Carefresh Natural Pet Bedding

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Carefresh is a paper bedding and not safe for ingestion, which is possible for chins who chew everything.
 
This is made from reclaimed wood pulp, not paper. Does that make a difference?
 
Paper is made from wood pulp. Same thing, if your chin doesn't ingest it, then it's fine, but aspen or kd pine shavings are much cheaper and work just as good. We used the Carefresh natural for a long time, then we took in a rescue and he started eating it. We now use shavings, and it is a lot cheaper and doesn't get any smellier or anything.
 
Carefresh also causes problems because it can expand when it gets wet, so if your chin eats it and it then expands in its gut you've got a lovely case of impaction on your hands. Shavings are cheaper and safer ;)
 
I'm allergic to most shavings, I can use aspen. I like carefresh, it seems to absorb the pee fast, so there is less smell and my girl that gets pee stains with wood chips stays cleaner. But you have to make sure they aren't eating it. I like to use it only in a corner pan, and I toss some soiled bedding on top when I change it so that it doesn't seem like food to them.
 
I use carefresh Natural and I really like it. Of course, it's pretty expensive (you can get a bag of pine shavings 3 times bigger for the same price) but it works great, controls odors, and doesn't clog up the vacuum like the wood shavings do.
 
I use Carefresh or another brand. Idgie is used to it and doesn't eat it. Like the lack of odor since her cage is in our main living area. Don't like the price, though.
 
Carefresh also causes problems because it can expand when it gets wet, so if your chin eats it and it then expands in its gut you've got a lovely case of impaction on your hands.
Click to expand...
While it definitely causes issues being ingested but it doesn't expand when left in water. I think what causes the issues is that it does not break down and plugs them up. Normal wood can be digested by the acids in their stomachs, but for some reason carefresh can't.

I received some of this stuff with a couple of surrenders that came in. I tried it in a litter pan but found it smelled more than using the pelleted bedding with zeolites in it. The rest of the bag I dumped into a nest box in my chicken coop where it had eggs laid in it for four months. Three months ago the box started to smell so I dumped it on top of my compost pile. As of right now it is not only still yellow, but still sitting there in perfect condition on my compost pile.

They should make house siding out of this stuff as not even my house goes three months without growing mold here!!

Long story short, it does not appear to break down easily. I've never seen anything like it, even pvc when left out in the elements for several months here will start to break down and grow surface fungus.
 
You can go to feed stores and get a bales(s) of kiln dried pine shavings which is probably cheaper than carefresh. I go through 3 bales a week to clean 25 cages. They range from
10.5 to 11 cubic feet when expanded.
 
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