20 Best Hamster Bedding Odor Control (2023 Updated)

We thought by changing to this type of breeding it would be less dust. It actually helped a bit on the up dust. When you set it down and do clean up, it leaves a sandy under layer that really make me question if my ferret is inhaling this or how much is this being observed by him.

Odor control isn’t for the full days it advertised fyi!!! Also its line gravel, it sticks to everything, horrible for cleaned up. I DO NOT NOT RECOMMENDED.

As a crazy ferret lady, you can bet that I have tried all kinds of bedding and litter/bedding combos for my four little fuzzies who love to make messes. All the big name brands and off-name brands– yup, tried ’em.

Some lasted longer than others. some, eh, not so much. Once I opened up my latest Chewy. com box, I gave it a try immediately. First off, this stuff smells awesome (a super important quality for musky little ferrets since they have quite the sensitive noses).

Secondly, as I was padding it into place, I noticed how surprisingly comfortable it felt– not as harsh as you would think by looking at it. Thirdly, my ferrets love it (I mean, they really don’t have a say in the matter, but the little guys seem happy when they’re sleeping 20 hours a day).

So, heck yeah, I recommend this bedding! If you have other small pets besides ferrets– or if you have ferrets yourself– and you’re looking for comfy bedding, give this one a try! Hope you love it as much as I do.

This bedding is amazing at keeping odor down. I have a hedgehog, and those who own hedgies know that they never stop pooping. Literally never. This bedding keeps the smell down a lot which is amazing.

The only reason I gave the product 4 stars instead of 5 is because of the dust. It’s got a lot more dust that I thought. This is fine for less sensitive animals, but if buying this for a more sensitive animal that is more susceptible to respiratory infections, I would be careful.

I like that the bedding is paper too. More eco friendly and you can compost!.

I have been using this bedding for many years for guinea pigs! I used to get the brown natural one until 2 years ago. I opened a bag and almost puked. It had the same odor as the really cheap brown paper towels in a kindergarten school bathroom, but a lot stronger.

I decided to try the white one. I used that for awhile until I got a bag that also had that strong smell. Next, I switched to trying the multi-colored bedding. That worked fine again for awhile until all of a sudden they also had the chemical smell.

The smell from this last bag was so strong EVERYONE in the house had a hard time sleeping. It’s similar to formaldehyde when trying to breathe, but has a terrible poop-like smell. **We all got sore throats and had a difficult time breathing.

It even affected my guinea pigs. They stopped making ANY noises for several days. ** We finally gave up after a few days of hoping it would air out or we would acclimate to it. We had to buy some other stuff and change it.

I saved the unused bags of bedding. I’m really afraid to buy any more of this bedding after what we experienced.

I’ve always heard great things about Carefresh so when my usual Kaytee bedding was out of stock I decided to go with this one – and I’ll never do that again. I bought three bags and the moment I opened two of the three there was a massively strong chemical smell to the point I had to use an air purifier to clear some of the stench from the room.

The bedding was also very hard, as if it had been wet at some point, crumbled up, and left to dry with no care. I ended up buying some Kaytee as soon as it was available to mix in with what I had used because the smell was still way to strong for me.

I still have the last bag sitting and plan to leave it laying open for several hours or days before I use it with the next bedding change, which will primarily be Kaytee or another bedding. I know I might have gotten a bad batch, with both the chemical smell and the hard pieces, but considering I’ve since seen quite a few people with the same issue I’m inclined to think it’s more likely to be a bad warehouse or manufacturing plant that these are coming from.

We’ve been purchasing the white 60L size Carefresh bedding for my daughter’s rabbit for the last 8 years. However for some reason when we received our last Autoship delivery, the bedding was no longer white but brown.

While this didn’t bother me (or the rabbit as far as I could tell) it did bother my wife and daughter who said it had a bad odor. I just looked and it appears that the white formulation is no longer available in the 60L package and more expensive than the brown.

Something must have changed because we always order and receive the white version in the 60L package (it’s been one of the items in our Autoship forever) but now it’s only available in the 50L size. I’m guessing that the price must have increased and Chewy, instead of providing us with the new, smaller 50L package, must have substituted the 60L brown instead.

