Ferret odor can be very unpleasant for many people. Thus, this is the guide if you are also looking for the best ferret litter for odor control. Firstly, however, you need to pay attention to cleaning their cage because that’s the first place where the most odor comes from. Also, using the right litter will keep the ferret odor or smell minimal.
If you follow all these right, you must pay attention to the type of litter you use. If this is your first time, don’t worry; we will discuss the five best ferret litters that keep their odor at bay. But before I tell you the best ferret litter, you must understand the worst one you can ever use. Therefore, let’s first look at some of the worst you can ever use for your pet’s health & odor.
7 Worst Ferret Litter For Odour Control & Health Risk
According to the Winter Park Veterinary Hospital and ExoticDirect, some of the worst litter that you can ever use for ferrets’ health as well as odor control are as follows:
- Cedar Litters
- Pine Shavings Litters
- Clay Litters
- Scoopable Litters
- Corn Cob Litter
- Silica Based Litters
Note: Using the wrong type of litter can cause fatal blockage in your ferret nostril. Some may also stick to your ferret’s paws, eyes, and nose. Therefore, make sure you are avoiding all the litter that has been mentioned above. With that being said, some of the best ferret litter for odor control are:
5+ Best Ferret Litter For Odor Control
Paper Pellet Litter Completely Dust Free & Odourless Litter
According to the Forest Vets, paper pellet litter is considered completely dust-free & odorless litter, making it suitable for your ferrets. If you are looking for commercial options you can purchase and use without much effort, I will advise you to look at Fresh News Recycled Paper. If your ferret dislikes potty training sessions, you should consider using this litter.
Also, as stated by a ferret owner, this litter absorbs all kinds of odor and urine extremely well. Also, Kindle customers suggest that this pellet comes much larger than any other normal ferret litter, making it better at holding up normal ferret waste.
However, Kelley does warn against these paper pellets puffing up quite a bit, but they tend to be more affordable for ferrets than others. Also, Jody Koepke suggests that this litter is effective for ferrets and other critters that can’t deal with dusty litters. After using this, Karen Rowley found no dust, odor, or messiness.
Recycled Newspaper Pellets
According to the Winter Park Veterinary Hospital, recycled newspaper pellets are the best litter you can ever use for your ferret. Not only this, TreeHugger suggests that you can also turn paper waste into a recycled paper pellet at home and use it as a litter for your ferret. Follow the steps to make your paper pellet litter completely dust-free and odorless, making it 100% safe & healthy for your ferrets.
- The first thing you need is a paper shredder where you will shred some newspaper and collect it in an unused litter box.
- After that, you must soak all the shredded paper in warm water containing a biodegradable dish soap with a gentle stir. Hence, you will not notice the paper coming out very clean and the water turning grey.
- Once the paper has an appearance of cooked oatmeal consistency, you need to drain the water and repeat the soaking process in warm water, but this time without soap.
- Since you need an odorless paper pellet litter, I will advise you to also sprinkle some baking soda liberally on them and stir it into the mixture. I will advise you also to wear gloves so you don’t get ink on your hand.
- After mixing the baking soda properly on the wet paper, you must squeeze out the remaining moisture until the paper looks dry.
- After squeezing the remaining moisture as much as possible, crumble it over a screen to let it dry for a few days.
- After drying them properly, I will advise you to only use a couple of inches of paper crumbles into your ferret litter box and scoop the solid daily. You also need to change the paper crumbles once a week at least.
Corn Based Litter
Many ferret owners think corn-based litter is a poor choice for ferret odor, but it’s false. According to Exoticdirect, corn-based litter works fairly well in keeping your ferret odor and mess less. Also, the world’s BEST CAT LITTER Unscented is one of the most popular that is found to be effective for ferret odor and is backed by thousands of ratings WORLD’S BEST CAT LITTER Unscented; believe it or not, this litter will help you scoop up the solids like a dream while keeping your ferret smell down.
However, some can be very demanding pets. Hence, there is also a possibility that your ferret may also dislike this litter. According to a user, MoniM0, she tried the whole gradual change, but her ferret wouldn’t even touch the box filled with this litter. If this is the case, I recommend recycling paper-based litter. However, it’s worth giving this a litter try because users like Kimberley suggest that this is one of the best litter in the world you can ever have for your kitties & ferrets.
Pine-based Litter
Another great litter that reputed sites like Chewy recommend is said to be pine-based litter, which works fairly well at keeping your pet’s odor at bay. Many people believe that the ferret’s owner does not commonly use find-based litter for litter boxes, which isn’t true.
When researching this, I discovered that many ferret owners frequently use this litter and found it very effective for their pets. Feline Pine Platinum Non-Clumping Cat Litter is one pine-based litter backed by thousands of ratings and reviewed by many ferret owners. Ferret owners like Steffy Lynn & Nikki Schermbeck suggest that this litter works very well in absorbing smell & urine.
Plus, this one breaks down the solid perfectly as other litters do. Also, Katheryne Puentes suggests that this one improves the urine while making no mess or foul odor. Plus, it has no dust, and the pine scent smells great. A user, Ce Ce, suggests this is also the best thing to use for free-roam ferrets. And you can even let it go for two days without changing it. Due to the pine smell, you might like and appreciate this one, especially over the smell of your ferret urine.
Wood Pelleted Litter
One of the most frequently used litter that the Arizona Humane Society suggests for ferrets is thought to be wood pellet litters. This type of litter works exceptionally well in odor control and is 100% dust-free for a healthy home for ferrets. One such commercially available wood-clumping litter that is perfect for ferrets and makes less mess is said to be ökocat Less Mess Natural Wood Clumping Cat Litter.
When you use recycled paper litter for days, it starts to smell like ammonia, which isn’t the case with this one. This wood pellet litter can be a game changer for you, especially for multiple pets. Also, Tracy Meyer suggests that this litter will not stick to your pet’s litter pan or scoop.
On the other hand, Marilyn made us aware of the effectiveness of this litter in clumping the ferret urine into tight balls, thus making it easy to scoop from the bottom. If you are looking for the best ferret litters for odor control that have low dust, this is the one to look at, as suggested by Lilbitsva & Alexis.
Wheat Based Litter
Another great litter that doesn’t seem to be as popular as the newspaper one is said to be wheat-based litter. Many people believe that wheat-based litter is unsuitable for ferrets due to clumpiness. The American Ferret Association suggests that wheat-based litter works fairly well without clumping.
One such effective litter that has been tried & tested by many ferret owners is sWheat Scoop Natural Wheat Cat Litter. You can consider using this litter if you have more than one ferret to keep their space less smelly. As suggested by Stephanie Hawk, you will be surprised how well this works in keeping your ferret’s odor minimum without using an air purifier. Talking about air purifiers, we have also shared an in-depth guide on some of the best air purifiers for ferret odor for you to check out.
Conclusion
I hope now you know some of the best ferret litters for odor control that many reputed sites & researchers suggest. If I were at your place, I would have gone with the newspaper pellet or corn-based litter, as suggested above. However, it depends on your preference, budget, and how well your finicky pet accepts it.
It’s highly advised to avoid all the litters mentioned above tagged as the worst worn. Also, to know more about other options, you can consider checking my guide on the best cat litter for ferrets; if you find this article helpful, consider sharing it. Your share will help many people learn what litter works for ferrets and what’s not. Also, I will advise you to check my other guides on this website that provide helpful tips on keeping ferret odor to a minimum and keeping the pet healthy as much as possible. See you in the next post, til take care and goodbye.
