# Vanilla extract to reduce urine smell?



## Critter Aficionado (Jan 30, 2011)

I read online that you can give male rats vanilla extract (they suggested putting it in the water, but I don't add things to my animals' water for fear they might not like the taste) to reduce the strength of their urine scent. Is this true? How much would you have to give for it to help?

I ask because my two males decided one night to mark all over their levels. It smelled fine in the room before I went to bed, and my fiance woke up gagging the next morning. Of course every time I spray down the levels with vinegar and water to clean them, the boys mark even more to make it smell familiar again. I'm sure if they were in a more open room it wouldn't be so bad, but we have to keep them in the room, that's the agreement to us being able to have rats here, their cages stay in our bedroom. So we ventilated the room by opening the window for a few minutes. Obviously we won't be able to do this in the middle of winter as it would be far too cold. They are healthy, and it's definitely the smell of their marking, not their poop. The rats themselves don't stink, just the marking mess they make literally every night.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

I have never heard of this myself...i would personally say try getting them to eat parsley and see if that changes the potency of their urine. What are you feeding? I find some lab blocks make poop and urine smell stronger.

Or you could consider neutering


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## Critter Aficionado (Jan 30, 2011)

They're getting a mix of Mazuri rat blocks and Oxbow regal rat (they were just getting Oxbow but when Helios got older he preferred Mazuri because the pellets are softer, and now they seem to prefer the Mazuri). I would get them neutered (not only to reduce their smell but also their hormones, and maybe even put them with the girls) if I could find a veterinarian even remotely close with plenty of experience neutering rats, but I can't. I've never heard of parsley, I'll give that a try, thanks! I'll also try putting a dish of baking soda in the room to help reduce smell further. I read something about coffee beans reducing bad odors as well (obviously kept well out of rat "reach").


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

Can you order Harlan 2014 online from somewhere? Mazuri (if its the storebought one) is 23% protein and can really make your rat smell more than they should. I use Mazuri 6F (comes in 50 lb bags) but even though its not as bad it still can be. The best at making ratties and their wastes smell the least was the Harlan.


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## Critter Aficionado (Jan 30, 2011)

Thank you, I'll have to see if I can get one of the feed stores that doesn't sell live animals to order either. The Oxbow is only 11% protein, but the boys are pretty picky. Locally all I can find that isn't total crap is the Oxbow and Mazuri basic rat formula. I found the Harlan on Ebay in 5 lb bags, it's rather expensive per pound due to shipping, but around the same cost what we pay for Regal Rat locally. It apparently normally comes in a 33 pound bag, I'm not sure if I could go through it in 9 months (how long the nutrients are good for) with only two rats eating it, so I'll probably just have to start ordering it off of Ebay.


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

See if you can find Living World Extrusion for Hamsters, it makes a very good lab block for rats and is only 15% protein and most rats like it.


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## Critter Aficionado (Jan 30, 2011)

Thank you, I'll see if I can find that. Do you think it would reduce the smell of urine (it sounds like it's mostly an issue with the higher protein more than the foods themselves)? I'm also going to see if I can pick up some organic parsley tomorrow.


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## LilysMom (Sep 7, 2011)

I offer the Harlan and some Oxbow but I usually get my Harlan from the MainelyRatRescue.org store. I get 5-10lbs at a time


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