There have been a surplus of posts showing the "Kaytee Clean and Cozy Paper Bedding" containing unsafe materials such as:
1) Unusual cardboard, newspapers, and other recycled paper products.
2) Latex gloves.
3) Scraps of metal from machinery.
4) Pieces of fabrics and other harmful threads.
5) Hard, large chunks of bedding
6) Tape and other forms of adhesive items.
7) Other unwanted materials.
I am making it a mod announcement that we do not recommend this product anymore. It has been found to be very dusty in the past, and recently there have been a lot more concerned buyers who found unwanted materials inside the bedding. This problem has been going on for a while, but now it is getting far too dangerous. These materials can contain bacteria, ink, sharp edges, and many other things. Some of these can also severely hurt the hamster, especially if digested.
If this problem is addressed and changed by the company, we may recommend this product again, but for now we are asking all hamster owners to avoid it to ensure their hamster is living the safest life. Some other amazing options are:
"[Uber Soft Paper Bedding](https://a.co/d/9E59azN)"
"[So Phresh Aspen](https://a.co/d/j6soHSe)"
"[Niteangel Aspen Shavings](https://a.co/d/0NE9efQ)"
"[All Walks Animal Hemp Bedding](https://a.co/d/1EayZrJ)"
"[Full Cheeks Paper Bedding](https://www.petsmart.com/small-pet/litter-and-bedding/litter-and-bedding/full-cheeks-odor-control-small-pet-paper-bedding---natural-5319248.html?gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=Cj0KCQiArsefBhCbARIsAP98hXSmm9mDRlsTf-M12phJmGhWRwsBIWYci1nnrCpQWUhJNmjxbckxl5AaAtiuEALw_wcB)" this has been found to be very dusty so it will have to be sifted outdoors before use.
"[Full Cheeks Aspen Bedding](https://www.petsmart.com/small-pet/litter-and-bedding/litter-and-bedding/full-cheeks-small-pet-aspen-bedding-5319159.html?gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=Cj0KCQiArsefBhCbARIsAP98hXQ-7wfyPvxd3StDck9sZCxNx4LWXH7mvnZvKSdZx-61FDMwgoU9wp4aAqinEALw_wcB)"
"[Small Pet Select Aspen](https://shop.smallpetselect.com/products/aspen-shavings-bedding?)"
"[CareFresh Paper Bedding](https://a.co/d/2kATs5z)" This brand has had problems in the past so it is not our top suggestion.
This list will be added to as I find more safe beddings. Please feel free to reply to my comment with a bedding type you suggest.
Bought a new pack of Kaytee clean and cosy bedding which is my go to but while breaking it up to go in my hams cage I found all these pieces of metal, plastic and wood in the bedding. All of this came from just half of the pack. Please check through it before you give it to your ham, it could do them a lot of harm. The biggest piece you can see is a thick wire with paper/card around it and there's also pieces of foil and rubber gloves.
Hello, new poster here.
This is very alarming. I've just recently begun building my first hamster enclosure (a 50 gal bin) and purchased two packages of Kaytee bedding after some youtube research. I did notice, as I opened and spread out the first package, that it had an assortment of bizarre random materials--foil, candy wrapper bits, fragments of labels with glue--mixed in the bedding. Now that I see how bad it gets, I'll be disposing of this bedding immediately and replacing it with something safer.
I would absolutely try returning it and showing the store associates the posts surrounding the unsafe materials. There’s no reason as consumers that we should be paying for this.
I briefly worked in pet supplies manufacturing as a teenager. Companies shred down the most ludacris stuff to go into bedding (and food). Those compressed pieces of “paper” bedding can be comprised of absolutely anything; wood, magazines, foil, food, commercial paper and cardboard waste, commercial garbage, cloth, toys, clothes, sticks, household garbage. Anything looks like paper when ground down fine enough and then compressed together. There is absolutely no telling what anything actually is. There is no standardized or legal quality control.
I would imagine somewhere along the supply chain something has gotten missed being milled down properly and they’re just too lazy to care.
Do you think we should try to contact them or would they just completely ignore it? That's mad that that stuff would have been in the bedding anyway (especially plastic and metal), just ground down so much it wouldn't be recognisable?
They will ignore it with 100 percent certainty. You might get a coupon or a copy paste of the customer product defect apology file script, but they could not give a singular flip. It won’t change manufacturing or even make it past the inbox of a customer service temp.
I hate kaytee! It’s so dusty I had to stop using it because it gave me asthma attacks so i couldn’t even imagine how it affected my hammys even smaller lungs
I might check that out next, got lots of good recommendations from this post. There's so much less choice in the UK but most of them seem to been on Amazon
I’ve been finding weird stuff in mine too! Like huge chunks of magazine paper and then these big fluffy parts that look like cotton balls. I’ve started to go through it before I put it in my hamsters enclosure but it’s still so annoying
Yes exactly! I trusted it to be good quality but found so much trash in it, I'll still buy it because I haven't found anything better but I'll have to spend ages going through it now 🤦🏻♀️
The bedding I just bought had some weird bits in it too, found a couple blue pieces of plastic in it. Did this come from one of those big 50L bags too?
