Carefresh Carefresh brown vs. Carefresh white/coloured

I've always used the "Natural" brown Carefresh for my piggies. It's not very pretty, but it's cheaper than the white or colored stuff, and it does the job.

If your piggie is sick then I recommend the white bedding, because it is easier to see if there is blood in the urine and it is easier to see their poo (size & color) etc. etc.
Otherwise, experiment and see which ones your piggie prefers. Although, mine don't seem to have a preference. As long as they have paper to chomp on!! Yum, crunchy ...

I used Carefresh naturals once and the amount of dust that billowed out was quite surprising. It could have been a bad batch, but I've heard Ultra has less dust from others.

@Mastershroom, is the brown bedding soft?

@Helena29, as said in my earlier post, the bedding is for my hammie, not my cavies. My girls use fleece bedding. Carefresh is way too expensive for their 2x4 cage. But, thanks for the advice.

@MissJean, I get what you mean. The Ultra bedding also has quite a lot of fine particles that come out when I take it out of the bag.

I use white Carefresh for my piggies for the reason @Helena29 mentioned. Since it's for hammies, if you want to try something really soft, see if you can get some Kaytee Soft and Cozy (I think that's what it's called) cheaper than Carefresh. The price varies widely, but I buy it when I see it cheaper, and it's really, really, really soft. The piggies love it, although I warn you that it's messy because it's so light, which allowed it to easily get blown all around. But I think hammies would adore digging in it.

@mufasa I'll look into it. Thanks.

Ithilgil said:

@Mastershroom , is the brown bedding soft?

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Pretty soft. It's not as "papery" as you'd expect. If you've ever accidentally washed laundry with a piece of paper still in a pocket, it sort of feels like that. Kinda fluffy and fuzzy, but still pretty flat. The piggies seem comfortable with it. Some of it does get launched out of the cage when the pigs do their zoomies, but overall it's quite manageable. And I have to use disposable bedding, as fleece would be way too expensive since I live in an apartment with pay-per-load laundry.

Hey,

Oops, didn't realize you were talking about hamsters. I love hammies too!! Had lots when I was a kid (twice I ended up with mommies, that was fun!!) so here are two ideas ...
The first idea is probably too time consuming, and possibly not healthy for hamsters (I never did it but worth finding out about) but what about lint from a washing machine dryer ... especially if you lived in an apartment building you could probably gather lots of that.
My hamsters always used to sleep in the exact same corner so I would buy cheaper stuff for the whole cage, but then use "Hamster Fluff" just where the hamster sleeps. 56g cost me $4.49 which would be way too expensive if you used it everywhre, but I would just use it where my hamster sleeps. Hope that helps ...

I use Carefresh Naturals for my hamster. Hamster fluff is very bad for hammies. (choking hazard)

I use the carefresh ultra, or the carefresh advanced odor control. i find that the natural has a newspaper odor and is very dusty

I have also had a bit of an issue with CareFresh Natural. It's a good bedding overall, but a good amount of dust comes out when you take a handful out of the bag. I am switching to the Ultra, because I can also identify color changes in the urine or other problems easier.

My hamster female loves to make her covers out of Viva brand paper towels. I put the brown care fresh in over some newspaper. Next I give her several pieces of the plain white paper towel that I have ripped up for her. She wads some up and then she pulls some over her pile for a blanket. So cute. The male hamster uses whatever we give him. He tends to sleep with his food in his bedding so I am not sure if softness matters to him.

@JimboCareFresh: I might just have to take you up on that offer, I've been wanting to give CF Ultra a try.

mufasa said:

I use white Carefresh for my piggies for the reason @Helena29 mentioned. Since it's for hammies, if you want to try something really soft, see if you can get some Kaytee Soft and Cozy (I think that's what it's called) cheaper than Carefresh. The price varies widely, but I buy it when I see it cheaper, and it's really, really, really soft. The piggies love it, although I warn you that it's messy because it's so light, which allowed it to easily get blown all around. But I think hammies would adore digging in it.

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I saw that Clean n Cozy stuff while getting my dog's food(and finding my girls). The Clean n Cozy bedding is considerably cheaper than the Carefresh brand.

Clean n Cozy is made from the same materials that Carefresh is. Would you spend MORE money on a product that is made from the same materials that a lesser priced product is? Their both the same and both work the same.

I love the carefresh ultra! I use the purple color. Even though it is expensive it controls odor so well that I find it worth it, and I use it in my 2x5 cage. I first tried Carefresh natural rather than Aspen and I wasn't thrilled, it lasted longer and smelled at bit less like a barnyard, but it still had an odor to it. The Ultra with baking soda is my preference, my apartment smells great now and I would recommend it to anyone, the only problem being the relatively steep price. For me, it's worth the money

MrWhistles said:

IClean n Cozy is made from the same materials that Carefresh is. Would you spend MORE money on a product that is made from the same materials that a lesser priced product is? Their both the same and both work the same.

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Actually there are some big differences between the two, even though they're both made from paper. Carefresh, as @Mastershroom said, is like a wad of paper that goes through your pocket in the wash. Clean & Cozy is like very light shreds of tissue paper, and therefore gets kicked out of the cage much more easily and flies around everywhere. However, it's softer and my girls prefer it to lay on. Both types are absorbent, but in a different way, and they both control odor well. However, more pee gets down to the newspaper layer in my cages with the Carefresh. If I give the girls something moist to eat, Clean & Cozy sticks to it if they drop it.

Clean & Cozy is very much more compressed than Carefresh. You really do get 3X as much when you spread it out, whereas Carefresh spreads out very little comparatively.

Currently I'm using Carefresh on the kitchen side of the cage and Clean & Cozy on the living room side. I recently tried the Clean & Cozy with rose petals, and it's great because the scent is very subtle so it doesn't bother the girls, but it adds a litte freshness.

I use carefresh natural (the brown kind) for my hammie, and I like it a lot. It's soft, but not so soft that it poses a health risk to him (fluffy bedding is detrimental to their health) It's not really all that dusty, in my experience, and I don't have any complaints. I think it's wonderful