absorbing urine.

Amy: And how much do you put in the bottom, just a little bit right?

Mary: Well, funny. If you're paying for it yourself you tend to scale it down as you go...

Amy: I'll say. You're carrying it yourself.

Mary: That's right. A lot of people will start with a lot of the litter and they'll see how fast it goes and how much it costs and they'll start using a thinner and thinner layer. So whatever. The idea is for it to absorb...

Amy: About a quarter...

Mary: Yeah, cover the bottom of the pen. We put a section of newspaper in the bottom of the pens before we put any litter material in because that does two things. It keeps the pan good longer, you want your pan to be in good shape. And it also lets you look at the newspaper while you clean the little box. Because if your rabbit's urine is changing or if there's blood in the urine or if there's something we call bladder sludge which is partially a result of calcium excretion you can actually bring that piece of newspaper in to show your vet, you can say this is what was in my rabbit's litter box this morning. Very helpful for the vet to see exactly what's going on. The litter that I personally like best is this. And it is just plain grass hay. This is timothy hay. This litter box has a couple sections of newspaper on the bottom and it's filled with hay. And what I like about hay for litter is a few different things. It's very comfortable to the rabbits' feet and if you put a lot of hay in the way we have in this litter box, we have it right up to the top...

Amy: That's what I do, yeah.

Mary: ...yeah and me too. Some people use a polite little handful of hay and that's not really enough. If you fill it to the top it forms a good cushion and that keeps your rabbit's feet well off the dirty urine covered stuff below. The urine will drop right through the grass and your rabbit's feet will stay clean and neat and free of urine scald which is really nice.

Amy: So you put the newspaper, then you put they hay?

Mary: Newspaper first.

Amy: Then you can either just put hay or the pellets and then they hay.

Mary: Yeah I don't use the pellets at all, I always use hay.

Amy: You put the hay on top of the pellets?

Mary: I do. I do. It's less expensive for me. I buy hay from my local stable and I also buy hay on the internet that's really clean and beautiful like this.

Amy: And then to clean the pan I think you told me once use white vinegar, correct?

Mary: Yeah white vinegar is really useful for rabbit litter because white vinegar neutralizes the urine. As a matter of fact, when you have rabbit urine to clean up, like a rabbit has an accident on your rug. If you put white vinegar into a spray bottle and your spritz it a couple of times you can watch it go [noise] kind of foams up...

Amy: Science project.

Mary: It's like a science project, yeah. And you just blot it. You don't rub it, you blot it. But it will pick up the urine stain right away. White vinegar is great at cleaning.

Amy: And how often do you change the litter box?

Mary: it depends on the size of the rabbit, the size of the box, and the rabbit's diet.

Amy: Okay.

Mary: So depend