Over the years bedding for small animals has come a long way. I remember when I was a child going out to our local petstore and buying a huge bag of cedar wood chips. My parents were so happy as this seemed to keep the smell of Tabby my shorthair guinea pig to almost nothing! Not once did it enter my mind that I could be slowly killing her by what she had to sit on, lay on and be in day in and day out. To make matters worse she was kept in a 20 gallon aquarium! So not only did I keep her on cedar bedding but any ventilation was nonexistant with those glass walls. Needless to say Tabby died at only 8 months old in my arms.
Now we know so much more about keeping and housing small animals. Let me give you a few basics of what I have learned over time.
Cedar , Pine and Aspen (soft woods)bedding- Cedar is one of the worst beddings on the market. Just avoid this one all together.
AFRMA - Both cedar contains phenols-that's the stuff that makes them smell good. Phenols are caustic, poisonous, acidic compounds. These compounds cause constant irritation to the nasal passages, throat, and lungs of small animals giving bacteria an easy opening, thus commonly causing pneumonia. Phenols also affect organs such as the liver and kidneys, because these organs are responsible for filtering toxins out of the body. When presented with a large amount of toxins over time, they are unable to filter it all out and begin to fail. An animal with a damaged liver will have a depressed immune system, which can lead to other medical conditions.
This is taken from the House Rabbit Society:
Documented scientific research has already shown that aromatic softwood beddings are potent enough to alter biological functions of the liver.What is it in the wood thats doing damage? Apparently its not a result of ingesting but rather inhaling the fumes, which contain phenols, or toxins which pass in the fumes from the lungs to the blood and are finally filtered through the liver.The fact that a large number of indoor house rabbits live in an environment of pine or cedar may account for the large number of deaths due to liver damage and anesthesia fatalities.
Here are the beddings that I recommend:
Carefresh- Soft paper bedding
Yesterday's News- Compressed paper
Fleece- We use fleece for almost all of our animals. The only ones that are not on fleece are the gerbils.
Compressed Sawdust pellets- This is what I use for our rabbit Brownie. The pellets are made from softwood or hardwood sawdust and are non toxic because
the phenolic compounds are removed during their manufacture. Their wood
composition helps control bacterial growth and odors.