I divided this bag among my 3 Guinea pig’s cages. All 6 were happy at first, pop Corning and playing. Then, a couple hours later, they all started burrowing under it every time I would take them out and set them back in.

They also wouldn’t eat or do anything, they just stayed underneath. Their eyes would also be super dry too to the point where I had to put water there to moisten so I could help them open and get any paper bits stuck inside.

This stuff definitely seems soft but is very dry and dusty too. After seeing the same results the next day, I immediately switched their bedding to a different paper (non-scented) and they were happy again, popping and such.

They have also started eating again and acting normal as well. I’m not sure what happened fully but, it seems the scented bedding hurt them and made all 6 lethargic. Smells great but not worth it.

Although the price is very tempting, it is NOT a good investment. The quantity seems enough to cover the space of 14 in x 28 in Feeding area for a Guinea Pig, for about 4 changes every 14 days or 2 weeks.

However, after only 3 or 4 days, it is obvious that the bedding does NOT absorb the guinea pig’s pee as well. The floor is constantly wet, making it challenging for the Guinea Pig to find a dry stop while enjoying her meal/snacks.

Additionally, since it never dryes or absorbs the pee properly, the area has a musky smell. Also, because it is hard to control the fluffiness of the bedding (*if you put too little, it does not absorb enough or if you put too much, the paper is too loose and flies a lot when the Guinea Pig moves), it makes a mess when the Guinea Pig comes in and out of her feeding area since the paper sticks to her nails.

I usually change the bedding every week and half or even 14 days with other brands. But with this bedding, if I do not change it after a few days, the floor is continuously wet, as the pee goes under as if there was almost NO bedding.

If I calculate that in a period of 14 days, I had to change the bedding about 4 times, then the price is ONLY worthed if a comparable product is 4 times as expensive. However, even if the price was not much of a factor, the hassle of having to change the bedding after a few days, the inconvenience of having the Guinea Pig lay on a wet surface, the wet smell and the flying of paper pieces all over, make this product not a good purchase.

I honestly can’t think of anything negative to say about Kaytee C&C. It’s probably the most popular paper bedding in North America, and for a good reason. It’s super soft and you can get a pretty deep amount of bedding for a surprisingly small amount.

The way it packs makes it hold burrows pretty well even without anything added to it for stability. I haven’t seen any dust whatsoever from it. Sure, it’s not SUPER absorbent, but that shouldn’t be a problem if you have an adequately sized enclosure for your small animal and you’re regularly spot cleaning anyways.

I guess if anything, I wish it came in more colors! I do like the classic white, but my robo hamster is all white and I’d like to be able to see him lol.

I’ve used this specific kind of hamster bedding for my dwarf hamster for over a year, and I have always loved it. The pieces weren’t too large for my hamster to handle, and the bedding felt reasonably soft and held a burrow well.

However, it seems like they have changed the bedding. It no longer feels soft. The pieces are really tiny and feel hard, almost grainy. They don’t hold a burrow well at all. Also, the bag says that it expands to two times it’s size.

Previously that seemed true. I could always generously bed my hamster’s 10 gallon tank down at least 2 1/2 or 3 times per bag. Now the bag feels loose and floppy instead of packed full, and I can only bed the tank down 2 times at the most (and I have to be stingy about how much I put in to make it last that long).

If the bag is that loose and floppy, I don’t see how the bedding could be expanding at all when I take it out since it obviously has room to expand in the bag and isn’t. Definitely not happy with whatever changes they made to this bedding.

I wanted to try carefresh instead of clean and cozy so I bought it on sale. I got 2 bags for the price of one. I’d pay them to come take this back. It’s honestly the hardest bedding I’ve ever felt. I’d never put my little boy on this.

Now I have 2 bags of uselessness. So disappointed. I thought carefresh was supposed to be the best? I’ll never stray from C&C again. Lesson learned.

This is an perfect safe bedding for small pets because it’s very soft and great for winter time especially if your pets like to bury themselves. The bedding absorbs liquid and holds it so the cage and the animal doesn’t get wet.

It comes in all sorts of colours which is great for themed cages!! It is quite pricey but since it hold liquids and smells well, you can leave it without changing it a little bit longer than other buddings.