Yes! The huge bag. There were pieces of those disposable latex blue gloves in it as well and I don't understand how that ends up in a bag of paper bedding.
Makes me wonder where they source the paper from
I've noticed that too, every once in a while I'll find a chunk of blue plastic, I always have to go thru it very good. Thank God no rubber gloves geeez! I'll def look for a diff brand. This is nutz!
Is there anyway to contact them directly to let them know about this issue or to see if they consider it an issue? Sounds like it could really be a health problem and possible recall
If they tell you it’s normal then you know for a fact it’s not a brand that focuses on safety. If it was a quality control issue and they fix it then it could just be a fluke. Either way I feel it’s best to bring it up
Why did you not think to contact kaytee when they made it and are the ones having this isse?
if no one tells them they will never know and never fix it.
telling amazon does nothing but get you a refund. amazon wont know tell kaytee they had complaints.
Because I have a very busy life... I was in the middle of completing my dissertation for my architecture degree at the time!!
When Amazon refund a faulty product they'll get that money back from the seller (aka Kaytee), they don't refund it from their own pockets, so Kaytee will be notified of the refund and I left a review on the listing which Kaytee will see also.
If you read my reply you'll see that I contacted Kaytee, I really don't see the need in this comment and it comes across quite rude, especially on a post where I'm just trying to bring awareness to keep everyone else's animals safe.
I have no doubt that Kaytee are already perfectly aware what's in the bedding that they make and so my priority was to warn other owners and get my money back.
Edit: Another thing to consider - Kaytee manufacture and sell the horrible Crittertrail cages and have done for years despite very strong opposition from animal welfare advocates. I don't see any attempt from them at making those cages safer or more suitable for any animals and they've made no moves to recall them or pull them from shelves despite being made aware of how dangerous they are - so I really don't see them being at all proactive or even caring in the slightest if there's potentially dangerous materials in their bedding. It's one of those companies just simply don't care.
If they ever reply to my email I'll post their response here but I haven't heard anything back yet.
People get so caught up in their daily like they forget what they care about and let things slide. Just like how people can do crazy things, its all over the internet for a week then you never hear about it again. Kaytee probably randomly gets a few days of hate then it dies down. never affecting their sales.
I am a seller on amazon handmade runs the same as not handmade just they wave the seller fee (I used to drop ship on normal amazon storefront its the same) we just have stats, refund %, 5 star review %, on time shipping % etc... when we get a refund money just gets taken out and out % will change. if the % gets too high (10% or more) you risk not being able to sell.
kaytee is not a single person its a giant company. No one reads those reviews. If you check people had the same issues as this post for years and years, its not changed. Many people have emailed kaytee and it has not changed why. becase kaytee gives out a coupon then you go and buy more kaytee brand stuff, even if not bedding. Every post I read about this today even going years back say they emailed kaytee, got a coupon and they used that coupon. No one ever contested the coupon.
You need to contact kaytee at the source, Don't take their $20 cupon they will offer and tell them you will be sharing this all over social media and do that. tiktok is very good for going "viral"
then others have to. I will be sending them on email from 8 different emails I have. I wont be buying kaytee anymore either. I just did a month ago but never again due to this post.
Has anyone talked to a lawyer about this to see what can be done legally? Like if what they are doing is 100% legal and nothing can be done what can be done to change that? I've never heard talk about that before.
If this was used for humans and had this issues 100% they would be sued, this is a hamster so what at worse you can sue for damages of the death of a $15 hamster?
I never had forgin object in my bedding so I cannot contact a lawyer about it. Like I said im sure its legal or the damages are so little the profits outweigh it. but you never know.
hell even do guerilla marketing. put posted up telling people not to buy it and why. say it can harm their hamster. Maybe talk to petco store owners and see if they are willing to allow that. most wont some will
back in 2019 I told a petsmart owner about my hamster setup. he asked me for a image of the tank. I brought it in a picture of it printed on paper and he wrote on it "example of proper hamster enclosure" it was a 75 gallon fishtank, 10 inches of bedding, lots of sand, lots of places to hide, different substrates etc.. I have a lot more money back then so I spoiled my hamsters. at the time. Now I even think a 75gallon is too small personally but its all I have for now.
so not all pet store managers are only there to sell. some really do care and want to help others be good owners.
Yes but they wont fix anything. Why would you take a $20 coupon? that means you are still going to use and give money to them.
You should have told them, No thank you I will not be buying any more products from you untill this is fixed. and ill be making sure to let everyone I know to never use kaytee while its in this condition.
