As you said, cedar's out. I've heard the same thing about pine...some are ok, some not, so I stick with premium, untreated (no aromatic oils) aspen. It soft and fresh looking and has a nice natural scent. I tried Carefresh for a bit. It's fairly expensive and I didn't care for the looks of it. After a day or two it looks like wet, moldy cardboard I know that it is an excellent product...but, I prefer the aspen (After I was asssured that it was completely safe!) I know there are some other "paper" based beddings out there, but I haven't tried them yet.