# Cedar Chips



## Howard Gaines III (Dec 26, 2007)

I have heard that cedar chips are bad for young puppies. For adult dog bed material what are you using?


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## kristin tresidder (Oct 23, 2008)

our adult, outside dogs, sleep in a mixture of straw and cedar chips. in the years i've been doing that, i've only had one dog be allergic to the cedar chips. he broke out in small bumps all over his belly. i use the cedar chips to keep bugs away, as there's still a part of me that fear the idea of using sevin dust instead, and they help keep the dogs, and their houses smelling decent as long as the cedar chips are fresh. 
the straw is of course the insulation for winter, so they get their houses packed full of it in the winter, and not so much in the summer.


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## Chris Michalek (Feb 13, 2008)

what do you mean bad for puppies?


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## Lee H Sternberg (Jan 27, 2008)

I heard they are toxic but I've used them for years with no apparent adverse affects.:?


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## Russ Spencer (Jun 2, 2008)

A breeder friend uses them by the truckload. I've never heard her complain about problems. I'm going to be switching over to cedar next spring. As mentioned, great against fleas and smells good while fresh ... biodegradable too.


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## Michelle Reusser (Mar 29, 2008)

I use a mix of cedar and pine. The cedar smells great and repels bugs but is hard where the pine is cushy and better for soaking up moisture, keeping the dust down in summer, not to mention cheaper. Thanks for reminding me, I need to change my run out before it rains again!


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## James Downey (Oct 27, 2008)

Cedar, primarly western red cedar, which is the best pesticide...it will even repel snakes. has shown to cause respitory problems in rodents and humans. What seems to be the culprit is dust. Since Cedar has a mild toxin on it, Dust can be inhaled and chronic long term exposure, can cause problems. But I think this has been only witnessed in places like wood mills and rodent cages that are devoid of air flow.


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## Howard Gaines III (Dec 26, 2007)

Thanks James for the info...My thought on straw was that it can hold mites.


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

James Downey said:


> Cedar, primarly western red cedar, which is the best pesticide...it will even repel snakes. has shown to cause respitory problems in rodents and humans. What seems to be the culprit is dust. Since Cedar has a mild toxin on it, Dust can be inhaled and chronic long term exposure, can cause problems. But I think this has been only witnessed in places like wood mills and rodent cages that are devoid of air flow.


There are aromatic phenolic oil in cedar (and pine) that is also problematic. I use Woody Pet (mostly marketed for horse stalls, but also works great for small animals/exotics). 

http://www.woodypet.com/pets.html

It is extremely absorbent when it gets wet and it has most of the oils extracted out, so it is not nearly as pungent as when you open the bag as pine or cedar shavings. It's also about $6-7 at the farm store for a 30 lbs bag, so pretty cheap. I use it in my rat cage and ferret litter box and used it in the rabbit's litter box when I had two rabbits. Aspen shavings for the lack of aromatic oils also are fine (which is what I use in my two snake cages), but not quite as absorbant.


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## todd pavlus (Apr 30, 2008)

Maren, holy crap, how many pets do you have:-o


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

4 dogs, 2 snakes, 2 rats, 1 ferret, and a goldfish. And a husband. The vet student curse.  There's only 2 vet students in my class of 65 that don't have any pets.


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## Megan Bays (Oct 10, 2008)

Okay.. I'm a little confused here..

Are we talking about the cedar chips in the lawn and garden section, or the kind that they have in front of the dog of food at Wal Mart that are shaved and real small and thin??

Sorry if this is a dumb question.. :roll:


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## Maren Bell Jones (Jun 7, 2006)

I would suspect both the smaller shavings used for pets or the chips used in landscaping would not be ideal to use in puppies, for the same issue of the phenolic oils associated with respiratory issues in other mammals (and reptiles).


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## Howard Gaines III (Dec 26, 2007)

Megan McCallister said:


> Okay.. I'm a little confused here..
> 
> Are we talking about the cedar chips in the lawn and garden section, or the kind that they have in front of the dog of food at Wal Mart that are shaved and real small and thin??
> 
> Sorry if this is a dumb question.. :roll:


Megan that's okay, we know it's a West Virginia thang! :razz: :-$ [-X 
Next week, lessons for walking on flat land without limping...#-o :lol:


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## Megan Bays (Oct 10, 2008)

Come on Howard, can't you do better than that? :lol:


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