Good or Bad: Cat litter as Bedding

[fire_spitter]

Hello everyone, I was looking at the Bedding section in Guinea Pig Cages, Your Cavy At Home and noticed that Cat litter is missing. I know some people that uses Cat litter as they say that does not cause URI.

Is Cat Litter good?

[Jennicat]

Cat litter is NOT a good bedding. The clumping kind is very dangerous if they ingest it, and the clay kind is awful for their respiratory systems.

The ONLY type of "cat" litter that is ok are the pelleted types like Yesterday's News (which are also sold as small animal bedding).

[fire_spitter]

Thanks for your help. Just to check,is this Reinbiotech - In Control with the Environment alright for bedding?

[emoxrobot]

First of all I would never buy anything that says "Breeders Choice" on it. Read this for bedding options: Guinea Lynx :: Bedding

[fire_spitter]

Originally Posted by emoxrobot

First of all I would never buy anything that says "Breeders Choice" on it. Read this for bedding options: Guinea Lynx :: Bedding

Is "Breeders Choice" that bad? I myself do not use it, but many other people i know do. I've seen the link and noticed that Yesterday's News is similar to Breeders Choice since both uses recycled paper ( correct me if i'm wrong ).

[pignewton]

I too am interested in why you would not purchase this. Because of the name? Does the company have a bad reputation?

[this_lil_piggy]

Emo's distaste with the bedding, is the name. The fact that it makes reference to being the choice of breeders. (this is an anti-breeding website)

Clay cat liters are not ok. The dust in them can cause URI's but the bigger concern is that they can be ingested and cause fatal blockages in your guinea pigs.

Made by Fibrecycle Pty Ltd, a paper recycling company from Australia, Breeder Celect is made entirely from recycled paper with absolutely no chemicals added.

Breeders Celect is the equivalent to Feline Pine (pellet bedding), or yesterdays news (paper pelleted bedding) and is safe for guinea pigs.
Whether the company has ties to breeders or anything like that, I do not know. I am commenting only to the fact that the bedding type is acceptable to use with your pets.

[VoodooJoint]

Often when companies sell bedding or other things with "breeder" in the title is is mearly a ploy to gain the consumer's trust. People are actually gullible enough to think that breeders "know their stuff" and therefore if it has breeder in the name then it must be good and actually used by breeders.

Usually the company has nothing to do with breeders or breedeing other then that breeders may buy their product.

The product could be good or bad despite the name

[Aertyn]

Breeders Choice is the litter that most Australian's use, because, quite simply we have little else to use. It's in no way actually affiliated with breeders, as far as I can tell.

It's very good, quite absorbent and no dust at all. I use one that you buy from Coles, it's 100% recycled paper, and looks similar to Carefresh. But I'm trialling all the different types of litters in Australia that are safe to see which one I prefer. Breeders Choice is my second pick.

[rabbitsncavyluv]

It looks okay as a bedding, but I have a problem with the photos on that website. Looks like a petstore set up or something.

[Anjeela]

I was wondering what kind of material you would use in the litterbox; absorbant and doesn't cling to fleece? Carefresh?

[Slave to the Wheek]

I use fleece, and have a haybox for my boys. I line it with a disposable bed pad, then fill it up about 4 inches with a mixture of half Carefresh and half Target's bedding which is called, 'New Environment'. The CF keeps the Target stuff from poofing out all over and the Target stuff is like 5 times more asborbant for the urine and kind of/sort of clumps up a bit in wet areas making it easier to remove the wetspots. As I reload the each morning and evening with a fresh batch of hay, I remove any wetspots or wet hay and drop the 'hay leavin's' from the previous feeding onto the bedding below. I do this about 3 days before I have to pull out the entire liner and redo.

I find that they are urinating in the box much more than on the fleece now, but they are still not "litterbox" trained by any means. However, the amount of joy they take in hanging out in the hay is sooo worth it. (pics of it in my gallery..including pic of the Target bedding) The poops are still mostly in the places they sleep, but the haybox gets a good amount too since they hang out under the bent grid- even when they aren't eating.