Fleece Questions As I Am Clueless!

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Mellowmummy

Mellowmummy

Junior Guinea Pig
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I no nothing about fleece I didn't know anything about it till I joined this forum!
1) where do you get it from is their any where on the Internet? I will never get round to making or sewing it
2) how oftern do you change the fleece my cage is a c&c 2x4 with a loft
3) do I put newspaper under the fleece and change that every few days or daily?
4) big question from my other half does fleece make your house smell? He is convinced the fleece will soak wee up and unless I change it daily my house would stink help me convince him!

What's Fitch? Is that an alternative to fleece lining?

I think that's all for now :)
 
Mellowmummy said:
I no nothing about fleece I didn't know anything about it till I joined this forum!
1) where do you get it from is their any where on the Internet? I will never get round to making or sewing it
2) how oftern do you change the fleece my cage is a c&c 2x4 with a loft
3) do I put newspaper under the fleece and change that every few days or daily?
4) big question from my other half does fleece make your house smell? He is convinced the fleece will soak wee up and unless I change it daily my house would stink help me convince him!

What's Fitch? Is that an alternative to fleece lining?

I think that's all for now :)
Click to expand...

Ok so :
1) You need to look for 100% Polyester fleece blankets, fairly thick ones like those in Asda/Dunelm are good quality, they need to be washed 3 times first in a non bio powder/liquid, never use conditioner. After this they will wick the liquid away.
2) I change my cage around every 5-6 days, I have 3 piggies so they would smell otherwise lol
3) I put in newspaper, then on top of that I put in toddler mattress pads you get these in the Pound shops, they protect mattresses from "Accidents". Then I put a liner from a cotton mattress cover, I use that cotton side up on top of the pads, then lastly the fleece on the top of everything.
4) They will smell if you don't change them regularly, I wash the liner & fleece every 5-6 days & change the disposable mattress pads every 3 weeks probably, they last a long time.
Please don't use air fresheners or sprays in the same room as the piggies, they can cause neurological problems & can be fatal to them.
I also have a hay tray where I put their hay, they then tend to wee mostly in there, I wash the tray daily & line it with newspaper which I change around 4 times a day. Guinea pigs do smell a little, like all rodents & dogs etc do!
 
Just a few things to add - i got a 100% polyester fleece but it was slightly furry and soft not like a normal fleece. It wicked away water like normal fleece but started to smell after two days. Normal fleece lasts much longer. I also get microfibre clothes from poundshops and put them under their houses and change these when needed. You will have to sweep the fleece twice a day at least for poop. And i use trays for hay as the hay sticks to fleece.
I put a double layer of towels under the fleece in my 3x5 cage for 3pigs. Change it once it smells which is after 4/5days. I have litter trays in corners to promote their use! I line litter trays with newspaper and hay and put clean hay in a rack above these as they will soil the tray.
 
This is a subject that I am very interested in. I am new to owning GPs and am toying between absorbant materials or tradional pet bedding.

The pet bedddings I am curruently trying out are Megazorb, Aubiose and Carefresh. However, my local supermarket sells a budget range of towels and I use towels to line their loft areas. I change these towels every day ( I refer to this as Room Service). I wash these towels on a 60 degree cycle using unperfumed laundry powder.

Are you happy washing used fleeces in your washing machine? They must get quite a bit of hay on them - even though you have a hay tray.
 
I'm new to all this! I bought fleece cage liners from Ziggy's Piggies which have an absorbent layer in the middle so I've just been laying down the fleece liner on top of the Correx base. So far I have been changing the fleece every other day (due to poops and hay) but it hasn't leaked so has been very absorbent. I'm still experimenting though. I brushed the fleece off outside with a small brush and most of the hay came off, I think you can also wash them inside pillowcases or bags. I can't really tell how much the piggies have been weeing on the fleece as it's black, the other half of the cage is newspaper and hay and the newspaper is definitely wee-ed on! I'm very conscious of smells but changing the newspaper and hay once or twice a day seems to have been enough so far. They are messy little things!
 
Thanks for all your advice I like the idea of towels under where they sleep :) I was just trying to work out what an alternative to shavings was as it feels like a waste putting them in the bin as I don't think my council lets me recycle them?
I do have a feeling my other half may go nuts at me if I broke the washing machine because of hay so maybe fleece isn't for me?
Presently I am cleaning my cage a full clean every 3 days roughly and picking poo daily
I am very interested in the idea of litter trays what do you use as a litter tray? I've only ever seen cat ones and they seem huge?
 
Sorry julie g I cross posted them liners sound good I will go and take a little look thank you x
 
She sells direct from her website and Facebook page. My cage is same as yours, I bought two 2x2 pads for the ground floor and a 1x2 for the loft. I think I'm going to order more so I've got spares!
 
Personally I wouldn't use towels, they aren't very absorbent, they stay quite wet, fleece wicks the wetness down away from the surface & another reason is that towels have "Loops" in which a piggy can catch a nail & I have read on here about piggies ripping off their nails resulting in injury :(
 
This reply is about litter trays. I think I was introduced to the idea of using toilet trays on u tube. I got my trays from my local pet shop but I think I have seen them on sale in Wilko. I haven't had any success - my piggies just go when and where they want to! I don't use mine any more but they're not very expensive so worth a go.
word has it thay they're excellant for ferrets!
 
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That's the tray at the bottom, I got it in Morrisons :)



DSCF0143.jpg
 
Poppy's mum princess daisy is adorable so cute! I have a morrisoons near me so I will have a little look I guess it's worth a try, thanks for the advice on towels I didn't think of the loops on them so I will stay clear.
New piggy owner thanks for the advice I think my two will ignore it bless them!
Julie g thanks for that I just looked at her web page they look good I may give them a go esp if you can brush the hay off, we can learn together :) x
 
I like the look of the fleeces.
Ideally, I'd like to be able to see their wee to make sure it isn't too milky. I am a bit concerned about the amount of calcium my piggies are getting in their diet. Has anyone got any ideas on if any colours are better if I want to monitor for this?
 
If the wee is different you will see it on top of the fleece.I use a hamster cage bottom as a litter tray in my cages with a cocktails ramp but they just jump over the sides, even the baby.Most of their wees are done in the litter trays but mine are covered which seems to make the piggies use them more.They poo everywhere but that soon brushes up.Have ground sheet, puppy pads then fleece as a base with towels and fleece under where they sleep.My litter trays have shavings then hay and my piggies often sleep in there.Sweep up twice a day and change litter trays and small fleece under bogeys once a day and main fleece once a week.Puppy pads are changed art last once a fortnight but any clean ones are left down and just wet ones replaced
 
My trio have two large litter trays lined with newspaper and hay. They are both mostly undercover so the guinea pigs spend a lot of time in them.

They also have correx sheets (three) on their floor and so far have only wee'd in the trays (a hamster cage bottom and a rabbit cage bottom - too small for any rabbits imo).

I have used some fleecy beds from time to time but they seem to get completely poo and hay covered within hours!
 
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