Flabbergasted By Fleece!

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AmyAnn

AmyAnn

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With my new boys coming home in a couple of weeks I'm reading up on bedding options and can't believe the amount of people now using fleece! Trust me it's not a criticism, just things have obviously changed lots for the better since I last had some piggies (10 years ago, they lived in an outside hutch apart from during winter).

My two guinea pigs will be living indoors in a C&C cage and I was planning to use flat newspaper (not shredded) across the whole cage, with a thick hay layer in the area underneath the loft and the loft itself. I've looked at the 'sticky' thread on this site about bedding options and flat newspaper doesn't even feature so it sounds like it's not the done thing any more. I know it's not particularly absorbent but I was planning to fully replace it every day since it's only going to take 15 mins.

I've found another thread on here with a super easy DIY to make your own fleece liners using cotton mattress toppers as the absorbent under-layer. So I am now considering this, it must work since so many are using it! However even doing it myself, sourcing the fleece and mattress toppers to make two liners would be about £55-60.

With all the washing considered, is fleece really the best way to go? What would you say are the main benefits - is it reduction in smell/upkeep? I sort of feel that if you have to poo pick 1-3 times a day, wouldn't just using newspaper and rolling it up/chucking it and replacing it every day be as good? I want my piggies to have a clean and lovely home, so I'm prepared to pay out if fleece is the best option for their wellbeing.

I definitely would never use shavings or any shredded bedding because I reckon the cage-overspill and mess on the floor would get out of hand!
 
Where are you sourcing your mattress toppers? I got a kingsize one from TKMaxx for £18 that made two (for a 4x2 grid C&C) with enough to spare to make some piddle pads too. The blankets were two for a fiver.

I'm new so I haven't tried other options tbh so can't comment on whether it is better than other ways, but I do line my hay tray with newspaper and it makes me gag when I take it out, so soggy!
 
I much prefer fleece as bedding. Although there is the washing side to it, in general it is cheaper to have. Plus the amount of waste I got through using disposable bedding was a joke!

I think you'll like fleece. The poo picking like you said isn't much different than if you were to roll up the newspaper. However with the fleece liners they won't be walking through piddles as it will get soaked away from their feet. So there's that advantage :) as long as you change the fleece regularly you shouldn't notice any smell. Hay trays are a good idea with fleece bedding as they tend to do a lot of wees in there, which makes the fleece last longer. I use fleece bedding and change out the hay trays every 2 days. I can go for around 5 days before changing the fleece :)
 
I just use fleece blankets and have about 4 layers - basically cut 2 twice the size of hutch space and folded over. I don't bother with a mattress protector underneath. The fleece blankets were from ikea and didn't cost a lot. I didn't get the really cheap ones at £3 each as they seemed a little thin, so found some lovely ones in the sale at £7 each down from £10 (ikea called them bedspreads but they were just large fleece blankets so overall bigger and thicker so better value)
2 blankets was more than enough for 4 layers twice over (one for hutch and one for wash rotation) and I have a 5ft hutch for my piggies! Admittedly, I only use in the "day area" as I use newspaper and hay in the bedroom but the poo picking is not really much of a bother. We use a small dustpan and brush to sweep off the hay (with a quick flick action) and this seems to work rather well.
Washing isn't much of a hassle to me as I have an A+ machine that can do a quick 60 degree wash in half a hour!
One thing for sure is that my piggies love it. I did try the paper style bedding first but beside the cost and mess, I wasn't sure my piggies liked it, but now I have been using fleece, they popcorn and dart around like very happy piggies indeed! Especially after each change! (which is approx every 3 days unless they have wee'd a lot then its 2-3 days).
Ultimately, it's up to you to decide what works best for you and your piggies, but for me it was the best change I made :)
 
When I first got my piggies last year, it cost me about £36 in 3 weeks for disposable bedding... I soon switched to fleece and love it... Primark sell cheap fleece and I have made my own liners etc... I have probably spent tons on fleece but when I think what I spent in 3 weeks, it's worth it in the long run ... Good luck with whatever you chose x
 
