Pet Rabbits and the Many uses for Newspaper

I love newspaper. I use it all the time, yet never read it. How? I use it for my rabbit Daisy all the time! Here are some of those uses for yesterday's news. 

The bottom of your rabbit's pen or cage

I line my rabbit pen with newspapers nearly all the time. It looks nice, and the rabbits chew and destroy it, make tunnels, etc. It's very easy to scoop up any offending poop pellets that didn't make it to the litter box (these oftentimes get stuck onto my buns feet when scattered around) or hay your rabbit threw all over the pen - just take the newspapers with the poop and hay in them, and toss them! No more sweeping up constantly, and definetely no wrinkled noses when friends come over. You see, my rabbits are not spayed or neutered, and the fixing help get rid of those territorial droppings. They sometimes are found scattered in the cage, which usually makes people who come over think twice when I've told them my rabbits are litter trained. This has nothing to do with litter box training by the way, it's just a way the bunns say, " this is my pen, just for you to know!" We sweep out the rabbits pens and change the newspapers about ever other day, but it's still nice to remove any little messes we find during daily care.

Tunnels, nesting and playing

Bunnies love to tunnel, hide, and destroy - and newspaper is the perfect thing for them! It's comical to watch rabbits run playfully through the paper and is amazing to watch the piles of newspaper you put in their pens or cages turn into an intricate nest or several tunnels in a day. If you have a hidey box or nesting box or even a bunny igloo, then you can fill it with newspapers. The rabbit will pad it down and make a nice nest out of it! It's also a better alternative to animal nesting cotton, which is dangerous to your pet if he ingests it.

Litter boxes

I use CareFRESH bedding frequently, but those other times I like to line the litter box with newspaper. It absorbs the urine fairly well, and doesn't have a lot of dust. Plus, if the rabbit eats it, they won't get a blockage as they could with other litters.

Extra fiber

To test if your local newspaper is safe for your pet to eat, take a piece of white copy paper and hold it underneath your newspaper. Run water onto the newspaper, and see if the ink runs onto the paper. If it does, then the news company uses the traditional way of printing and uses traditional ink. Not safe for bunns to ingest large quantities!!! But if the ink does not run onto the paper, then it is safe. If your pet rabbit has runny dry, poops, give him plenty of Timothy hay for fiber that will help his digestive tract. Newspaper can help this a too, but should never be substituted for hay. Just avoid the sleek magazine pages as best you can. Too many of these clog up your rabbit and make him sick.