Anyone resigned to their white buns never having clean white feet?

[Bunnygreen]

As long as it's the one without baking soda in it. You just want 100% plain wood pellets with no additives.

I've always stuck with carefresh due to fears of the dust in some other shavings causing respiratory issues. Which types of wood shavings are known to be safe to avoid this issue? (Not sure if I would switch, but just trying to expand my knowledge )

 

[JBun]

I've always stuck with carefresh due to fears of the dust in some other shavings causing respiratory issues. Which types of wood shavings are known to be safe to avoid this issue? (Not sure if I would switch, but just trying to expand my knowledge )

Wood pellet litter isn't the same as wood shavings, and isn't dusty like the kiln dried pine shavings can sometimes be. The pellet litter is in pellets, then expands when wet. So unless the expanded sawdust dries out and a rabbit digs around in it, then there's no reason it should be dusty at all. I actually found carefresh to be dusty, plus not very absorbent, compared to using wood pellet litter.

Talks a little bit about litter choice here:
https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/litter-training.html

 

[Bunnygreen]

Wood pellet litter isn't the same as wood shavings, and isn't dusty like the kiln dried pine shavings can sometimes be. The pellet litter is in pellets, then expands when wet. So unless the expanded sawdust dries out and a rabbit digs around in it, then there's no reason it should be dusty at all. I actually found carefresh to be dusty, plus not very absorbent, compared to using wood pellet litter.

Talks a little bit about litter choice here:
https://rabbitsindoors.weebly.com/litter-training.html

I haven't experienced the dust with Carefresh, but good to know with the pellet vs shavings. Thanks! I don't want to do a whole lot of change for Cheese since he's already gone through 4 foster homes in his young life, but I'm always looking to learn more for advice to other owners and future buns

 

[Sweet Potato rabbit]

As long as it's the one without baking soda in it. You just want 100% plain wood pellets with no additives.

Thank you!

 

[SirLawrence]

I feel like I just got hardcore flame-judged for what I consider "dirty feet". I'm posing a pic of Lawrence's feet in my defense!

Just want to be clear on what I consider "dirty". By no means is he (or Lucas) unsanitary. No urine staining or anything, just what I'd consider a normal amount of foot dirt!

 

[NYAngela]

Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions! I will change to wood pelleted litter after I'm done with my current stash of litter. It'll probably take a few months for the yellow fur on his feet to molt/shed but now I have renewed hope! Thank you!

Pic of his current stained feet :

I keep a grate over his litter pan so his paws are pretty white. He’ll get a little grayish coloring sometimes at the front of his paws from hopping around the house (likely dust under beds/couches that I don’t clean daily) but not urine.

 

[TreasuredFriend]

Our white furry loves rarely have soiled yellow feet. Always indoors, and they have wood pellets with hay cover in their litter pans.

 

[Sweet Potato rabbit]

@SirLawrence @NYAngela @TreasuredFriend I’m experiencing bunny envy! Those are such gorgeous photos of beautiful rabbits, happy sploots and clean white feet!

I guess there’ll always be a little bit of gray here and there for them!

 

[ArtistChibi]

No matter what, there will always be some discoloration on Xiao Wu's feet. It's difficult to keep the floors clean in my house. Especially when people don't listen when I tell them no shoes beyond the barrier.

 

[Catlyn]

I feel like I just got hardcore flame-judged for what I consider "dirty feet". I'm posing a pic of Lawrence's feet in my defense!

Just want to be clear on what I consider "dirty". By no means is he (or Lucas) unsanitary. No urine staining or anything, just what I'd consider a normal amount of foot dirt!

View attachment 56419

Hey, that's clean! It certainly doesn't look like litterbox gunk, just the average floor stuff. Lucky buns! Not the purest of whites but as far as i've seen, paper-white white doesn't exist in rabbits.
I also have the "reccommended setup" like above, with a big box, pee pad, plain wood pellets and hay, have to change it every three days for Storm, and a smaller version of the same setup for Iris, changed every two days. Lümi had the same setup as Storm, and Musti had his box underneath his crate grid, but nonetheless every one of them had their white stompers stained to some degree or the other...

 

[Barbara]

I have three large dogs as well so my floors are always "dirty". Even when their clean lol. For the most part Jack uses his grated litter box 99% of the time so his feet are pretty clean. I like the grated litter box cause Jack likes to be by my face alot. I really don't want him walking in pee and then up on my face. Just my thing I won't let my cats anywhere near my face. My bunny is very persistent that he be on or by my face lol

 

[Sweet Potato rabbit]

Hi all, just an update - I've switched over to wood pellets (Feline Pine, non-clumping). Did the entire transition thing for his bedding by slowly increasing the quantity of feline pine. But once it was all feline pine in his litter box, he started spending more time in his chill corner and kind of refused to get in much to eat his hay. I placed a grid on top but he's still not going to the litter box much. So I guess he hates the smell and feel of the feline pine. Yesterday was Day 3 of feline pine use and he started displaying some signs of early stasis. I fed him some simethicone and he's much better now, but I think I'll go back to using paper litter/pellets and just let him be a happy bunny with stained feet.

Thank you all nonetheless for all the help and suggestions!

 

[Blue eyes]

Were your pine pellets covered in hay??

 

[Sweet Potato rabbit]

Were your pine pellets covered in hay??

Not really, at least not at the beginning. I had hay in 1/3 of the litter box (and also a hay bag hanging) and pellets in the other 2/3. He would hesitate and put his front paws in the fresh litter box before removing them, and would sometimes stand outside the litter box to pull the hay from the hay bag or stretch to grab some hay from the litter box and sat outside to eat. I only started putting layers of hay on top of the pellets after I noticed the behavior. He would then go in a more often to get to the hay bag but wouldn’t really eat the hay in the litter box unless I put fresh hay on top for him. He has another litter box in the living room as a grazing point and he’s been visiting that more frequently. He’s okay though, to be in the litter box when he needs to pee or poop. But the hay doesn’t really always absorb the urine and he would stain his feet again.
Here’s a picture of his main litter box set up and him trying to get some hay from outside.

 

[Blue eyes]

Yesterday was Day 3 of feline pine use

I had hay in 1/3 of the litter box (and also a hay bag hanging) and pellets in the other 2/3. But the hay doesn’t really always absorb the urine and he would stain his feet again.

It doesn't sound like he's had enough time to get used to the new setup. Neither has there been enough time to cause urine stains-- must be from prior or from improper setup.

Give it time. The setup in the photo looks just fine. He'll hop in there eventually. Keep fresh hay on top (refresh 2 (or 3) times per day.

 

[Sweet Potato rabbit]

It doesn't sound like he's had enough time to get used to the new setup. Neither has there been enough time to cause urine stains-- must be from prior or from improper setup.

Give it time. The setup in the photo looks just fine. He'll hop in there eventually. Keep fresh hay on top (refresh 2 (or 3) times per day.

Ahhh I see. I shall try again and give him more time to get used to it this time. Thank you for the great advice!