Bought it unsure if it would work for me and my piggies, so glad I did! When opening the bag there is a much nicer smell compared to other beddings, like sawdust, which is also very dusty but when putting out the bedding there is no dust! It’s a miracle! The dust makes me choke up let alone my piggies who are much closer to the ground, the dust can cause uri and can make asthma worse for people and piggies! Unlike fleece/blankets you can’t smell the pee either! It’s super absorbant and super comfy! If I had enough I would sleep on it! Can recommend enough, good for both piggies and people! It’s also easy to scoop up and put in a bag and put in the bin.

100/10!.

I normally buy Carefresh Custom Hamster & Gerbil White Bedding or Carefresh Ultra Soft Pet Bedding, but saw this Carefresh White Small Pet Bedding was a little cheaper for the same amount & thought I would try it.

I mix it with Kaytee Clean & Cozy Pink Colored Small Pet Bedding, as my hamster seems to like pink bedding, but with white mixed in (she is picky & lets you know if she does not like something). I found this to be similar if not the same as the 2 previous Carefresh bedding I was buying.

It works just as good as the others. It does not have any odor which some can, it also has very little if any dust. I have not seen dust when cleaning her cage after a week or two (she is potty trained) or when I put the bedding in her clean cage.

I would definitely recommend this for hamsters. I have had guinea pigs in the past & I would not recommend this for them (unless they are potty trained, but I have yet to see one that is), as it will smell as soon as they urinate.

Petco sells So Phresh Paper Pellet Small Animal Litter & that was a life saver for me when I had guinea pigs. I could go a week or more without having to clean the cage & no odor. For hamsters, Carefresh White Small Pet Bedding meets every expectation & hamsters love it!.

I have been buying Carefresh for a LONG time (my current rabbit is nearly 12 years old, and he is not my first !). After many years with the gray ‘natural’ version, I switched ages ago to the white “ultra” version.

Was VERY satisfied with it (well worth the extra cost). But last month’s auto delivery was this looser, non-ultra version; I thought it was a shipping error, and not a big enough deal to pursue a fix.

But now my current month’s delivery includes this same changed version. In looking into it this time around, it seems that Carefresh no longer makes Ultra, just a white version of their gray and other-colored ones ( tho still at the Ultra price, LOL).

Such a disappointment; I certainly hope some competitor jumps in to take advantage of that market niche quickly !.

We use both the brown and white “Clean & Cozy” bedding for our 3 guinea pigs. We put a layer of brown on the bottom and then put a light layer of white on top. We have found the brown to be more absorbent, but the white is cottonball soft, so the combination keeps them dry as well as allowing them to snuggle down into the bedding.

We use an adapted drill bit with a portable drill to fluff each bale before using as each guinea pig is in a separate cage and they get fully changed every 3 days. Lots of time and bedding is saved using this method.

The bales are ALWAYS uniform quality and MUCH SOFTER than any other brand (we have tried them all over time). We realize we spoil our little guys – but – would you rather put your head on a rock or a pillow? Our guys vote for the pillow 1!.

Kaytee paper bedding is my go-to bedding material that I use for my hamsters. Like most, I did my research before purchasing products. I’ve found that Kaytee paper bedding (specifically the clean & cozy white color) to be perfect for my little fur babies.

The bedding has little to no dust residue, expands, and holds its shape for hamster burrows/tunnels. I’ve watched many informational videos on hamster rescues and took note of what they recommended before I rescued my own little ones from a backyard breeder.

Kaytee paper bedding is super soft and highly expandable. Contrary to its packaging size, it is true that it expands 3x its size. This is brilliant for both storage and use. Easy to storage for its compact size, and lasts a while before you need to purchase another pack.

I personally buy the 85 liters, well worth the price! Another bonus is that unlike other bedding brands, I’ve found that Kaytee has very little dust residue. High amounts of dust residue can cause respiratory problems for your little furry friends; it’s best to find appropriate bedding that carries little dust content.

I personally found Kaytee’s paper bedding highly exceptional for nest building and burrowing. It keeps its shape all while allowing warmth and ventilation. The weather here in Cali is definitely bipolar, however there’s no denying that it gets very cold.