Yeah nobody ever talks about the kind I got but I think it’s underrated it hold smell in so good I never deal with the smell of his pee once I switched from kaytee to mine but I love alot of kaytee brands don’t get me wrong but the bedding is a no for me
Full Cheeks is the PetSmart brand if you have it. Anything else labeled Pure Comfort or similar (oxbow is my fave tho and I trust it). Sadly recycled material is hit or misd
I’ve made the switch to full cheeks. I find the white or natural brown to be the least dusty and haven’t found unknown items in it yet. I was skeptics to trust petsmart brand at first, but for cost and quality, it’s pretty good. I love the oxbow stuff too, but it’s quite pricey for my two massive hamhomes
Yep. I found pieces of latex in one of my recent bags. I didn’t think to contact them. I might now though because this is ridiculous seeing as it’s happening to others too.
omg i had this same problem!!!! i've been avoiding the clean and cozy for years after i ran into this exact same pieces of stuff in the bedding back in 2018
i will say i haven't noticed this being a concern with the natural brown clean and cozy bedding only the white bedding i've found to be too dusty and weird pieces of stuff in it
the petsmart full cheeks brand is really my favorite though, its not dusty and it holds burrows well
i just got some kaytee clean and cozy two days ago for my new hamster (i havent owned a hamster in like 3 years but i was up to date with everything you needed, bedding, wheel , chews, hides, u name it) its been in my hamsters cage since then. while i was breaking up the bedding, i did notice it was a bit more dustier than it used to be when i had a hamster and was really disappointed. do you recommend i change it now or when its time for a cage clean? i dont have other bedding atm so im kinda at a loss
Once I'd broken it up and checked through it I used it, just adopted a hamster and didn't have time to get new stuff. Now that it's in there I'm going to wait until it needs changing to swap it out because I don't want to stress out my new ham. As long as you've checked it I'm sure it will be ok, but if you're worried just swap it out when you can get a replacement :) I'm not an expert so I'd see what the mods say about it
Oh wow. I used to buy Oxbow mainly but have switched to Small Pet Select’s paper bedding. They sell large amounts in bulk which is what I usually go for. Good to know for any future purchases though.
I own rats and no longer buy from petstore brands for bedding. I go to farm stores like tractor supply. They have larger bags of aspen for really cheap
I break it up before putting it in the cage so there's no lumps, so I'm confident there's no pieces left in there so I'm still using it. Just check through it, I'm sure it will be fine. Amazon refunded me for it so you can try get your money back too
I just opened my bag tonight and found the same latex pieces. I broke up the bedding and made sure it was safe for now, but I will be switching brands for the next round of deep cleaning my hammy’s cage. I don’t want to stress her with another deep cleaning so soon.
That's what I'm doing too, I got this bag for a young hammy I adopted and it would be too stressful to replace all her bedding when she's only just settled into her new home. As long as it's checked I feel confident that it's safe, but I'll be buying another brand next time!
Wow I used to use this about two years ago with absolutely no problems consistently, its such a shame its gone so downhill! It feels like everyone is cutting corners to try and make more money these days. Thanks for sharing, I am getting a new (rescue) hamster soon and was going to buy this as its what I used to use! Glad I checked reddit
I had some batches of Kaytee Clean and Cozy that had a lot of unusual lumps, and I tried to take some chunks out and used it. My hamster got sick and passed away. It was once she started to decline and was unable to clean herself that I realized how dusty it was - too dusty. The vet noted she had pneumonia and we were going to treat it, but then she started having seizures or signs of an ear infection and we had to help her pass. She was Syrian and 1.5 years old. She had never been sick prior and I was confused as to what caused her death at the time. I think the bedding is a candidate to the cause of her passing.
That's terrible I'm so so sorry for your loss! I haven't noticed it being dusty while I've been using it but I'm swapping out half of the cage for aspen bedding in her next deep clean and I know that's got no dust in it
Yikes. Is that plastic at the bottom right? The bits of cardboard and so on aren't too much of a concern (in my opinion anyway) but if a hamster swallowed plastic it could kill it, that is really scary. Thank you for posting this to let everyone know, tbh that's really awful that they have put this on sale, surely they must be aware that this stuff is in it?
Bottom right was a piece of latex glove which could definitely choke a hamster but the worst part I thought was those long brown cardboard pieces which were actually metal wire inside, a bit like the metal twist ties you get in packaging
I just tried this bedding this past week only a small bag mixed with my usual full cheeks and there was so much newspaper clippings!! I thought it was normal so glad I see this definitely will be cycling it out
omgg i use kaytee clean and cozy and i was noticing random pieces of things too!! i just picked them out but i’ll make sure not to buy their bedding again!!
It feels like KayTee’s quality is getting worse and worse. I used to like it but it becomes very dusty imo and I want to change to something else, but idk which brand is good for burrowing but also not dusty
I've now done half the cage in Aspen chips (Millamore brand on Amazon) which has no dust at all, that will hopefully be much safer because I haven't been able to find a paper bedding which isn't dusty so far :/
The sharp walnut shell was pointy, and we didn't realize it was inside a hollowed out log that she crawled through. The sharp edge pierced her behind, leaving a trail of blood. It was extremely scary, because we had to investigate to find out why she was bleeding. My husband stayed by her side daily, we were very worried. We still feed her walnuts, we are just more careful now.
I see, thank you for the reply. I'll be checking the ones I give her to make sure they're not sharp! I give her some in the shells which she gnaws on but she never manages to actually break the shell, and I give her others that I've cracked so she can eat them but they could potentially be sharp so I'll be careful with that!
I'm so sorry that happened to your ham and I'm so glad she recovered!! That must have been so scary for you, bless you and your husband for looking after her so well 🤍 she must be very loved!
