Should I use sawdust or wood shavings for whelping box bedding?

You can put four screws with eyeholes in the box . . . one in each corner. Then get some yards of felt and cut them the size of the box floor. Sew little elastic loops at each corner, and put your newspapers down in the box. Cover them with a piece of felt, which you secure to the screw in each corner by looping the elastic over the eyehole. I usually do this once the bitch is done nursing the puppies. If you want a fluffier base, buy some thick (fake) sheepskin and do the same as above with it. You won;t need newspapers underneath. Both the felt and the sheepskin are machine washable and drable, so you can change them every time they're soiled and put fresh ones down.

Generally you want to avoid pine and cedar shavings as they tend to have a higher dust concentration. Carefresh or aspen pellets are the best bedding for rodents in general. If possible, try to avoid the pine. You can always lay down a towel to wash daily or paper until you can get to the store and pick up more of your usual bedding. I hope this is helpful and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Softwood litters i.e. pine shavings or sawdust newspaper, paper pulp bedding, wood pellets, paper pellets, shredded cardboard, straw and hay all make good bedding. The best is probably a combination of newspaper and hay since you feed hay anyway. Newspaper is also easily cleaned out.

It would be safest to avoid all types of pine bedding. There are other options that are safer such as aspen shavings or any one of the recycled paper type bedding materials. The current bedding is fine to use as well.

Paper bedding such as Carefresh bedding or this type is currently recommended. There would be no greater issue with them ingesting the paper bedding versus the wood shavings bedding, as the paper bedding would actually be more easily digested (as paper is actually a product made from broken down wood!). The paper is more expensive but has less risk of causing wounds (occasionally the wood shavings can have sharp pieces and cause injury to the skin or eyes or mouth) and less risk of dust or other irritants to the respiratory tract.

It is not a very good bedding. Pine shavings are much more hygienic and not dangerous for your guinea pig, whereas fleece or blanket bedding can cause intestinal obstruction when eaten by your piggie.

Care fresh bedding is what is recommended. It is the safest, healthiest bedding. Controls odors up to two times longer than traditional bedding. Absorbs up to three times its weight in liquid. Made from reclaimed wood pulp waste, not recycled paper. *99% dust-free for easy cleanup *Natural paper small animal bedding *CareFresh pet bedding with 10-day odor control formula *Absorbs 3 times more liquid than wood shavings Hope this helps. Best wishes.