Help your little furry friends stay warm. Although I have many praises for this product, I can’t say that the odor control is that pleasing. There will no doubt be odor accumulation over time, but little bits of spot cleaning are a life changer! Unlike outdated hamster care where you had to change the entire bedding after 2 weeks, your hamsters actually benefit more from spot cleaning.

I found that my little fur babies had lower stress levels using the spot cleaning method. If you’re looking for a stronger odor control, I recommend Kaytee’s “Extreme Odor Control”. The extreme odor control product would be more beneficial towards young female syrians hamsters, they produce more smelly pheromones during their estrous cycle.

I can’t say I’m too sure about other species, but my female and male Campbell/Russian Dwarf hamsters don’t omit strong pheromones such as the syrian species. I certainly recommend this product, it is affordable and works great! I love it and so do my fur babies.

This product gets an A; it certainly deserves it. :).

Got this to try out this winter to help my bunnies keep a little warmer and to prevent my bunny hutch from smelling since I usually try to cut hutch cleaning in half during the chilly winter months. This bedding seemed to do a super great job at keeping my bunnies warm during this frigid spell, they don’t eat it like they do their hay, so I didn’t worry about them eating tons of their bedding overnight and being cold.

As for the smell, I don’t think my bunnies have much of an odor unless I let their litter pan go for a super long time, so I’m not sure I can really give much of an opinion on the odor blocking. The bedding definitely doesn’t have a strong “coverup” smell I was worried it might have.

And thank goodness it doesn’t because my super strong sniffer doesn’t care for fake or chemical scents. Overall worked out well for my bunnies because it served its purpose to give my bunnies some extra bedding so they wouldn’t freeze.

The other reviews seem to be part of their “promotion”. I had to buy this bedding because my hamsters normal bedding was out. This bedding has zero odor control. We usually change her bedding after 2 weeks, and this one lasted 3 days, and the entire room stunk! We tried it again, and it only lasted 2 days.

I would not recommend this bedding unless you want to clean the cage every couple of days.

I love this product. It has 14 day odor control. Even though I change my pets bedding more often than that it really does a great job. It’s 99. 9% dust free which is great because I have allergies to a lot of dust particles on this earth.

LOL. I like how it’s so compact in the package and you just pull out a chunk and fluff it up.

this is my preferred bedding for my guineas. I switch between fleece blankets and bedding. It does keep the odor down, though I wouldn’t recommend going a full two weeks without cleaning as guinea pigs poo A LOT and get utis among other issues if it’s too unclean.

Guinea pigs can also really stink so this definitely helps because we all know, most of us don’t have the time to clean daily. My guineas also purr in glee whenever I switch it to this. I know a lot of people like fleece but I actually prefer bedding cause sometimes the poop is hard to remove off the fleece and no one wants that in their washing machine.

If you read what’s actually in this bedding it is NOT good for your pets! DO NOT BUY!!! This can cause your pets to get ill and or die! My HEALTHY hamster passed away in September when I started using this bedding.

The emergency vet said he was healthy as could be, asked if I changed anything in the cage and I said the bedding. I had brought the bag of bedding with me to the emergency vet and he said without a doubt that was the cause of death.

I have emailed the company and everything to get this specific bedding discontinued. I will always use the regular, non scented, non odor control Kaytee bedding.

I bought this a day ago because the local Petco had my usual white Clean and Cozy out of stock. It smells like air freshener, and is unbelievably dusty. I keep getting clumps of dust up my nose from it.

I immediately took it out of my hamster’s cage, as I don’t want to risk him getting any respiratory infections if the scent and dust was this strong to me. Hamsters have really fragile respiratory infections, so I don’t suggest this bedding.

Stick to the white Clean and Cozy.

This is the best bedding I have used. I use it as litter in a bunny litter box, and I change it once a day by just dumping the litter box into a garbage bag. Super easy. I have not noticed as much of a smell since switching to this bedding.

I have two bunnies. Kaytee Critter Litter is what I was using before, and it smelled horrible! This is also much more cost effective, I go through the 65 – L in two months. Maurer Critter Litter is $8 a bag and I go through one bag in 4 days.

Ridiculous!! I highly recommend this product!.

I bought this for mice. It DOES NOT stop odor for 14 days like the bag claims. Perhaps for some animals it will. But not for mice. Within a day or two there was already noticeable odor and after 3 days the odor was very strong and only getting worse.