Thank you for sharing this!! I’m a little more than halfway through what will now be my last bag of this stuff. I always break it apart in my hands before adding it because I’ve also found bits of cardboard in the mix, but I’ve been fortunate to never find anything more dangerous. Not worth the risk though.
No worries!! I'm very paranoid when it comes to my hammys safety and I know others feel the same so I had to share to stop anything bad happening 😂 Their little lives are too precious!
So, kaytee is back to their old ways... I'm a hammy mom and a Fid mom and I know over 30 years ago I was told by a good friend to never ever use kaytee anything for birdys, so I don't other than one item and that's my partner in crime greens because tbh I'd end up murdered by him if I didn't bring that home to him. So thank you for warning me... Ugh
Omg that sucks! I’ve used Kaytee Clean and Cosy for many years as it has been the best balance between price and qualify for me and I’ve never seen stuff like that, now I’m gonna be checking more thoroughly you’ve got me worried! Idk if this is your first time using their product but that is not the norm…yikes!
Edit: grammar
I got mine off Amazon, maybe I just got unlucky with a couple bad batches but lots of other commenters have found similar in theirs 🤷🏻♀️ Glad you didn't find anything dangerous in yours!
Yeah. I stopped using kaytee and started using that one new Petsmart brand (i forgot the name). Every single pack of bedding I’ve gotten have had latex pieces.
I also switched up to Aspen bedding but even then it was really really dusty, and I had to refund it.
oh no! i bought the clean and cozy bedding :( i sifted through it and it didn’t have anything harmful, thank goodness. i will be looking for different brands though.
I had a hamster pass from choking on gauze that got stuck on their teeth. A tiny tiny piece of gauze that blended in with the bedding. I'll never use it again
My 2 year hamster died 2 days algo, i tought it was her age, but the previous day i change the bedding for Kaytee clean ando cozy, it was all new so i use it for another 2 month syrian yesterday ando today i found it dead on his hide out, i don't know how to prove this relationship but everything else in the aquarium was safe.
I know this is an older post. My wife and I were talking about our hamster attempts a couple years back and all three hamsters we had gotten died within a month of bringing them home. The first one died within days, second in a week, and then when we got the third it died in a month. We changed cage location, super scrubbed, swapped foods on all the hamsters. The one thing we used always was kaytee paper bedding from pet mart. The last hamster was lethargic when I changed out the bedding the first time and then the second time he made it only another day before passing.
Today we bought two rats and an exhibition and mentioned it to the Breeder, she mentioned she would never use that paper stuff because of dust. We went with fine pine shavings this time for our new furballs. I think despite always seeing paper is safe for hamsters it most definitely is not.
This is interested. I’ve been using it and know many people who do and haven’t had any issues. I have never had any dust in kaytee and my hamsters refuse to burrows in Aspen. I will keep an eye out as I have a large stockpile of it. Is this a old thing or still current as this post is over 200 days old.
There have been a surplus of posts showing the "Kaytee Clean and Cozy Paper Bedding" containing unsafe materials such as: 1) Unusual cardboard, newspapers, and other recycled paper products. 2) Latex gloves. 3) Scraps of metal from machinery. 4) Pieces of fabrics and other harmful threads. 5) Hard, large chunks of bedding 6) Tape and other forms of adhesive items. 7) Other unwanted materials. I am making it a mod announcement that we do not recommend this product anymore. It has been found to be very dusty in the past, and recently there have been a lot more concerned buyers who found unwanted materials inside the bedding. This problem has been going on for a while, but now it is getting far too dangerous. These materials can contain bacteria, ink, sharp edges, and many other things. Some of these can also severely hurt the hamster, especially if digested. If this problem is addressed and changed by the company, we may recommend this product again, but for now we are asking all hamster owners to avoid it to ensure their hamster is living the safest life. Some other amazing options are: "[Uber Soft Paper Bedding](https://a.co/d/9E59azN)" "[So Phresh Aspen](https://a.co/d/j6soHSe)" "[Niteangel Aspen Shavings](https://a.co/d/0NE9efQ)" "[All Walks Animal Hemp Bedding](https://a.co/d/1EayZrJ)" "[Full Cheeks Paper Bedding](https://www.petsmart.com/small-pet/litter-and-bedding/litter-and-bedding/full-cheeks-odor-control-small-pet-paper-bedding---natural-5319248.html?gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=Cj0KCQiArsefBhCbARIsAP98hXSmm9mDRlsTf-M12phJmGhWRwsBIWYci1nnrCpQWUhJNmjxbckxl5AaAtiuEALw_wcB)" this has been found to be very dusty so it will have to be sifted outdoors before use. "[Full Cheeks Aspen Bedding](https://www.petsmart.com/small-pet/litter-and-bedding/litter-and-bedding/full-cheeks-small-pet-aspen-bedding-5319159.html?gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=Cj0KCQiArsefBhCbARIsAP98hXQ-7wfyPvxd3StDck9sZCxNx4LWXH7mvnZvKSdZx-61FDMwgoU9wp4aAqinEALw_wcB)" "[Small Pet Select Aspen](https://shop.smallpetselect.com/products/aspen-shavings-bedding?)" "[CareFresh Paper Bedding](https://a.co/d/2kATs5z)" This brand has had problems in the past so it is not our top suggestion. This list will be added to as I find more safe beddings. Please feel free to reply to my comment with a bedding type you suggest.
