Fleece Fail

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Hath

Teenage Guinea Pig
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Hi all. I've been searching on web for some ideas and thought I'll join you to see if you could help!
I have 6 entire boars- in 3 pairs. Two pairs are fostered and one my own (rescued). They're kept in my spare room and in 120-130cm indoor cages (have other pets,too so don't trust c&c). Until now I've used fleece, but have problem with odour. All piggies had bath not long ago and cages are swept am and entire fleece change pm (one pair is very clean so lasts 3 days). There's litter tray in every cage below hayrack and they do use it. But the room smells of dirty cages! I scrub cages and litter trays with vinegar water daily (found it to work better than cage cleaners!). It's not smell like they're marking as if cages were over cleaned, but like dirty cage. I air the room during day,too. I made my fleece liners myself (fleece/ absorbent pad/fleece) and washed, dried it several times first, wash on high with prewash and don't use softener.
I was so disappointed I changed all cages to hemp yesterday and the smell is gone! I only spot cleaned and changed litter trays today and the different is unreal! I can actually leave the door opened without my whole house smelling! Please don't think I don't understand every pet has it's natural odour, I have 13 pets at home in total. But I never had issue like this before.
What have I done wrong? Ive read about this miracle uhaul blankets from US, but none in UK I found are made out of denim so unsure if they would work?
Is there anyone else who found fleece to be problem?
 
I believe the absorbent material makes a big difference. Depending on how much they can hold, and how fast they dry.

The size of the cage matters too. If they are always soiling in the same area, vs moving around and allowing the soiled area to dry.

I have used the uhaul blankets, towels, mattress protector and zorb (cloth diaper material). I find uhaul and zorb to work better than towels and mattress protector. Towels absorb urine and stayed wet, making if smell. The mattress protector didn't absorb much.

Types of fleece matters too. Some stay dry on top, but some take sometimes to allow liquid to drain through. You want to make sure that the top stays dry. Otherwise the poop will be all wet from mixing in with the urine and then make the cage smell. Wet fleece will also make your pigs smell if they sit in their own pee.
 
i have some zorb liners from Cand E liners,i change mine every four days,have boars in a 150cm x 75 cm cage.i have found boys can be more messy.the aubiose bedding is fantastic at dealing with odour and moisture,i mix aubiose and megasorb together in my hutches in the shed,:)
 
Hi Lissie, thank you for your reply. Where do you buy uhaul or zorb? I've read uhaul meant to be denim, but movers blankets I've found were not.
The fleece doesn't feel wet. And I too found towers to stink so stopped using them.
The only area I've found to hold a lot of urine was under hanging hay ball holder as they pulled hay out to sleep on it and peed and pood on it. But I've moved that above litter tray,too. I've put puppy pads down to detect where they tend to go,too.
 
Hath said:
Hi Lissie, thank you for your reply. Where do you buy uhaul or zorb? I've read uhaul meant to be denim, but movers blankets I've found were not.
The fleece doesn't feel wet. And I too found towers to stink so stopped using them.
The only area I've found to hold a lot of urine was under hanging hay ball holder as they pulled hay out to sleep on it and peed and pood on it. But I've moved that above litter tray,too. I've put puppy pads down to detect where they tend to go,too.
Click to expand...
Hath said:
Hi all. I've been searching on web for some ideas and thought I'll join you to see if you could help!
I have 6 entire boars- in 3 pairs. Two pairs are fostered and one my own (rescued). They're kept in my spare room and in 120-130cm indoor cages (have other pets,too so don't trust c&c). Until now I've used fleece, but have problem with odour. All piggies had bath not long ago and cages are swept am and entire fleece change pm (one pair is very clean so lasts 3 days). There's litter tray in every cage below hayrack and they do use it. But the room smells of dirty cages! I scrub cages and litter trays with vinegar water daily (found it to work better than cage cleaners!). It's not smell like they're marking as if cages were over cleaned, but like dirty cage. I air the room during day,too. I made my fleece liners myself (fleece/ absorbent pad/fleece) and washed, dried it several times first, wash on high with prewash and don't use softener.
I was so disappointed I changed all cages to hemp yesterday and the smell is gone! I only spot cleaned and changed litter trays today and the different is unreal! I can actually leave the door opened without my whole house smelling! Please don't think I don't understand every pet has it's natural odour, I have 13 pets at home in total. But I never had issue like this before.
What have I done wrong? Ive read about this miracle uhaul blankets from US, but none in UK I found are made out of denim so unsure if they would work?
Is there anyone else who found fleece to be problem?
Click to expand...
Hath said:
Hi all. I've been searching on web for some ideas and thought I'll join you to see if you could help!
I have 6 entire boars- in 3 pairs. Two pairs are fostered and one my own (rescued). They're kept in my spare room and in 120-130cm indoor cages (have other pets,too so don't trust c&c). Until now I've used fleece, but have problem with odour. All piggies had bath not long ago and cages are swept am and entire fleece change pm (one pair is very clean so lasts 3 days). There's litter tray in every cage below hayrack and they do use it. But the room smells of dirty cages! I scrub cages and litter trays with vinegar water daily (found it to work better than cage cleaners!). It's not smell like they're marking as if cages were over cleaned, but like dirty cage. I air the room during day,too. I made my fleece liners myself (fleece/ absorbent pad/fleece) and washed, dried it several times first, wash on high with prewash and don't use softener.
I was so disappointed I changed all cages to hemp yesterday and the smell is gone! I only spot cleaned and changed litter trays today and the different is unreal! I can actually leave the door opened without my whole house smelling! Please don't think I don't understand every pet has it's natural odour, I have 13 pets at home in total. But I never had issue like this before.
What have I done wrong? Ive read about this miracle uhaul blankets from US, but none in UK I found are made out of denim so unsure if they would work?
Is there anyone else who found fleece to be problem?
Click to expand...
You can buy removal blankets (uhaul) in the UK on eBay, which is made of denim. I got someone to make me some cage liners using two layers of uhaul. They are really good and very absorbent.
 
eileen said:
i have some zorb liners from Cand E liners,i change mine every four days,have boars in a 150cm x 75 cm cage.i have found boys can be more messy.the aubiose bedding is fantastic at dealing with odour and moisture,i mix aubiose and megasorb together in my hutches in the shed,:)
Click to expand...
Hi, thanks. Will look into it. Found zorb fabric on ebay so fingers crossed.
 
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