Woodshavings

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Sophie1307

My sister and her boyfriend got four hamsters from pets at home a couple of months back. 3 big ones and a small one. They were told the small one was just growing, but it was a runt and died the same day they got him. She took them back and they offered to give her a new one, which she accepted. Then two more died and she couldn't be doing with going back to p@h, so she carried on with Honda and Suzuki (the hamsters names ;D ). A couple of nights ago both hamsters were found dead burried under all the bedding :'( . They aren't getting anymore hammys so they said I could have the spare bag of woodshavings. I was wondering, are guinea pigs alright on lavender scented woodshavings?
I have ''almost'' dust free woodshavings now after one of my pigs Sue got URI. She just recovered really, so I don't want anymore of them getting anything.
 
Where the hamsters on Lavander scented ones? I wouldn't put any animal on them to be honest. Pigs are sensitive to air fresheners so the lavander smelling shavings may upset them.

Sorry about the hammys, if they were on Lavander scented ones I wonder if that contributed in some way. :( Poor wee ones.

Louise
x
 
Thanks. I wasn't sure about it, so I thought i'd ask on here. Don't want anymore ill piggies.
I think they got the lavender ones because of the smell. On the bag it says it's fine for Guinea Pigs, Rabbits, hamsters etc but I don't really trust them.
Thanks again.
 
No, lavender (or any) scented woodshavings should never be used for any animal. If they smell to us just imagine what they must smell like to the animal living on them!
 
Guinea pigs have had severe allergic reactions to the lavender scented shavings. Many people believe Hammys shouldn't be kept on shavings either.
 
Send an email to the Head Office at Pets at Home explaining exactly what happened this happened to me several times from Pets at Home regarding Hamsters, I got compensation plus a refund for them not that money was the issue but the principle is

good luck
 
I honestly don't think these shavings should be sold at all. I've heard stories of pigs (not hamsters) ending up with what looked like chemical burns after being housed on them.
 
Thanks Minky. Ive had other problems too with p@h. We went in there about 2 weeks ago and one of the guineas pigs was so obviously ill. It was just sitting there with strange breathing. After scanning for store for about 15 minutes I found staff and told them it was ill. He said thanks for telling me. Picked the pig up, stroked it, put it back and walked off. :tickedoff: That was it. I looked at it again and it was obviously in a bad condition. I'm not sure if I could complain about that because of my age. I'm only 13, so would I need my parents to complain? :-\
 
I would get your parents to complain. Some p@h are good some are really bad, thankfully my local one is ok but they do sell the shavings, perhaps a few of us could e-mail about the wood shavings? I think I'll will e-mail their head office tonight.

My Rex Pudsey is allergic to woodshavings of any sort, I do keep away from anything dusty now and use fleece bedding.

Good luck!

x
 
Yes i would get your parents approval but i would certainly bring it to the stores attention after they do have a duty to sell well animals
 
I have had my pigs for 3 weeks now and also bought the lavender scented shavings because I thought the smell would be nice, to be honest I couldn't smell anything the first time I used it, still using it as got few bags but think I might just stick to the plain one when they are finished. They also do lemon scented shavings. Do you not think the shavings would be tested first before being allowed to be sold in the shops?
 
rainbow sky said:
I have had my pigs for 3 weeks now and also bought the lavender scented shavings because I thought the smell would be nice, to be honest I couldn't smell anything the first time I used it, still using it as got few bags but think I might just stick to the plain one when they are finished. They also do lemon scented shavings. Do you not think the shavings would be tested first before being allowed to be sold in the shops?
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They are sold because they make money, not because they are good for the animal. As I said above, the scented shavings have been known to cause particular problems and I've seen the skin of some pigs kept on them. Not to mention the fact that pigs have a great sense of smell and it must be awful living with that strong smell all day long - goodness knows what it must do to their respiratory tract.

I recommend you grab a handful and rub them into your hands for half a minute or so - plain OR scented. It stings and itches - not nice. Please do your pigs a favour and throw them out!
 
I'm allergic to wood shavings, I did start using them on Sunshine and Twinkle but I ended up with all blisters on my hands, even when protecting my hands with gloves they still went sore. If they can do that to an adult, what can they do to an animal? >:(

I'm obsessed with Dust, I'm like Marjorie Dawes it has to be dust free for my pigs which is why I use fleece. ;)
 
I'm going to start using bed-down ( I think it's called that) my local pet shop sells alot of it.
I'm allergic to Timothy Hay :-\ Have to wear gloves when I give it to the pigs.
 
I would be careful with the Bed-down, my pigs had an allergic reaction to the chemicals in it. I'm thinking of using Dengie Medibed but I m still waiting to hear from them about the substance they use in it to stop the horses eating it.
 