However, that aside, it is similar in some ways to other paper beddings. OK but not great. Just like ALL of the other paper beddings I have tried. Also, the pieces of paper bedding are a bit large allowing the animals to pile up the bedding much more easily – with the drawback that they can pile it onto the water bottle tube and drain all of the water into the bottom of the cage.

Smaller sized bedding pieces are less prone to being piled quite so high by the animals. So less risk of water draining into the bottom of the cage. They did this a couple of times forcing me to change the bedding which was soaking wet.

Use with caution.

This is probably the best bedding I’ve tried for my hamsters, it’s easy to put in enough to give them a decent amount to tunnel through whilst still having loads left. Cleaned them out twice so far, pretty sure this will do double the amount their previous bedding will.

It also holds its shape for them really well, allowing them to create tunnels and nests. They love it. I love it. Recommend to anyone with little furry friends!.

For me personally, I prefer Kaytee bedding over other brands. Some of the bigger name brands smell worse to me and don’t feel as comfortable. This bedding isn’t perfect (but what bedding is). It does tend to carry a little more dust from the paper than I prefer, but I have seen a lot worse.

I also prefer this over wood shavings. I have more peace of mind using this. It seems to be more comfortable, smells better and I don’t have to worry about how it’s treated and such like I would have to if it were wood.

I prefer bedding that hasn’t been dyed so this is a better option. This product works the best for my situation. If you have a small cage for your hamster then this bedding is probably going to get stinky pretty quickly and you’ll need to change it out a lot more to avoid that.

Mine are in larger enclosures so smell isn’t an issue and this is why I like this bedding. It absorbs well and makes spot cleaning easy. I only recommend this for small rodents though. I do not see this working well for a guinea pig or anything larger than that.

I find this reasonably priced. It is a bit expensive, but I like buying from Chewy because it’s slightly cheaper. Overall I recommend this product for anything smaller than a guinea pig. Thanks Chewy for wonderful customer service!.

Previously I was using Kaytee’s white bedding and thought I’d switch to natural since I liked the white bedding and this was more for cheaper; I thought maybe I was paying more for it to be white when really the product is the same.

But no, this is a very different bedding. I have rabbits that use bedding in their litter boxes. That’s how they like it, and that’s how I like it; good bedding will keep odors under control so you don’t have to deep clean every day.

Anyway, the second I opened the bag I could tell how tissue-like and ineffective this bedding was going to be—one of my rabbits noticed too and tried to nibble some up (he likes tissue textures for some reason).

Ever since I started using this bedding, odors have been more obvious and harder to control. I feel like my rabbit pees once and half of the bedding gets soaked and stinky. I can’t wait to be done with this bag, so we can go back to quality litter like Carefresh or Kaytee’s clean and cozy white version.

So this is definitely softer than the “leading brand” once fluffed, but only once I spent 15 minutes breaking up the chunks. I’m not sure that part is worth it. Seems to control odor well. But I’ll probably get the other stuff again next time just because of the ease of pouring it in and walking away.

I do like how soft this is and my piggies do too; it just doesn’t seem worth the extra effort to break up the chunks.

I really regret buying Carefresh. I used to have megazorb which i thought was dusty but after buying Carefresh I know megazorb is better. At first there is nor dust but after a while it starts to look like a tissue that was put into a washing machine.

The white dust/fluff is all over the cage and starts to form a proper dust bunny army. Additionally if you have a rodent that likes to build tunnels then forget about carefresh – it does not hold any tunnel structures.

My gerbil is really disappointed and started peeing and pooping into his bedding which he would never do with previous bedding as he is potty trained.

i use this for my hamster, i know that some people have had issues with dust. personally i have not have any problems with dust but the large bag was a bit dusty. the smaller bags that i have received, i have received (4) have all been absolutely dust free.

i highly recommend these and i only use them now. they are also much much less dusty than any wood based bedding i have tried. i have had no problem with my hamster.

I thought that Carefresh was very good and it does what it says. However, I was disappointed that it only lasted a week. I must have misread the information as I thought it was 65L not that it expanded to 65L.

