On Mon, 25 Nov 1996 02:00:00 -0500, Brad wrote:
 
>Ok, I've seen you all ranting and raving about wood pellets as litter for
>our fury littel friends, BUT ... I know many people say ferrets shouldn't
>use wood chips for bedding like many pet stores do ... can the same be true
>if used for litter?
 
Point by point:
 
a) Ferrets don't spend as much time in the litterbox as they do in bed.
 
b) Wood stove pellets are relatively inert compared to chipped or shaved
wood. They do not outgas.
 
c) The problem many have with wood chips/shavings as BEDDING have to do
with CEDAR chips, which are associated with respiratory problems in small
animals. Wood stove pellets are usually aspen, and pellets marketed as
litter tend to be pine. Neither wood has the oils that cedar does.
 
d) Another problem I have heard about shavings/chips as BEDDING have to do
with a tendency to dry the fur, skin, and footpads of animals.  From my
little experience with animals (incl ferrets) in institutional settings, the
fur/skin driness this doesn't seem to be a problem with well-nourished
animals on ASPEN bedding that is changed frequently, although there do seem
to be problems with footpads unless the animal has another surface on which
to walk.
 
e) Wood is bad as a cage material because it absorbs moisture and
odors--precisely what makes it good as a litter.
 
f) Being made from compressed sawdust, the pellets break down into sawdust
when wet, and the wet sawdust sinks under the drier pellets in the
litterbox.  Thus, the ferret doesn't track in the sawdust, and will not
inhale it unless the animal likes to go snorkling in the box--in which case,
any kind of litter would be a problem.
 
g) Using chips/shavings in the litterbox is bad because the animal will
track it out of the litterbox.
 
The pellets look like rabbit food pellets. We are not talking about chips
or shavings.
 
Make sure what kind of wood was used to make the pellets--you want pine or
aspen.  It won't be long, I'm sure, until some marketing genius comes up
with cedar, redwood, or even hickory pellets, and from these I would stay
well away.
 
To recap, the reason we like wood pellets so much are that it's cheap, you
use less of it than other litters, it's clean, it's safe, it's effective.
 
I have heard (on the FML I think) that someone had a problem with a ferret
that ate the pellets and got very sick.  I have not heard of anyone else
whose ferret ate the pellets.  As when you introduce anything new into their
environment, watch the interaction.  When I first used the pellets, my girls
snorkled through it, hit the piece of "orientation material" I put in the
box, and said "YUCK!" ... thereafter using the pellets as intended.
 
To scoop, I take a page from an old catalog or newspaper, and use it to grab
a mound of the dirty stuff.  Then I either a) twist up the paper and throw
it away, or b) dump the contents in the toilet or the compost bucket.
 
-- Lee
   one of the Massachusetts Ferret Friends, thanking you for remembering
     New England's shelters this holiday season.
[Posted in FML issue 1765]