# Opinions on these wood pellets



## Azerane (Sep 25, 2013)

So I've been doing some searching, trying to find wood pellets. They're really difficult to find here for some reason.

I found a company online that's based in Melbourne and they regularly sell to people who breed cats, so it's obviously a good quality pellet. I'm just making sure that they are the right kind of pellet for my bunny too  http://www.woodpelletfuelaustralia.com.au/

I was considering getting a sample delivery, which is only 1kg of pellets so I'm not sure how much of a litter tray it would fill. How long does it take for you guys to go through a bag of pellets with regular litter changes, and how big are the bags you buy?

I'm also wondering in addition to that whether the price will be worth it. I'm interstate so their delivery price isn't listed, but currently I'm paying about $20 for a 30L bag of back-2-nature recycled paper pellets, which I can't remember how long it lasts... at a guess based on what I currently have, maybe 3 weeks to a month. The price of those isn't what's put me off of them, I feel like the odor control isn't what it could be. And I'm hoping that the pine pellets might work better for that.

Any feedback, advice, input is much appreciated


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## Chrisdoc (Sep 25, 2013)

From reading on there, they look as they could be Ok as they´re untreated so they should be safe. A lot of people get them from tractor supplies and they´re the ones that are used with horses but here in this part of Spain, it´s nearly impossible to find them for sale on a bulk basis so I have to buy them from the store. 

I use pine pellets which are specifically for rabbits, cats and other small rodents by Vitakraft. I buy in 8l bags which cost me around 7 Euros and one bag usually lasts me about a week and a half, changing the litter around every 2 days. I don´t know if they stock that brand in Australia. Luckily at the store I buy them, they usually have 3x2 offers on quite regularly every couple of months so I stock up at that time to last me 2-3 months so it works out much cheaper. 

I was using the back to nature paper pellets originally in their cages but I stopped as they used to pee in the cage instead of in the litter box and I also found it didn´t absorb the odour as well as the wood pellets.

By the way, I have three litter boxes although only two get changed regularly, the one I have on the balcony maybe once or twice a week as they don´t really use it as much but I like to have it out there.


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## middlemuse (Sep 25, 2013)

I haven't weighed my pellets, but I'd think 1kg should get you through a few litter box changes. You don't need to use much--I don't even quite cover the bottom of the litter box (which I line with newspaper to make cleanup easier). They're very absorbent.


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## majorv (Sep 25, 2013)

Those pellets look to be okay. They consist of wood and moisture. I get a 40lb bag (18kg) for about $5 and it lasts me a good while. I put it in drop pans and only have to change it out once every week or so. Keeps the smell down alot.


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## FreezeNkody (Sep 25, 2013)

I use wood pellets. If they don't have accelerant in them use them. 


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## Azerane (Sep 25, 2013)

Thanks for the responses everyone.

I've been doing some more searching, I've actually managed to find some cat litter brands that are wood pellets, but they're certainly not cheap. This Oz-pet one here: http://www.oz-pet.net.au/litter.html I'm concerned about because it says there's eucalyptus oil in the pellets, which means they're made from eucalyptus trees instead of pine, and so I'm guessing that I wouldn't be able to use it for rabbit litter in case Bandit decided to eat any. I do like their sieve tray though, it seems like it would work well for pellet litter.

Then there's also this one: http://www.ecw.com.au/images/comfey.jpg and http://www.ecw.com.au/comfey.htm which says it has a fresh pine scent, whatever that means (it's made of pine, or they added the pine scent?). The trouble is, I'm honestly not sure if I'm going to be able to find any of these in store. Will just have to look around I suppose.


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## Korr_and_Sophie (Sep 25, 2013)

I'd stick with the wood stove pellets. They aren't out to add things to the pellets to appeal to cat owners. People would tend to buy it in larger amounts as well, so it would be cheaper. A lot of pet products are more expensive for the exact same thing. 
Have you looked into horse stall bedding? It is also the same product, but sold for horses. Most farm or feed stores carry it, but I don't know what stores are like in Australia.


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## Azerane (Sep 25, 2013)

I tried asking at a feed store, they said they used to carry it but there wasn't enough interest in the product. I've been unable to find them sold as wood stove pellets at any retail locations that you would expect (hardware store etc).

The problem is that by the time I pay for shipping of some, it's probably going to be more expensive than buying the cat litter brands. As long as I'm not paying more than I'm currently paying I'm really not too fussed.