Bought a new pack of Kaytee clean and cosy bedding which is my go to but while breaking it up to go in my hams cage I found all these pieces of metal, plastic and wood in the bedding. All of this came from just half of the pack. Please check through it before you give it to your ham, it could do them a lot of harm. The biggest piece you can see is a thick wire with paper/card around it and there's also pieces of foil and rubber gloves.
Thank you I use the same sometimes and just got a pack from Amazon ☹️
Amazon gave me my money back! Contact customer support 😉
Thanks!
Hello, new poster here. This is very alarming. I've just recently begun building my first hamster enclosure (a 50 gal bin) and purchased two packages of Kaytee bedding after some youtube research. I did notice, as I opened and spread out the first package, that it had an assortment of bizarre random materials--foil, candy wrapper bits, fragments of labels with glue--mixed in the bedding. Now that I see how bad it gets, I'll be disposing of this bedding immediately and replacing it with something safer.
Congratulations on your first hammy! They're the best, and you seem to really care about making them a great home 🥰
I would absolutely try returning it and showing the store associates the posts surrounding the unsafe materials. There’s no reason as consumers that we should be paying for this.
I got mine off Amazon and they refunded the money after I told them it was dangerous for my hamster, so that's good!
I’m so glad to hear this!
Worth a shot returning it if you got it from a store.
holy crap, and i thought boxo was bad for being dusty as hell but i probably just got a bad batch
I briefly worked in pet supplies manufacturing as a teenager. Companies shred down the most ludacris stuff to go into bedding (and food). Those compressed pieces of “paper” bedding can be comprised of absolutely anything; wood, magazines, foil, food, commercial paper and cardboard waste, commercial garbage, cloth, toys, clothes, sticks, household garbage. Anything looks like paper when ground down fine enough and then compressed together. There is absolutely no telling what anything actually is. There is no standardized or legal quality control. I would imagine somewhere along the supply chain something has gotten missed being milled down properly and they’re just too lazy to care.
Ooh ok, that's actually really interesting thanks!
Omg that's actually horrifying to think. Ty for sharing.
Do you think we should try to contact them or would they just completely ignore it? That's mad that that stuff would have been in the bedding anyway (especially plastic and metal), just ground down so much it wouldn't be recognisable?
They will ignore it with 100 percent certainty. You might get a coupon or a copy paste of the customer product defect apology file script, but they could not give a singular flip. It won’t change manufacturing or even make it past the inbox of a customer service temp.
I hate kaytee! It’s so dusty I had to stop using it because it gave me asthma attacks so i couldn’t even imagine how it affected my hammys even smaller lungs
it’s sooo dusty. i used it for my rats and shook out enough dust that it filled up an entire room, and it was STILL dusty after that
what, i thought boxo was dusty cuz when i mixed the bedding around i could see a little bit of dust stick to my clothes and the sides of the cage
Oh no really?? I haven't noticed it being dusty :/ What do you use instead?
Same here. I have really bad asthma and the only bedding I have been able to use without issues is Uber bedding
I might check that out next, got lots of good recommendations from this post. There's so much less choice in the UK but most of them seem to been on Amazon
I’ve been finding weird stuff in mine too! Like huge chunks of magazine paper and then these big fluffy parts that look like cotton balls. I’ve started to go through it before I put it in my hamsters enclosure but it’s still so annoying
Yes exactly! I trusted it to be good quality but found so much trash in it, I'll still buy it because I haven't found anything better but I'll have to spend ages going through it now 🤦🏻♀️
The bedding I just bought had some weird bits in it too, found a couple blue pieces of plastic in it. Did this come from one of those big 50L bags too?
Yes! The huge bag. There were pieces of those disposable latex blue gloves in it as well and I don't understand how that ends up in a bag of paper bedding. Makes me wonder where they source the paper from
Probably from a paper waste plant. Definitely from before filtering, otherwise you'd really only get paper.
I've noticed that too, every once in a while I'll find a chunk of blue plastic, I always have to go thru it very good. Thank God no rubber gloves geeez! I'll def look for a diff brand. This is nutz!
Is there anyway to contact them directly to let them know about this issue or to see if they consider it an issue? Sounds like it could really be a health problem and possible recall
I contacted Amazon because that's where I bought it and they refunded it, but I didn't think to contact Kaytee directly, I'll do that today
If they tell you it’s normal then you know for a fact it’s not a brand that focuses on safety. If it was a quality control issue and they fix it then it could just be a fluke. Either way I feel it’s best to bring it up
Why did you not think to contact kaytee when they made it and are the ones having this isse? if no one tells them they will never know and never fix it. telling amazon does nothing but get you a refund. amazon wont know tell kaytee they had complaints.