As I have quite a few guinea pigs it would work out too expensive for me to use. But if I only had one or two I wouldn’t hesitate to use it. The delivery was excellent.

This makes a great top layer of about 3-4 inch depth over the Tractor Supply Pine Pellet Animal Bedding in the cat’s litter boxes. Our cat is a senior female who does not like to step on the pellets or any other hard or rough/scratchy cat litter.

The soft paper Carefresh Small Pet Bedding is easy to step on and lasts a long time because the pellets below absorb most of the liquid. The pellets also absorb any litter box smells better than other litters we have tried.

(We avoid litters with fragrances added. ) Any soiled paper is easy to scoop up with the pellets. The clean paper layer is easy to push aside and re-distribute after scooping out wet pellets. One bag of paper lasts many weeks this way and there are 2 litter boxes in the house.

After reading many reviews about cats with this issue and not finding any good solutions, I thought of this one and it works. At first just a little paper was added and then increased gradually to make the change slowly, which most cats appreciate.

For those concerned about “tracking” only a few pieces of paper or pellets end up on the floor-it’s not a big deal (much cleaner than other litters so far. ).

The bag is small compared to another brand of the same volume amount. It is also not as tightly packed. It says on top that it expands to three times its size but I feel that this is not appropriate to say since the material is the same or almost the same as the other brand.

Works in a pinch! The price is a bit high for me and it doesn’t expand well like other bedding I’ve used. It does well with odors compared to using a wood shaving bedding. My rabbit doesn’t seem to care either way.

Good bedding for my rabbit! Virtually no odor when I clean his litter box every other day, and I like that it has no bleach or scents. Good for sensitive bunny noses 🙂

Carefresh is the best bedding, but I highly recommend the natural brown or white colors. The ones such as this purple one have extra additives and are processed differently. I had a guinea pig that lost his hair because he was allergic to the colors, but he was perfectly fine on the natural color.

Also be careful if you notice your animal eating this bedding it can cause impaction so you may need to switch to an alternative such as fleece. 3 stars for the brand name and bad additives for the color, I’d rate it 5 if it were the natural Carefresh.

I’ve used this for several years for rabbits as sawdust is just not good for small furries particularly if they have had any respiratory complaints. It is great for keeping them dry and comfy and has a low odour.

Only problems is the price!.

One bag is enough for four of my mouse cage cleans, bearing in mind it’s 3/4 new bedding 1/4 old bedding. Changed to carefresh due to the mouse getting irritated skin from sawdust and he’s doing much better!.

When I became a first time bunny owner in 2016 I tried nearly every single type of litter out there from pellets, wood-chips, and various paper type products. Nearly every one of them did not absorb urine well, and left my buns paws dirty, and house smelly.

The only safe bedding/litter that reduced the smell was Care fresh bedding. Is it more expensive than alternatives? Sure, but to me worth it to provide safe, clean, comfortable bedding that reduces the odor of my buns litter boxes.

To reduce waste, you can always scoop out areas that are soiled, and replace with fresh bedding daily. Something else to note, the bedding expands to a much larger quantity than the 60L bag. Maybe 5 times as much when it’s not compacted.

One bag lasts me about 1. 5 weeks with 2 small and 1 large box filled to 2-3 inches high, changed out every 2-3 days max. If it’s your first time trying care fresh, I think you will be pleased with how it reduces odor, and leaves your pet with clean/dry paws.

This is the second time I have returned this product back to the store. The first time I had purchased this brand from a different store. After opening that package the bedding was very dry and dusty.

It even had a moldy smell to it. For Petco I had ordered the package through pick up and after I got home I realized this was very dry with out even opening. I just returned it without even opening. It claims to be soft, but it definitely was not.

I personally will not purchase this brand again.

We normally get the white version of Carefresh bedding, and love it. Decided to give the natural a try. OMG. It smelled immediately like wet newspaper that a dog had peed on as soon as we opened the bag.

I figured it would dissipate, but for the next three days, it continued to get stronger as our 2 female guinea pigs did their business. I couldn’t even stand next to the cage because it smelled so bad.

I finally broke down on the 3rd day and emptied the cage. I just couldn’t tolerate my house spelling like pee and an unclear pet store as soon as I opened the door when I got home. Never again!!! Back to the white version.