# Air Freshener bad for rats' lungs?



## dragonegg (Oct 2, 2007)

My hubby has been complaining about the rat odour. I keep their cages and playroom as clean as I can, but the boys just have a natural smell.

So I bought some air freshener. It's fabreze, the kind you plug in. I couldn't find unscented so it has a smell to it. 

It works great, after only a few hours. When I took the girls out, I noticed that they smell of it, too. And I'm wondering if the scent could be harmful for them and their sensitive lungs. 

Does anybody know?


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## phaidraft (Apr 9, 2008)

Everything I have come across says noooo to air fresheners...

Does it have something to do with the bedding? I had to back off on the fleece because it would just REEK a day after changing it.


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## collisiontheory89 (Apr 16, 2008)

I know that some of the ones you spray from a can are potentially harmful. Look for ones that say they're safe for pets. However, most of them warn against using them around pets, and ventilating the room well before allowing pets to go back in it.

If you're not sure, you can get ones that slowly diffuse across the room and don't actually spray anything (so there are no small particles for animals to inhale). I personally wouldn't use those kind of air fresheners in close range of my rats, but it's up to you.


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## tinyspook (Mar 10, 2008)

For my 'little smellies' I do all the obvious things to keep the cage smelly clean (change bedding every 3-4 days, open the window etc) but I found that if you pop a clove of garlic in the cage it covers up the smell pretty well.... This is only assuming that you prefer the smell of garlic than of you know what! And it has an added bonus of giving your ratties another toy to throw around and with any luck chew on (and its good for them too!!)


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## phaidraft (Apr 9, 2008)

tinyspook said:


> For my 'little smellies' I do all the obvious things to keep the cage smelly clean (change bedding every 3-4 days, open the window etc) but I found that if you pop a clove of garlic in the cage it covers up the smell pretty well.... This is only assuming that you prefer the smell of garlic than of you know what! And it has an added bonus of giving your ratties another toy to throw around and with any luck chew on (and its good for them too!!)


It's my understanding that garlic is NOT good for rats.


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## Randi (May 25, 2008)

There's a spray called Odo-Ban, and they make a type specifically for animals... it eliminates odor.  Worth looking in to, IMO.


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