I'm currently using a fleece topper i made myself. It is a layer of fleece then a layer of polyester wadding and then a layer of polycotton all sew together. I used to use towels underneath but i have used layer of newspaper underneath for the last 10 days and it has worked really well.
It cost me £11 for a double bed sized fleece from very. This gave me enough fleece to make 2 3'by4' liners and 2 1.5' by4' liners. The wadding was £6 and have loads left over and i already had the polycotton in the house but it is normally only £2-3 a meter so altogether was under £20 for 2 sets of bedding.
I change the newspaper every couple of days and the fleece every 5-7 days. The fleece is never wet even when he has just peed and then wadding spreads it out to let it dry quickly.
Also because of the materials it comes out the washing machine pretty much dry and 30 minutes outside or on a radiator and it is completly dry
 
I used to use newspaper as I used to commute to work on the train and would help myself to all the newspapers people left behind ;) I found I just couldn't get enough for it to be thick enough to be absorbent and/or change it every day.
I use fleece because in the long run, it is much cheaper for me and also, I have very naughty guins who like to chew on the correx in their cage so can't have it exposed.
I made my own liners and bought 10m of fleece for £25 from amazon, which made four 2x4 liners and a big chunk left over. I use disposable mattress protectors underneath, also from amazon which work out at 40p each and I need 2 per cage.
 
Thanks for your replies, I'm sold!

We don't get any free newspapers through the door any more and I don't buy any myself so I would need to purchase all the papers I need for the bedding, a cost which is a bit silly I suppose.

I've found a king size cotton mattress topper on eBay, it's John Lewis and is 'Micro-fresh', apparently meaning 99.9% germ free properties! Also have ordered some Ikea fleece blankets with anti-pil coating, so they should wash well.

I've got a lovely old Singer sewing machine that was my Nan's, so I'm looking forward to getting that out to make these next week :)
 
I would suggest you wash everything you use to make the liner first before you sew it. The first one I made fitted perfectly until I washed it and it's now about an inch too small for the cage because the wadding shrunk in the wash
 
Namaah said:
I would suggest you wash everything you use to make the liner first before you sew it. The first one I made fitted perfectly until I washed it and it's now about an inch too small for the cage because the wadding shrunk in the wash
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Thanks for the tip. I'm planning to wash the topper once and the fleece 2 or 3 times to try and get the main shrinkage out of the way!
 
AmyAnn said:
Thanks for the tip. I'm planning to wash the topper once and the fleece 2 or 3 times to try and get the main shrinkage out of the way!
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Tumble dry it too, it was when I needed a quick turnaround that I tumbled one and only then did it decide to shrink. *sigh*
 
Supermarkets often have a supply of free local newspapers by the entrance and you could always ask your neighbours for donations of read newspapers!
 
I switched to fleece in 2010 and haven't looked back! The piggies love it and I'm sure it's cheaper in the long run. I hope you have fun kitting out your cage. Look forward to pics.
 
DitsyMum said:
Supermarkets often have a supply of free local newspapers by the entrance and you could always ask your neighbours for donations of read newspapers!
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my mum luckily has a newspaper every day so i dont have to buy them... other half picks them up when he sees them lying about at his work too...
 
Do the hay trays have to be completely flat as I've googled dome on Amazon but they have a lip on them ?
 
artcasper said:
i use a cat litter tray as a hay tray..
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Yep I figured that would be fine and picked up a couple from The Range yesterday, £1.99 each.

Good pointers on collecting free newspapers too, I still will be using them in the base of the hay trays. Have already asked friends and family to collect any and will check in with supermarket too!
 
I use a mixture of fleece and vet bed for my boys, I use puppy pads underneath the fleece as our washing machine wouldn't be able to fit such massive cage liners in it (my cage is 8ft x 4ft). The vet bed is used for the most high traffic areas where the lads seem to pee the most, it is so unbelievably soft and my older boy especially seems to appreciate it, I want him as comfortable as possible now that he's a senior and the vet bed does a grand job. The cage is staying dry now which fleece by itself wasn't managing, I poo pick twice a day, replace cosies as needed and do a full cage clean out once a week. For the hay trays I use wood pellet litter, it's heavy enough that they can't knock the tray over, which they were doing constantly when I used shavings as litter.
 
I was using newspaper and shavings for ages in my cage but switched to fleece a few months ago. I use towels as my inside layer as a Kmart brand bath sheet is the perfect size for a 2x4 c&c! I use a handheld vacuum cleaner once or twice a day to suck up all the poops. Much easier than a dustpan and broom!
 
To stop the hay and stuff from clogging up our washer, I brush down all my fleece and vet bed with a rubber brush, originally I think it's supposed to be a dog brush but it does the job really well, after it's brushed I vacuum over it quickly to get up any remaining dust and little bits the brush has missed. Alternatively you could wash your fleece inside a pillow case, just make sure the top is tied thoroughly, this keeps all the hay and stuff contained, stopping it from blocking the washer. :)
 
I'm going on the hunt for a rubber brush tomorrow! I've been shaking mine outside and then taking them to the laundromat once a month :lol!:
 
Personally I have a big problem with fleece use. Obviously a lot depends on how it is used, but too often I see cages that look like they are fitted out ready to lay a newborn human baby down to sleep in it, rather than a home for animals. I use aubiose in the heated shed hutches and puppy pads in the indoor cages. The hutches and cages are filled with hay and the piggies popcorn non stop as I top up the hay a few times a day. If people use fleece, in conjunction with lots of hay for the piggies to play in, then that's fine, but when they get a small amount in a hay rack or just a little tray with hay, then I feel the guinea pigs can't display normal animal behaviour.
 
@furryfriends (TEAS) I see your point. I've only changed to fleece a couple of months ago solely for Percy's benefit. I think he may be a bit older than we guessed him to be, so he's loosening up in the boy department. When i bedded him on loose stuff or hay he gets it stuck everywhere. :soz:
 
furryfriends (TEAS) said:
Personally I have a big problem with fleece use. Obviously a lot depends on how it is used, but too often I see cages that look like they are fitted out ready to lay a newborn human baby down to sleep in it, rather than a home for animals. I use aubiose in the heated shed hutches and puppy pads in the indoor cages. The hutches and cages are filled with hay and the piggies popcorn non stop as I top up the hay a few times a day. If people use fleece, in conjunction with lots of hay for the piggies to play in, then that's fine, but when they get a small amount in a hay rack or just a little tray with hay, then I feel the guinea pigs can't display normal animal behaviour.
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I can totally see your point. My boys love hay and I would keep them on hay and paper but we swapped to Vet bed for ours for a couple of health reasons. That said, it's never anywhere near pristine enough to lay a baby on! My boys like to make an un-holy mess of their cage within minutes and I am of the opinion that cleaning too frequently leads to many of the tummy upsets and problems with infection I see in people's piggies so it is cleaned out but no more than is necessary to keep things healthy. Just like we have got 'too clean' as people and are now realising it causes more allergy etc in humans than a little bit of dirt now and again which encourages a healthy immune response :) Don't get me wrong, there is no place for leaving animals to live in squalor or unsanitary conditions where health is at risk but stepping on yesterdays poop is not going to hurt them!

@AlbiePercy I use washing bags like these. Or you can use an old duvet cover, just pop everything inside after brushing it down and it keeps all the dust and hay out of the washer. You can shake it out afterwards. You might find that even with a bag some laundromats won't allow you to wash pet bedding though. i know we had a problem when our washer was broken as our local laundrette doesn't allow it.
 
Thanks @MerryPip I'll try the duvet cover idea as they definitely won't fit in a pillow case, then I can use my own machine. I've been using the pet machines at the laundromat as they're generally bigger and you don't get death stares!
 
Regarding fleece stopping piggies from displaying their natural behaviours, I use a hay tray so my boys can still burrow and play in it, however my oldest boar suffered a nasty hay poke last year that has blinded him in one eye so I do still worry about the hay potentially injuring eyes. However I also realise that this is a risk no matter how you provide hay, anyway I digress. I have tried shavings, megazorb and hay and newspaper in the past but I didn't find them absorbant enough, plus it got stuck in my peruvians and coronet's hair, causing lots of tangles. I find fleece and vet bed works best for me, my boys popcorn all the time so they must be happy. I appreciate everyone has their own opinions on what bedding is best.
 
AlbiePercy said:
Thanks @MerryPip I'll try the duvet cover idea as they definitely won't fit in a pillow case, then I can use my own machine. I've been using the pet machines at the laundromat as they're generally bigger and you don't get death stares!
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Pet machines?! That's a great idea! I wish other places would do something like that, so many people would use them especially for bigger pet bed items...
 
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