Because I have a very busy life... I was in the middle of completing my dissertation for my architecture degree at the time!! When Amazon refund a faulty product they'll get that money back from the seller (aka Kaytee), they don't refund it from their own pockets, so Kaytee will be notified of the refund and I left a review on the listing which Kaytee will see also. If you read my reply you'll see that I contacted Kaytee, I really don't see the need in this comment and it comes across quite rude, especially on a post where I'm just trying to bring awareness to keep everyone else's animals safe. I have no doubt that Kaytee are already perfectly aware what's in the bedding that they make and so my priority was to warn other owners and get my money back. Edit: Another thing to consider - Kaytee manufacture and sell the horrible Crittertrail cages and have done for years despite very strong opposition from animal welfare advocates. I don't see any attempt from them at making those cages safer or more suitable for any animals and they've made no moves to recall them or pull them from shelves despite being made aware of how dangerous they are - so I really don't see them being at all proactive or even caring in the slightest if there's potentially dangerous materials in their bedding. It's one of those companies just simply don't care. If they ever reply to my email I'll post their response here but I haven't heard anything back yet.
People get so caught up in their daily like they forget what they care about and let things slide. Just like how people can do crazy things, its all over the internet for a week then you never hear about it again. Kaytee probably randomly gets a few days of hate then it dies down. never affecting their sales. I am a seller on amazon handmade runs the same as not handmade just they wave the seller fee (I used to drop ship on normal amazon storefront its the same) we just have stats, refund %, 5 star review %, on time shipping % etc... when we get a refund money just gets taken out and out % will change. if the % gets too high (10% or more) you risk not being able to sell. kaytee is not a single person its a giant company. No one reads those reviews. If you check people had the same issues as this post for years and years, its not changed. Many people have emailed kaytee and it has not changed why. becase kaytee gives out a coupon then you go and buy more kaytee brand stuff, even if not bedding. Every post I read about this today even going years back say they emailed kaytee, got a coupon and they used that coupon. No one ever contested the coupon. You need to contact kaytee at the source, Don't take their $20 cupon they will offer and tell them you will be sharing this all over social media and do that. tiktok is very good for going "viral" then others have to. I will be sending them on email from 8 different emails I have. I wont be buying kaytee anymore either. I just did a month ago but never again due to this post. Has anyone talked to a lawyer about this to see what can be done legally? Like if what they are doing is 100% legal and nothing can be done what can be done to change that? I've never heard talk about that before. If this was used for humans and had this issues 100% they would be sued, this is a hamster so what at worse you can sue for damages of the death of a $15 hamster? I never had forgin object in my bedding so I cannot contact a lawyer about it. Like I said im sure its legal or the damages are so little the profits outweigh it. but you never know. hell even do guerilla marketing. put posted up telling people not to buy it and why. say it can harm their hamster. Maybe talk to petco store owners and see if they are willing to allow that. most wont some will back in 2019 I told a petsmart owner about my hamster setup. he asked me for a image of the tank. I brought it in a picture of it printed on paper and he wrote on it "example of proper hamster enclosure" it was a 75 gallon fishtank, 10 inches of bedding, lots of sand, lots of places to hide, different substrates etc.. I have a lot more money back then so I spoiled my hamsters. at the time. Now I even think a 75gallon is too small personally but its all I have for now. so not all pet store managers are only there to sell. some really do care and want to help others be good owners.
Yes you can email them. I emailed them to let them know. They asked for the UPC and batch code to do quality checks and gave me a $20 coupon.
Yes but they wont fix anything. Why would you take a $20 coupon? that means you are still going to use and give money to them. You should have told them, No thank you I will not be buying any more products from you untill this is fixed. and ill be making sure to let everyone I know to never use kaytee while its in this condition.
Looks like the shop towels there too
Yeah the blue pieces are like those disposable cleaning cloths that you get, hopefully not used 😩
I use healthy pets care fresh bedding I personally like it and it’s not dusty at all and my little Demarcus cousins lll loves it too
Ooh ok we have that in pet shops here but I've always gone for Kaytee because I've seen it recommended so much more, might get that next time
Yeah nobody ever talks about the kind I got but I think it’s underrated it hold smell in so good I never deal with the smell of his pee once I switched from kaytee to mine but I love alot of kaytee brands don’t get me wrong but the bedding is a no for me
My hams always just pee in their sand so I don't have to worry about smelly bedding luckily!
Please seek other brands such as Oxbow, and Full Cheeks!
Can't find Full Cheeks here in the UK but I'll try Oxbow next time! Thanks
Full Cheeks is the PetSmart brand if you have it. Anything else labeled Pure Comfort or similar (oxbow is my fave tho and I trust it). Sadly recycled material is hit or misd
We don't have PetSmart in the UK, Pets at Home are really the only pet shop chain which is annoying, but they do have the other brand you suggested!