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## Troller (Sep 26, 2013)

During the summer months when the hardware stores dont sell wood pellets I either go to my feed store or places that sell wood stoves. Now I'm not sure how popular wood stoves are by you but by me they're arent so much but there's still a store or two. I get a 20 kilo back for around $5. 


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## akane (Sep 26, 2013)

It should be ok. I might send them an email and ask if they add anything to their pellets. If they sell to cats then the potential problem we have here in the US with fuel pellets having accelerants added without warning shouldn't exist there. However I have seen them add cedar oil to some cat litter products.


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## Azerane (Sep 30, 2013)

Can I ask opinions on this litter tray system? http://www.oz-pet.net.au/ It's basically designed for wood pellets and I'm wondering whether it's actually worth it (I'd be buying second-hand for about $30, it retails at $70-80). What's your experience using wood pellets otherwise? Do you think this system would actually work well and be useful, or am I just wasting my money? My only thought is that it will probably reduce the amount of wasted litter whenever I change it.


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## Watermelons (Sep 30, 2013)

Can you get something like this where you are? Even shipped?
http://www.tidycats.com/products/breeze
Its like $30 in the US (not sold in Canada)
The litter is like little ceramic pellets, they don't break down. I have 2 for our 4 cats, we just wash the pellets once a month or so rather then tossing them. And you wouldn't necessarily have to use the pads in the bottom tray.

I know a few members on here use this system for their bunnys.


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## Azerane (Oct 1, 2013)

I've never seen a system like that here before, though of course it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. They say to replace the pellets monthly, which is probably the most I would have to change them anyway, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with only washing them off. So it's pretty much a similar system design-wise except one absorbs moisture and the other doesn't. The concern I have with this is that it wouldn't help me at all with the smell, whereas I've heard people mention that the wood pellets help with the smell a lot.


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## Watermelons (Oct 1, 2013)

We get zero smell from it with the cats, where as regular cat litters still give us a bit of a urine smell.
Their non porus ceramic pellets. I've been meaning to try it out with like pea gravel or something similar instead.
The pee just falls through to the bottom tray and gets absorbed by the pad which you leave in for a week. 
heres a thread about it.
http://www.rabbitsonline.net/f14/tidy-cats-breeze-litter-box-system-63858/
I think its one of the most fantastic things around for our cats. But I'm happy with what I have in place for my bunnys now so its of no use to me for them.


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## Azerane (Oct 1, 2013)

Thanks for the link, helped a lot. I think I still might try this other box with the pellets, and if that doesn't work, I can technically use it the same way, put a pad underneath in the bottom tray and then use something else on top. I suppose without any litter on it at all, it would be much easier to just dump the tray several times a day. Certainly something to consider.


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## Watermelons (Oct 1, 2013)

Absolutely its an interesting concept at least.


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## Azerane (Oct 4, 2013)

Thanks for your feedback. I ended up buying a second-hand oz-pet litter tray today. Buying a second-hand litter tray sounds gross, but apparently she only had it for a couple months and it's all been cleaned. Besides, the thing retails at $80 which I didn't want to spend, so it was nice to get one, with a partially used 10kg bag of pellets for $30. It's bigger than I expected, and much larger than his current litter tray, which is awesome. I spent some time cleaning it with vinegar and hot water and dried it out in the sun. Because it was used for cats before I'm worried that Bandit may not be inclined to use it from any residual smell, so I've put some of his poops and soiled litter in the tray along with some hay to help make it smell like him  Really hoping it's going to work well.


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## Azerane (Oct 11, 2013)

Just a bit of a review on the oz-pet litter tray I bought. I've been using it for almost a week now and I absolutely love it, and the pine pellets.

Here's all the good things about it so far:
-Tray is larger than previous one, so Bandit seems less inclined to poop outside it (hooray!)
-Tray is big enough to put hay inside the litter tray again
-Wood pellets seem to be doing a good job of storing odors
-Having two base trays is fantastic, I can hose one off and set it out to air dry and use the other one, then by the time I want to clean that one the other tray is dry
-The tray and pellet design does what it's supposed to do! That being, when the pellets get peed on, they break apart and fall through to the base tray.
-It makes cleaning the tray super easy, I simply shake the sieve tray until all the soiled pellets fall through (shaking also partially divides the poops form the wood pellets) and then it's a simple matter of scooping out the poop.
-I'm using far less litter than before (yay savings!) Before I used to use at least one or two full scoops of newspaper pellets every time I changed the tray (because the pee would soak through so much litter) and now I used about a half scoop whenever I change the tray
-Bandit took to it easily and he's doesn't have to sit in his pee between litter box cleans! 

