# Pine oils



## Munchii (Mar 22, 2011)

Hi. Im new to this excellent forum so please excuse me if i have placed this in the wrong section 
I am thinking of adopting a chihuahua, and while I was browsing through this forum, I noticed that somewhere it stated pine oils were dangerous. 
I have two guinea pigs in an enclosed indoor cage, and they live on kiln dried pine woodshavings. 
They do occasionly kick some shavings out, but i have my handheld hoover, which i use around their cage daily. 
My question is, would the pine shavings in the cage hurt a chihuahua?  
If i did get a chihuahua it would obviously not be able to get in the cage. 
Another question is, would a chihuahua eat hay? I give the guinea pigs hay and it is placed in a hayrack, but would a chi be able to reach up and get it? :/ If so would it hurt a chi?
Thank you in advance  x


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## Yoshismom (Jul 6, 2005)

Hi and welcome to the board!

I am not sure how to answer your question. I know there are certain things that even the small animals are not supposed to use as bedding and cedar shavings are dangerous for all of them but I am not sure about what you are using and how it would affect a Chi?

Hopefully someone will chime in soon that can help


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## Munchii (Mar 22, 2011)

Thanks for your welcome Yoshismom 
I know that kiln dried pine shavings are fine for small animals. I would of thought that it wouldnt hurt a chi, as it doesnt hurt my baby piggies (6 months old) and they are much smaller than a chihuahua. 
I just want to be sure before adopting a chi


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## widogmom (Mar 23, 2011)

Pine shavings are actually less than optimal for dog bedding (especially cedar shavings) as the volatile oils can cause respiratory distress. Herbivores seem to do fine with them; my rodents and horses never had any trouble. I'd doubt that you'd have any issues, unless you were actually bedding your puppy on the shavings. The concern would be more along the lines of ingestion; say, if your cavvy kicked the shavings out onto the floor and the puppy got into them (less of an issue if you use an aquarium rather than a cage, but that causes other issues, too). Good luck with the pup and good job thinking ahead!


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