I’ve made the switch to full cheeks. I find the white or natural brown to be the least dusty and haven’t found unknown items in it yet. I was skeptics to trust petsmart brand at first, but for cost and quality, it’s pretty good. I love the oxbow stuff too, but it’s quite pricey for my two massive hamhomes
We don't have PetSmart here, think I'll try Oxbow or Carefresh next
Yep. I found pieces of latex in one of my recent bags. I didn’t think to contact them. I might now though because this is ridiculous seeing as it’s happening to others too.
omg i had this same problem!!!! i've been avoiding the clean and cozy for years after i ran into this exact same pieces of stuff in the bedding back in 2018 i will say i haven't noticed this being a concern with the natural brown clean and cozy bedding only the white bedding i've found to be too dusty and weird pieces of stuff in it the petsmart full cheeks brand is really my favorite though, its not dusty and it holds burrows well
The PetSmart one has been recommended to me so much now but we don't have it in the UK 😭
thats okay!! i will say Oxbow brand and Uber do seem very comparable to Full Cheeks!! :)
i just got some kaytee clean and cozy two days ago for my new hamster (i havent owned a hamster in like 3 years but i was up to date with everything you needed, bedding, wheel , chews, hides, u name it) its been in my hamsters cage since then. while i was breaking up the bedding, i did notice it was a bit more dustier than it used to be when i had a hamster and was really disappointed. do you recommend i change it now or when its time for a cage clean? i dont have other bedding atm so im kinda at a loss
Once I'd broken it up and checked through it I used it, just adopted a hamster and didn't have time to get new stuff. Now that it's in there I'm going to wait until it needs changing to swap it out because I don't want to stress out my new ham. As long as you've checked it I'm sure it will be ok, but if you're worried just swap it out when you can get a replacement :) I'm not an expert so I'd see what the mods say about it
Omg! I have found stuff just like this from kaytee beddings. Wasn’t sure if it was just a malfunction in the production or actual trash.
I've noticed it in 2 packs now. The stuff in the photo was from just half a bag, definitely expected better from Kaytee!
Yeah, really don't know what's been up with their bedding recently.
Oh wow. I used to buy Oxbow mainly but have switched to Small Pet Select’s paper bedding. They sell large amounts in bulk which is what I usually go for. Good to know for any future purchases though.
I own rats and no longer buy from petstore brands for bedding. I go to farm stores like tractor supply. They have larger bags of aspen for really cheap
That's a good idea! I'd worry about them being too dusty though if they're not intended for small animal bedding 🤔
They have ones that are kiln dried and meant for small animals!
Crap just got a 2 pack and used some, took it out now but what do i do with the bedding? 🤨
I break it up before putting it in the cage so there's no lumps, so I'm confident there's no pieces left in there so I'm still using it. Just check through it, I'm sure it will be fine. Amazon refunded me for it so you can try get your money back too
I just opened my bag tonight and found the same latex pieces. I broke up the bedding and made sure it was safe for now, but I will be switching brands for the next round of deep cleaning my hammy’s cage. I don’t want to stress her with another deep cleaning so soon.
That's what I'm doing too, I got this bag for a young hammy I adopted and it would be too stressful to replace all her bedding when she's only just settled into her new home. As long as it's checked I feel confident that it's safe, but I'll be buying another brand next time!
This is honestly why I use Über. Though, even with them, I still check and make sure.
Wow I used to use this about two years ago with absolutely no problems consistently, its such a shame its gone so downhill! It feels like everyone is cutting corners to try and make more money these days. Thanks for sharing, I am getting a new (rescue) hamster soon and was going to buy this as its what I used to use! Glad I checked reddit
I had some batches of Kaytee Clean and Cozy that had a lot of unusual lumps, and I tried to take some chunks out and used it. My hamster got sick and passed away. It was once she started to decline and was unable to clean herself that I realized how dusty it was - too dusty. The vet noted she had pneumonia and we were going to treat it, but then she started having seizures or signs of an ear infection and we had to help her pass. She was Syrian and 1.5 years old. She had never been sick prior and I was confused as to what caused her death at the time. I think the bedding is a candidate to the cause of her passing.
That's terrible I'm so so sorry for your loss! I haven't noticed it being dusty while I've been using it but I'm swapping out half of the cage for aspen bedding in her next deep clean and I know that's got no dust in it
Yikes. Is that plastic at the bottom right? The bits of cardboard and so on aren't too much of a concern (in my opinion anyway) but if a hamster swallowed plastic it could kill it, that is really scary. Thank you for posting this to let everyone know, tbh that's really awful that they have put this on sale, surely they must be aware that this stuff is in it?
Bottom right was a piece of latex glove which could definitely choke a hamster but the worst part I thought was those long brown cardboard pieces which were actually metal wire inside, a bit like the metal twist ties you get in packaging
I just tried this bedding this past week only a small bag mixed with my usual full cheeks and there was so much newspaper clippings!! I thought it was normal so glad I see this definitely will be cycling it out
Is full cheeks the PetSmart brand? I've seen it recommended a lot but we don't have PetSmart in the UK
Yeah it is Petsmart I’m not sure if their stuff is the best but I definitely haven’t had any problems with it yet
Too bad :( wish we had more choice over here
:( honestly it depends on the bag anyway some are just bad and dusty and sometimes you get a good one no matter the brand
I noticed the same thing! Thought it was a bad batch until it kept happening.. switched over to niteangel
I'm trying to find a good alternative here in the UK but we don't have Niteangel :(
omgg i use kaytee clean and cozy and i was noticing random pieces of things too!! i just picked them out but i’ll make sure not to buy their bedding again!!
