SPRAYING vanilla?? Other ammonia-lessening ideas?

[maherwoman]

Hey guys!

MyBabyBunnies mentioned in another thread the idea of spraying your buns' litterboxes with vanilla to help prevent fly strike. That's something I've not heard of...I've only heard of adding it to their water. (Do you spray it on the wood pellet litter?)

So, I have to ask...do many of you do this? Does it also help to minimize the ammonia odor? Is there anything else I can do to help minimize the ammonia odor?

Situation: We live in a very small apartment (the buns have the run of the entire livingroom). Given that we have all four buns in one room, and we basically close off the rest of the house to keep the livingroom cooler, we find that the small space gets quite filled with the ammonia smell from their urine.

Stats:

- We use wood pellet bedding (with hay on top, because I've found that they prefer it that way)

- We add 1cc of vanilla to their 32oz bottles.

- I clean out their boxes (completely dumped with new litter) every other day.

- I clean with vinegar (straight) about once or twice a month (when I see or smell that it's needed).

- Our house is kept a rather steady temp of at most 70F...though by the hot time of the day, it might be as much as 75F.

Despite all that, I find that the room gets rather stinky by that second day...

So, throw me your ideas...would spraying the vanilla help? Is there anything else I can add that would be okay to add with hay being there, and them regularly consuming things in their litter ("things" being the hay)?

Thanks, guys!

Hugs all 'round,

Rosie*

 

[Maureen Las]

I'm waiting for replies to this.... as I could use some advice with this also........

 

[HoneyPot]

Hey,

So I think the smell of vanilla keeps flies away, so spraying it in the litter would help as well as putting it in the water I imagine.

Have you heard the trick of using decaf tea in the water? The decaf tea is supposed to cut the ammonia smell, while the vanilla just makes the pee smell a bit like vanilla to keep the flies away... or something like that.

I haven't done it myself, but there are a couple posts on here about the tea.. I'll see if I can find for you.

I think it's Peg that I read about the tea from... Oh pegggg...

____________
Nadia

 

[HoneyPot]

Another thing I have read about, although I imagine it's expensive... is air filters/air purifiers that absorb ammonia odors. Something to look into if you had to get an air purifier anyway....

I just did a quick google and found this:

IQAir GC AM Air Purifier

• 
  
  [*]Ammonia Control: Advanced air cleaning device for control of ammonia, amines, ammonia-based odors and particulates. Tobacco protein is a precursor to amines present in the smoke particulate phase of tobacco smoke. (Note: Improved ventilation and use of air purifiers may reduce, but will not completely eliminate, your exposure to secondhand smoke and the associated health risks.)
  [*]3 Stages of Filtration
  [*]Pre & post filters; pre-filter is 99.7% efficient to 0.3 microns
  [*]1 gas filter (Four extruded impregnated activated carbon cartridges with a total media weight of approx 12 lbs)

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

As I said in the other thread, spraying vanilla MASKS the odor a bit. It's the same sort of idea as an air freshener -- it doesn't get rid of the smell, it just covers it up for a while.

I also use stuff called Stall Dry in my litter trays. Now it is a product mainly for horses but it is also advertised as safe for other pets. I wouldn't have believed how well it works to minimize the odor had I not worked in a barn that regularily used it. Within an hour of spreading it in the stalls, they were as fresh smelling as a barn can possibily smell. While I can't say I'd ever use it some where the rabbits had direct access to, I do use it in my drop pans. I sprinkle a generous layer over the newspaper and it cuts down the amonia smells.

 

[Bunnys_rule63]

I don't spray vanilla but I do spray a mild lemon scented disinfectant over my buns used litter when I do the 'mini' clean (just taking off used hay and replacing it with fresh, clean hay). The litter holds the odour pretty well but I just use the spray as peace of mind to mask any traces of urine odour. You can't be too careful with flies around.

 

[HoppinMinis]

Yucca also helps reduce ammonia smell dramatically. You can get Yucca pellets from various animal supply companies - JB Wholesale and/or Jeffers are places you could check.

I use SweetPDZ under the cages where the droppings fall to the ground.

Qadoshyah

 

[MsBinky]

Ooooooooooooooh I had no idea that some purifiers had an ammonia filter!!!!!!!!! That is GREAT because I am having severe problems with my allergies and asthma and I am reacting to things I usually have no problem with. I have to clean the cages every day because I can't let the smell of ammonia build up. Not that I would if I had no problems anyway but now it's just extra bad. It is cool because with the filter it'll clean the air from ammonia after I've cleaned the cages. Cool!

 

[Michaela]

Are you sure it's the litter that's smelling? Do they pee on the hay? Peed on hay stinks! I don't find a bad smell aftera day, not even with wood having which I use for the 2 outside girlies. :?

I'm not sure about the vanilla, I've never tried that, but worth a shot. :thumbup

 

[Penna]

I don't have much of a problem when it comes to smell, so I don't use any type of spray on their litterbox.

 

[MsBinky]

Oh btw...

This is a very indirect way of minimizing the bunny smell but I like to have an oil plug-in thingy. Some have very nice smells and work great at masking the bunny odor. I keep my buns really clean due to my asthma/allergies and more importantly, because they are in the kitchen. Though I keep them clean, sometimes the hay smells well like hay and I find it removes the overall bunny smell. Also, no matter how clean they are, a single pee or them pooping their cecal droppings makes it a tad smelly

 

[HoneyPot]

Hmm, what about baking soda? That's what's in those cat deoderizers fo the cat litter... and it cuts the smells in our fridge etc.. maybe try sprinkling some in the bottom of the litter pan before putting the litter in.

 

[maherwoman]

I'd thought of that...but would it be safe for buns that like to nose into their litter (as all my girls do)?

HoneyPot wrote:

Hmm, what about baking soda? That's what's in those cat deoderizers fo the cat litter... and it cuts the smells in our fridge etc.. maybe try sprinkling some in the bottom of the litter pan before putting the litter in.

 

[MyBabyBunnies]

Yup, baking soda is another thing you can use but I can't tell you if it's safe if they get at it. :dunnoI don't like to use anything that I wouldn't feed them if they are going to be in direct contact with it. And I'm really against chemicals around animals with the exception of bleach if used in small amounts.

 

[maherwoman]

Something I actually came up with last night that we've done before, but for other things...

We took a baking sheet, covered it with baking soda and some lemon juice, and put the baking sheet on top of Flower and Trixie's cage (their cages are about an inch or two apart) so that it's right in the middle of Bunny Territory. I thought that would help absorb the ammonia, without adding the threat of them getting to it (especially because the sheet is on a part of their cage they can't reach the top of).

We also added a new step to the cleaning ritual...rinsing out each litterbox with our incredibly hot water (hot enough that I've actually burned my hand from it), and then drying it off with a couple paper towels. We'll start doing that each time we clean the boxes, and still do the once or twice a month vinegar cleaning.

Both things seem to have already quite improved the ammonia smell in the house!

Good thing we buy a HUGE bag of baking soda already, to put in the kittys' litterbox!

So, there ya go! There's our solution! :biggrin2: