yeah they say to spray the top layer, but like the other poster said, it's intended for horses. mainly to make the top softer for their hooves.
one thing to keep in mind is, if you're going to use this bedding for female rats w/ newborns. use very little of it especially if ur female is a bulldozer!
I used it w/ the females, did 1/2 of what I normally use in there but gave them plentyyyy of newspaper to make nests outta, which they more than happily used.. but the 1 mama would cover the babies with all the bedding in the cage, pushing everything on them w/ her front paws like a "bulldozer". I lost several babies from a litter before before i realized it was from the dust of the pellets clogging their noses. i felt so bad!!