# Eating litter



## FaunaQT (Oct 24, 2012)

So my fiance were on our way to the pet store since our hog had run out of litter, but we arrived too late. We decided to hit up the local Walmart and try out their generic "carefresh" litter. I thought it would be better than using the generic "yesterdays news" because it's more fluffy and absorbent and what not. I cleaned her cage out and filled her litterpan with the new stuff. Luna runs right up to it and grabs a huge chunk of it before i could even stop her. Next thing i know she's chomping on that thing with more fervor than I have ever seen her bite anything before. I take her out of the cage and my fiance and I stare in bewilderment as she begins to rabidly salivate (all while still chewing on the litter) and anointing herself. She spat it out for a bit and we took it out of the way. 

After that, she was still very interested in the smell, and I would spy at her taking away little tiny bites of it, but I couldn't tell if she was eating it or not :? 

I looked up the topic and read that one hedgie just did this for a couple of days and another had to have their litter replaced all together.

Should I just monitor her intake of the litter or should I outright not use it? If she ingests it, will it harm her? I can imagine she would have some constipation... any thoughts?


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## JulieAnne (Sep 3, 2012)

I am new to hedgies so someone please correct me if I am wrong... but carefresh, from what I've read, is not recommended for hedgies due to it tending to be rather dusty. Other than that my fear would be an intestinal blockage. I would imagine it's not meant for consumption and if I even thought my hedgie was eating something she shouldn't be I would remove it. But that's just me.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

Carefresh isn't completely terrible, and it'd be fine for litter. But yes, if your hedgehog is actually swallowing any of it, I would take it out completely. If she eats enough of it or a big enough piece, it could cause a blockage. Even if she's just chewing and annointing with it, personally I'd take it out, just in case. It'd be hard to watch her all the time to make sure she's not swallowing any.


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## FaunaQT (Oct 24, 2012)

Ok, and yeah, I only use it for litter. Which, to all of my understanding is perfectly ok. She's on fleece liners


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## JulieAnne (Sep 3, 2012)

I agree with Lily. It would be rather hard to watch her all the time and I'm sure in a critter so small if she got a blockage it might be hard to tell and not much to do about it.


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## FaunaQT (Oct 24, 2012)

m'kay. Took it out this morning.


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## JulieAnne (Sep 3, 2012)

Sounds good. I just put down to paper towels folded in half... lol


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## shmurciakova (Sep 7, 2008)

My hedgie is on CareFresh, that is just what I have always used and never have been a converted to fleece liners. Daisy, the hedgie I have now is always taking the CareFresh and bringing it into her wooden sleeping box. I even gave her a temper-pedic fleece covered bed! nonetheless she feels the need to "nest" and carries loads of the CareFresh in there every day. I am pretty positive she isn't eating it though, just moving it around. I have considered switching to liners and may do so at some point because I worry that if she did swallow it she might get a bowel obstruction, but she is pooping her normal HUGE poos, so I don't think it is an issue with her at least.


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