# Is wood shaving good for rats?



## sugarandpepper (Aug 14, 2013)

My rat is quite old (2years and 6months) and for her whole life she has had wood shavings as her bedding. But I'm getting worried that this may be a bad option for her as she keeps sneezing and has a mild case of porphyrin. Could the wood shavings be causing her to have stress??









Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## AJ Black-Savage (Aug 6, 2013)

Switch to some dust free paper cat litter.... Our first girls were kept on wood shavings in the pet shop (a small independent place) so when we got home, that was the first thing we switched as I heard bad things about wood shavings. If she is still sneezing after you have switched it, take her to a vet xxxxxxx


----------



## graphite (Apr 6, 2011)

Hardwood shavings are fine, like aspen. Its the softwood shavings that are bad for rat health, like pine and cedar. Softwoods have oils called phenols that are irritating to sensitive rat lungs


----------



## roaringsnail (Aug 1, 2013)

I've heard aspen is fine, but I generally stay away from shavings. Try carefresh.


----------



## JBird (May 23, 2013)

Like the others have said, aspen bedding is perfectly safe for your rats, unless they have particularly sensitive resp. systems, in which case the dust may harm them. I honestly just hate wood shavings, haha. They reek, in my opinion. I like paper pellet cat/ferret litter as well. Works much better.


----------



## alexn (Sep 30, 2012)

From my experience, paper pellets are both better and cheaper. Shredded card (Finacard or the like) is cheap as ****.

Wood shavings themselves I find smell OK, but they don't conceal smells well, so you need to change it often.

On a side note, I wonder if everyone else here uses a different carefresh than the one I know? It is absolutely horrible, and second only to sawdust itself as a dusty substrate. 

Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## graphite (Apr 6, 2011)

I use a mixture of aspen shavings (with the dust sifted out) and some DIY carefresh-type bedding I made from unprinted newspaper, and I put it over a couple layers of flat newspaper. So far so good, and I think I've tried all the different types of bedding! Honestly, as long as its safe for your rats, its just a matter of what you like best and what works best for your situation!


----------



## OwlEyes (May 4, 2013)

I use aspen wood shavings, mostly because it's cheap. I prefer paper based beddings, but they're expensive. I used CareFresh with my mice long ago, but it seriously bothered my asthma and made my hands break out. :C

I dislike the smell of wood shavings, but I'd rather that than my hands get all itchy and gross.

About your rat, though. Since she's always been on aspen, I highly doubt it is what is bothering her. Which only makes it harder to narrow down.  Do you have any new plants or pets? Perhaps your fan needs cleaned, or is pointing towards her too much? It could be any number of things. I hope that someone here is able to help you find out what it is that is stressing her out.


----------



## sugarandpepper (Aug 14, 2013)

Thanks! I'm going to change to cat litter now, it seems a healthier option for her I'm also taking her to the vet soon as she sneezes out of the cage too 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------