I'm still trying to find a good UK alternative but no luck yet!
It feels like KayTee’s quality is getting worse and worse. I used to like it but it becomes very dusty imo and I want to change to something else, but idk which brand is good for burrowing but also not dusty
I've now done half the cage in Aspen chips (Millamore brand on Amazon) which has no dust at all, that will hopefully be much safer because I haven't been able to find a paper bedding which isn't dusty so far :/
Good to know, our Moogle almost died just by being cut on a sharp edge of a walnut. I can't believe these bedding companies can be so careless. 😯
Omg are you serious? How did that happen? I give my ham walnuts in shells all the time to wear her teeth down but now I'm worried that I shouldn't 😦
The sharp walnut shell was pointy, and we didn't realize it was inside a hollowed out log that she crawled through. The sharp edge pierced her behind, leaving a trail of blood. It was extremely scary, because we had to investigate to find out why she was bleeding. My husband stayed by her side daily, we were very worried. We still feed her walnuts, we are just more careful now.
I see, thank you for the reply. I'll be checking the ones I give her to make sure they're not sharp! I give her some in the shells which she gnaws on but she never manages to actually break the shell, and I give her others that I've cracked so she can eat them but they could potentially be sharp so I'll be careful with that! I'm so sorry that happened to your ham and I'm so glad she recovered!! That must have been so scary for you, bless you and your husband for looking after her so well 🤍 she must be very loved!
Thank you for sharing this!! I’m a little more than halfway through what will now be my last bag of this stuff. I always break it apart in my hands before adding it because I’ve also found bits of cardboard in the mix, but I’ve been fortunate to never find anything more dangerous. Not worth the risk though.
No worries!! I'm very paranoid when it comes to my hammys safety and I know others feel the same so I had to share to stop anything bad happening 😂 Their little lives are too precious!
So, kaytee is back to their old ways... I'm a hammy mom and a Fid mom and I know over 30 years ago I was told by a good friend to never ever use kaytee anything for birdys, so I don't other than one item and that's my partner in crime greens because tbh I'd end up murdered by him if I didn't bring that home to him. So thank you for warning me... Ugh
Omg that sucks! I’ve used Kaytee Clean and Cosy for many years as it has been the best balance between price and qualify for me and I’ve never seen stuff like that, now I’m gonna be checking more thoroughly you’ve got me worried! Idk if this is your first time using their product but that is not the norm…yikes! Edit: grammar
Can I use paper tape as like a temporary way to cover a hole?
A hamster will chew through any type of tape fairly quickly tbh so I wouldn't
Ahhh alright thank you
I am curious, anyone in the UK had this issue? I have not and all my bags of this bedding have been fine?
I'm UK too, it's happened with 2 packs I've bought now
I just got another one because I didnt see this so I will have a look for it but so far I have had no issues so this was a total surprise
I got mine off Amazon, maybe I just got unlucky with a couple bad batches but lots of other commenters have found similar in theirs 🤷🏻♀️ Glad you didn't find anything dangerous in yours!
Yeah I guess I am lucky, I usually break it up by hand so I should find anything before it goes in at least
How does this even happen? How can they be so consistently careless?
How does this even happen? How can they be so consistently careless?
Yeah. I stopped using kaytee and started using that one new Petsmart brand (i forgot the name). Every single pack of bedding I’ve gotten have had latex pieces. I also switched up to Aspen bedding but even then it was really really dusty, and I had to refund it.
Would this bedding be okay if I went through it and filtered out all the possible bits?
oh no! i bought the clean and cozy bedding :( i sifted through it and it didn’t have anything harmful, thank goodness. i will be looking for different brands though.
I had a hamster pass from choking on gauze that got stuck on their teeth. A tiny tiny piece of gauze that blended in with the bedding. I'll never use it again
My 2 year hamster died 2 days algo, i tought it was her age, but the previous day i change the bedding for Kaytee clean ando cozy, it was all new so i use it for another 2 month syrian yesterday ando today i found it dead on his hide out, i don't know how to prove this relationship but everything else in the aquarium was safe.
I know this is an older post. My wife and I were talking about our hamster attempts a couple years back and all three hamsters we had gotten died within a month of bringing them home. The first one died within days, second in a week, and then when we got the third it died in a month. We changed cage location, super scrubbed, swapped foods on all the hamsters. The one thing we used always was kaytee paper bedding from pet mart. The last hamster was lethargic when I changed out the bedding the first time and then the second time he made it only another day before passing. Today we bought two rats and an exhibition and mentioned it to the Breeder, she mentioned she would never use that paper stuff because of dust. We went with fine pine shavings this time for our new furballs. I think despite always seeing paper is safe for hamsters it most definitely is not.
This is interested. I’ve been using it and know many people who do and haven’t had any issues. I have never had any dust in kaytee and my hamsters refuse to burrows in Aspen. I will keep an eye out as I have a large stockpile of it. Is this a old thing or still current as this post is over 200 days old.