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

[ouo]

When she said "because you can look at the newspaper when you clean it" I thought she meant read the articles and I started laughing.

[juanitaoglesby]

I use an absorbent puppy pad in the bottom then fill it up with hay. You can get the pads in bulk so it's really effective.

[shiddy.]

I use a deep hay for bedding ... it works great as litter, it's 100% compostable, very healthy for them to eat and easy for them to dig in and make comfortable places to lay down

[bpro]

any specific article of newspaper that will work best for my litter?
sports or maybe one about rabbits?
not the comics i save them.

[phoenixc]

White vinegar is great but it is best to do half and half with water and vinegar.

[skymontey]

wow thats a huge bunny! i have a little dwarf, netherland.

[libbysanimals_]

Once I was putting newspaper in my rabbits litter box and i realised that the front of the newspaper had models on them. Lol, my dad said that my male rabbit would probably dig to the bottom to see the t*** 😂

[andreapeterson]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge! As a new bunny owner this really helped me out!

[Valchrist]

I use coco coir as litter. It's like soil, but made from coconut hulls. Rabbits can eat coconut hulls.
It doesn't get muddy and brushes out easily, even cleaning their fur. It takes away odors, is absorbent but also drains well.
You can sift out poops easily, use the litter it in the garden after.... if you're short on money you could even throw it in a garden pot and rinse out the urine. In a week it'll be clean and dry.
You could get several uses, then have great soil for the garden.

I trained my rabbits NOT to poop/pee in a bed of coco-coir, and it's their bed and burrow.

[estellearcher]

If you live in Australia "breeders choice cat litter" you can get at Woolworths is really safe and cheap.

[Toddburnz]

I use Horse Stall Pellets which are same as Feline Pine pellets but bigger.  20 pound bag cost me 6 Dollars!!!!  So if you can go to a Horse feeding store or online that is the BEST

[jaquepeterson]

I use horse stall pellets with a puppy pad underneath. It only costs 6 dollars for a huge bag

[mousaabbas]

I am a boy but I still like rabbits there not only for girls

[trishameloling]

love the lady in the pink shirt she’s so funny

[raevix]

I normally use the newspaper, the pine pellets and hay to the top, for my angora dwarf I change the litter box once or twice a week dependind on the season and normally I tend to see some pellets still dry; I have to say it's a huge litter box, for two rabbits but I don't have the other baby bunny yet (I'm doing paperwork to adopt one)

[conniekeesler]

Thank you so much for helping me with my rabbit I’m a first time rabbit owner and didn’t know anything y’all have Been very helpful to me and Buzz thanks you as well

[snowflakehammie]

I think aspen works right? It's cheap for a lot, safe for small animals, and not like pine and cedar.

[andyt]

We use newspaper for lining our bunnies hutch and his toilet area and we change it after he’s finished weeing and pooing on it and it’s easy to change

[sasquatch]

My rabbit's box is a potty training pad for large dogs, 2 layers of newspapaer, shredded newspaper, then timothy hay

[emileegrace]

I simply use shredded paper from school, work, etc. it's cheap and if she eats it it's fine. Also, we do make sure it doesn't have a lot of ink or pencil.