I use fleece, with puppypads underneath
Pros:
- Warm, and soft so the pigs find it comfy to lay down and sleep on and it doesn't irritate their feet. Mine have very sensitive feet.
- You can get nice colours and patterns (if you care about that kind of thing).
- You can buy it very cheaply (I got mine from Poundland and B&M).
- It is cheap to maintain because you reuse the fleece rather than disposable beddings, and the fleece lasts a long time before you need to bin it.
- Fleece is easy to spot-clean.
- After you've washed the fleece, I find it drys very quickly.
- Puppy pads are quite cheap, especially if you buy them in massive bargain packs.
- Fleece and puppy pads are both easy to find in shops, most bargain shops sell both (Poundland, B&M, Home Bargains etc) as well as supermarkets and pet stores.
Cons:
- More laundry as have to machine-wash the fleece.
- Puppy pads are disposable and you do get through a lot of them.
- I do a full cage clean every 4 days, mini-clean in the middle of that (i.e. new puppy pad usually in corners as that's where they wee the most), and spot-clean for poops every day. So that is quite a fair bit of work for the upkeep. If you don't do it though, the fleece will get wet and can cause real problems for the pigs - I know this because my old regime was far less strict and my poor boars ended up getting sore skin on their feet from sitting in their own wee which took about a month to clear up and one of them still isn't completely sorted.
So you really have to be committed because it does take up a fair bit of time, and as I have back problems it's hard as it hurts my back too so I often need my partner to help me.
- You have to prepare for it in advance because you need to wash the fleece about 3 times before you can use it in the cage so that it wicks.
The only thing I would maybe consider instead is cage-liners but to be honest me and the pigs are quite happy with our current set-up.