Oh! Thanks for telling me O0
Two out of our 13 seem to be having a reaction to the woodshavings we have now. We had bed-down but I was told to stop using it because it had small bits of straw in it. So I stopped with that and found almost dust free woodshavings somewhere else, but it makes them sneeze. Are any of the bed-down's ok? We had the Bed-Down Excel.
 
SunshineAndTwinkle said:
I'm allergic to wood shavings, I did start using them on Sunshine and Twinkle but I ended up with all blisters on my hands, even when protecting my hands with gloves they still went sore. If they can do that to an adult, what can they do to an animal? >:(

I'm obsessed with Dust, I'm like Marjorie Dawes it has to be dust free for my pigs which is why I use fleece. ;)
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Can you explain about the "fleece", what exactly do you do with it?

At the moment I am doing the following- I layer the bottom of cage with newspaper, then put a good thick layer of sawdust/wood shavings on top of that and finally a covering of hay on top, I put extra hay into their bed area. It is a bit of a nightmare trying to spot clean dirty areas and more often than not I just end up up emptying the whole lot in the bin and starting from scratch, I do this about 3 times a week.

If anyone can suggest an alternative to this I would be really grateful, thanks. I have heard of "vetbed" but not too sure what goes where.
 
I would love to use the vet bed but it takes alot of cleaning apparently. I line the cage with Correx, then thick newspaper, then shredded paper, then shavings, hay and a wig wam bed with fleece inside it. I heard they can get URI's from wet bedding? So ive been trying to drain all the pee. :-\
 
There's a great page on fleece here - http://www.guineapigcages.com/forum/bedding/21568-fleece-project-study.html

Personally I think it's far less wasteful and easier to maintain than shavings. I still have an area with megazorb and hay where the pigs prefer to pee, but any pee on the fleece disappears straight down to the newspaper below, the surface stays dry, and any poops can easily be swept up with a dustpan and brush. I've tried vetbed too but it's a pain to get hay off! Because there's no pile on fleece I find it much easier though vetbed is nice and warm for sick pigs. Personally I think shavings, even dust extracted, are just as likely to contribute to URIs and respiratory problems as wet bedding.
 
At the mo I am using fleece blankets I change every day which is a bit of a pain until I get the pro fleece which is similar to vet bed but a little bit cheaper.

I was putting newspaper underneath but the pigs were eating it so I just use fleece blankets and scrub the cages out. :)
 
I really want to do the fleece idea, but I just think it would cost alot and would be alot of washing for 4 levels of 14ft x 2 cages. :-\ :-\ I might just line some of the cages with fleece and the rest with megazorb? :-\
 
Whoo that is a lot of fleece Sophie. A mix of fleece and megazorb would be ok. Megazorb is much better than woodshavings, I still found it slightly dusty but not as dusty as woodshavings. :)
 
Big blankets are only a couple of quid from Ikea but I agree, for a lot of big cages it would be a pain to wash. Combining it with Megazorb is a great idea.
 
Yep and I got some large fleece that would fill a 4x4 c&c for £2.00 each at bargain madness.

By the way when I said Megazorb was dusty I only found it dusty when opening the bag and pouring it into a bucket other than that, when it was in the cage, it was fine. :) Perhaps get a mask when you are preparing it? :)
 
I use vetbed, and I agree it is a lot of washing. I change the newspaper underneath once a day, twice in the areas they prefer to wee in, and then wash the vetbed every third day. When my pigs are in a pen having floortime, I use the nozzle on the end of the vacuum cleaner to suck the poops and hay off the vetbed. I try to keep hay in a rack, but i appreciate that they like to lie in it, so under their hidey houses I dont put any vetbed, just newspaper and hay. It seems to work.

Vetbed and prefleece are quite expensive to buy, but I think that they have paid for themselves in the month or so I've had them, because I have saved a fortune in woodshavings. I also find I buy less hay, as they dont have so much on the floor. They alwasy have hay to eat, but when it was on the floor of the cage, I was taking it out and throwing it away a lot.
 
Sophie1307 said:
Oh! Thanks for telling me O0
Two out of our 13 seem to be having a reaction to the woodshavings we have now. We had bed-down but I was told to stop using it because it had small bits of straw in it. So I stopped with that and found almost dust free woodshavings somewhere else, but it makes them sneeze. Are any of the bed-down's ok? We had the Bed-Down Excel.
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I use Bed-Down Traditional, short cropped straw & have had no problems with it, this isn't to say it's fine for all piggies :)
 
Sophie I wouldnt use the bed down for your piggies. If you are going to try and use anything like that then I would suggest Dengie Medibed, I know Karen on here uses it. I have now heard back from Dengie and they have said that many of their customers use their product, also some of their employees use it for their own animals and have never had any problems.

I certainly going to see if I can get hold of the Dengie Medibed near me.
 
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