# Purina yesterdays news



## dguizzy (Jun 9, 2014)

So I was told on some rat Facebook groups that carefresh has baking soda in it and is bad for rats. I went to the store today to buy yesterday's news, purinas cat litter pellets. Now people are telling me that it's not just paper but there's softwood in it as well. I'm stumped as to what to use now, lots of people on the group said yesterday's news was totally fine. 

What do you guys think?


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## InuLing (Dec 26, 2015)

I use Exquisicat Naturals Paper litter. Works great. It's dust and perfume free.


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

Yesterday's News does contain 50% wood including softwood. My post on it which is just like three posts down lol
http://www.ratforum.com/showthread.php?311618-Yesterday-s-News-Warning

I prefer aspen personally. 

In a group I am in alot of people suggested this:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=19808


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## mnyablonski (Nov 18, 2015)

i personally use marshall ferret litter. It's a paper pellet similar to yesterday's news but made for small animals.


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

moonkissed said:


> Yesterday's News does contain 50% wood including softwood. My post on it which is just like three posts down lol
> http://www.ratforum.com/showthread.php?311618-Yesterday-s-News-Warning
> 
> I prefer aspen personally.
> ...


Fresh World was my favorite paper type bedding too, I would give that a try  It does have baking soda - but I wouldn't be worried about the baking soda in Carefresh either.


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

Jaguar said:


> Fresh World was my favorite paper type bedding too, I would give that a try  It does have baking soda - but I wouldn't be worried about the baking soda in Carefresh either.


The people who suggest it said that the baking soda isn't bad because it is not dusty. I know care fresh can be a bit dusty. I believe that was the actual issue.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

I stay away from any litter with baking soda. I had a 17 months old rat died from congenital heart failure and baking soda ingestion is linked with CHF. She used to chew on the Fresh News litter with baking soda- not sure if she actually ate it or just chew it. Anyway, just chewing would be enough to ingest some baking soda and months of doing that could have caused her to develop CHF. My vet wasn't sure, he said it could have been congenital also...Anyway, I'm not taking any unnecessary risk now.


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## dguizzy (Jun 9, 2014)

Yeah I feel bad, after I posted this I saw your thread ahah. I was having anxiety about yesterday's news and carefresh all day yesterday once I heard both. I've heard aspen isn't that good as well though, that it can be super dusty too


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

> I've heard aspen isn't that good as well though, that it can be super dusty too


Personally I use aspen and love it. I do not find it dusty at all. The brand certainly matters. I bought a bad from walmart once and it was so god awful. But I get my bags from tractor supply and it is good quality aspen. 

If using aspen I'd look for a bag with good sized pieces. I find it less dusty then.


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

Gribouilli said:


> I stay away from any litter with baking soda. I had a 17 months old rat died from congenital heart failure and baking soda ingestion is linked with CHF. She used to chew on the Fresh News litter with baking soda- not sure if she actually ate it or just chew it. Anyway, just chewing would be enough to ingest some baking soda and months of doing that could have caused her to develop CHF. My vet wasn't sure, he said it could have been congenital also...Anyway, I'm not taking any unnecessary risk now.


That's kind of grasping at straws. CHF is not at all uncommon in rats, unfortunately. Sorry for your loss however. 

Two of my boys got lice from aspen. My bad for not freezing, but that's another thing to keep in mind - wood substrates seem more likely to carry parasites. I found the dust level of aspen varied a lot from batch to batch. It's a nightmare if you have carpet... those little bits get everywhere and stick to everything!


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## dguizzy (Jun 9, 2014)

I do have carpet in my bedroom, I went and picked up a bag of Eco bedding and so far it's not that bad. My girls seem to enjoy snuggling in it so far


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Like everyone else, I've had mites mysteriously turn up in the house... and it happened in winter, when our rats weren't going outside. So sure, they could have come from the bedding, but I got a deal on bedding a couple of years ago, and I haven't bought bedding for at least two years... so not likely... 

It drove me nuts, but I finally remembered that my daughter's school had brought in a traveling petting zoo, with small animals for the kids to handle... and I think I got my answer.

Paper is dissolved into a toxic slush before it's dried and reformed and wood bedding is kiln dried.. And there's nothing in any bedding that would naturally attract parasites. 

Sure, our rats have found the bedding in the closet and torn up the bag to tunnel into it, but the bag was obviously ripped open. And I certainly wouldn't buy bedding with a rat nest in it, unless I was looking for another rat... If your pet shop stores the bedding near the small animals or has a rodent infestation mites or other parasites might get into the bags, but you should be able to tell they were opened.

Nothing is impossible, but for the most part parasite infested bedding is a myth. If you think long and hard enough, you will eventually find that you came into contact with an infested animal or brought a new one into the house... or someone with an infested animal put their coat on yours at a party... or maybe you handled another animal at your pet shop. 

There's nothing wrong with deep freezing your bedding, and it's actually even better to bake it, but it's a lot of work for nothing. You might also not want to store your bedding where wild mice or rats can get into it once it's open.

We've taken our rats outside a lot and sometimes even to places where wild rats live and we've never brought home mites or fleas or lice.... those parasites tend to stay on their hosts.... NOW... larval deer ticks are a different story, they actually feed on rodents and hang out in the tall grass and leap on them as they pass by. They are easy to pick off and as they haven't likely been on a deer yet they don't usually carry any harmful illnesses. Still you don't need your rats bringing ticks into your house, so always check your rats around their mouths, eyes and paws when you bring them in from the woods or fields.

I might add that I once brought in fleas with some garden plants I brought inside... or at least that's my best guess as we didn't have any rodents or mammals at the time. That was kind of a surprise... but I suppose it happens or maybe the neighbor in the adjacent apartment got a new cat? It really is hard to figure out where bugs come from... but seriously, there's very little evidence that mites or other parasites can even live in bedding for any extended amount of time without a mammal host.


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