Downfalls:
-The only thing I can think of so far, is that due to the size of the oz-pet wood pellets and the size of the rabbit poop, it's going to be hard to find a poop scoop that separates the two. At the moment the scoop I have holds them both, but it's ok because when I shake the tray they mostly divide anyway, but I do want to search for a scoop that separates the two. For a smaller rabbit with smaller poop, it might be a trickier process.
-Bandit originally sampled a few wood pellets, but fortunately I think he's stopped now. It's an issue with the oz-pet litter as it does use some eucalyptus timber.


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## jamesedwardwaller (Oct 11, 2013)

Azerane said:


> So I've been doing some searching, trying to find wood pellets. They're really difficult to find here for some reason.
> 
> I found a company online that's based in Melbourne and they regularly sell to people who breed cats, so it's obviously a good quality pellet. I'm just making sure that they are the right kind of pellet for my bunny too  http://www.woodpelletfuelaustralia.com.au/
> 
> ...


--I use timothy (grasses) in the poop boxes and same stuff in their hay bins,,-this helps avoid any unknown health issues..--our summer is gone and yours is just beginning --lucky-you--has your government relented on myxi vaccinations--hope you like your new prime minister--ours is insane,--sincerely james waller and I don,t care if the nsa knows it--rrr--rrr-r :happyrabbit::biggrin2::adorable::love:-


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## jamesedwardwaller (Oct 11, 2013)

Azerane said:


> Just a bit of a review on the oz-pet litter tray I bought. I've been using it for almost a week now and I absolutely love it, and the pine pellets.
> 
> Here's all the good things about it so far:
> -Tray is larger than previous one, so Bandit seems less inclined to poop outside it (hooray!)
> ...


---please do-not use any scented woods-(ie.cedar,pine)-this is a health problem-the liver will be damaged,resulting in death of the rabbit here are a couple links http://www.medirabbit.com or http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org sincerely james waller :big kiss::brownbunny:big kiss::brownbunny


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## katadvokat (Oct 14, 2013)

Hello :wave:
I'm also on the hunt for a wood pellet in Adelaide. I use to use Woody Pet but its become incredibly hard to get now.  I'm bummed about that because it was fantastic.
Did you happen to get in touch with the wood stove company at all?

With separating poop from the pellets, I saw someone had made their own sieve of sorts to sit over a bucket. It was made with the bendable aviary mesh. The litter box contents could be dumped onto wire sieve then shaken to separate contents. Poop remained on top and pellets fell thru to bucket. : )
Another way is to simply uses a piece of this mesh on top of the pellets in the box. (Edges bent so no sharpness). Poop and hay stays on top and is easily discarded


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## Azerane (Oct 14, 2013)

Thanks for the concern James Waller, I think because they're dried in such a way that the scent isn't an issue.



katadvokat said:


> Hello :wave:
> I'm also on the hunt for a wood pellet in Adelaide. I use to use Woody Pet but its become incredibly hard to get now.  I'm bummed about that because it was fantastic.
> Did you happen to get in touch with the wood stove company at all?
> 
> ...



Hey, I didn't end up getting in touch with the pellet company, I ended up buying a brand called oz-pet, I've found them at Pet Stock and there's a few other independent stores near me that also seems to sell it. There's supposed to be a brand called comfey pet by natty cat: http://www.ecw.com.au/images/comfey.jpg but I haven't found that anywhere yet.

I may have to devise something out of mesh for a scoop/sieve if I can't find one in a store. Will have to see how it goes. What bothers me is that stores who sell the oz-pet litter, don't sell a compatible scoop for the litter.


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## babybun (Oct 14, 2013)

james waller said:


> ---please do-not use any scented woods-(ie.cedar,pine)-this is a health problem-the liver will be damaged,resulting in death of the rabbit here are a couple links http://www.medirabbit.com or http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org sincerely james waller :big kiss::brownbunny:big kiss::brownbunny



It seems like the only wooden pellets I can find are made from pine! I knew that pine shavings were bad for rabbit health, but I didn't realize that the compressed wood pellets were as well! Thanks for making that point!


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