Fleece vs bedding

I love to use fleece as my skinny pig loves it (due to warmth etc) and my other furry piggies don’t mind it. When I used to use bedding my piggies would always figure out how to trash the floor and throw the bedding all over the place. I definitely like fleece and I don’t have to buy bedding every week but the only downside for me are the hidden costs of washing the fleece every week❤️
 
I prefer fleece to other bedding as it’s tidier and is less dusty than other bedding I’ve used. It can be a pain coping with all the washing as I have four cages, but I still prefer it. Once a month I use paper bedding (when I go to visit my parents for a long weekend) as my OH won’t clean up poos etc, but will do everything else!
 
Sweet Potato said:
I prefer fleece my boys love it and it's better for the environment as you're not using single use products!
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Not strictly true that it’s better for the environment as fleece sheds micro plastics into the washing water which is bad for the environment. A lot of the disposable bedding I use gets composted and/or used as mulch in my plants (straight from the hutch) so I don’t actually throw a lot of my disposable bedding away. I think it’s pros and cons with both .
 
I prefer using bedding like aubiose, putting hay on top makes it softer. With bedding you can easily pick out bits that are peed on and you only need to clean the cage every week, and less with a bigger cage, but fleece needs to be changed more often.
All my bedding is composted so I wouldn't say it was necessarily bad for the environment.
It's really what works for you, I personally don't have time (or energy) to be cleaning the fleece so often but fleece is a lot softer and cosy, so if you want to use it for making it more comfy for the Guinea pigs, you probably can't beat it, but practical would probably be a disposable bedding.
That's just my opinion anyway but someone else might completely disagree so it's really a personal thing.
 
I use fleece and love it, shavings irritate me and Pepper is Fleece is the best option for us, but I do love how easy it is to spot clean and so much less messy!
 
I have different things in different bits for my (indoor) pigs. We got permission for including Back-2-Nature bedding/hay in local garden waste collection - this goes in the covered areas they spend a lot of time in and gets scooped out about twice a wheek. We also have newspaper on an open bit with the food bowl on - they only sit there to eat and pee/poop so it makes it very quick to bundle up and replace - also useful for checking colour of urine. Spend enough in Waitrose and you get a free paper: the Telegraph is far and away the most absorbent, there's plenty of it and the sports section usually has only one staple to remove. Then there's a flat woven cotton mat outside with a cheap cushion that gets sprawled on in summer when the light comes through the window. I drape a square of cut up bath towel/old nappy over this. We also have 2 snuggle tunnels with a sort of fur lining and a fleece blanket. George likes to sit on the back doormat which is also cotton.

It's not so much the washing/drying of fleece it's the fact that the washer/dryer gets hairy and that comes off on the other washing! A vigorous shake of the cotton mat/bath towel out the back seems to loosen much of the shed hair, the snuggle tunnels are also pretty good but it clings to the fleece blanket and ends up on the school uniform if I'm not careful. Maybe I just have the wrong type of fleece but it arrived with George and he might object if I try to replace it!
 
I use two towels then fleece on top and smaller pieces of fleece and towels for inside huts and areas they tend to sit. I have wood pellets in a litter pan with the hay. I like it better than shavings because I find it doesn't smell now. I just roll it up take it outside to shake it out then toss it in the wash. I replace the smaller pieces as they get soiled and scoop out any wet wood pellet. I find my pigs feet don't look red now too.
 
We use fleece because not only is it more cheap but also I feel it is easier to clean. In the beginning when we used bedding it flew all over the room when they moved.
 
Thinking of switching to fleece and was wondering if I could get some advice.
My girls are currently on Wood shavings and it is fine, but not without problems.
I like the idea of switching to fleece because I have read fleece is easier to spot clean and also obviously will be reducing the amount of waste we produce. At the moment, they have their hutch in a shed, would fleece help keep them warmer? Do I need to worry about fleece getting damp if they are in a shed?
Thanks in advance, lots of questions!
 
ImmyH said:
Thinking of switching to fleece and was wondering if I could get some advice.
My girls are currently on Wood shavings and it is fine, but not without problems.
I like the idea of switching to fleece because I have read fleece is easier to spot clean and also obviously will be reducing the amount of waste we produce. At the moment, they have their hutch in a shed, would fleece help keep them warmer? Do I need to worry about fleece getting damp if they are in a shed?
Thanks in advance, lots of questions!
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Is your shed heated and insulated?

Fleece is easier to spot clean but it won’t keep them warm and it can draw moisture from the air when used outside And therefore not remain dry or urine patches dry quickly enough.
Mine live in a hutch in my shed and I only use fleece in summer. In winter their hutch is stuffed full with hay for insulation and warmth. Their heat pads stay nice and warm under a pile of hay and the air around them stays warmer.
 
We use both, shavings and hay in the top hutch and fleece in the bottom area. Fleece is easier for me to clean bottom area as I pick them up, shake them off and sweep the poops up. I also use really soft bath matts in the bottom area. Got 2 pet bags to wash them in and do 1 big wash a week :-)
 
Fleece all the way 100% not only did the sawdust get ALL OVER the house and my clothes/socks etc! There would regularly be no room in the black bin for all the waste including hay (and that was with a fairly small cage) and just doing a big clean once a week and spot cleaning every few days! Now my cage is about 5 times the size of what it was and I have plenty of room in my black bin by using fleece! Also it's So much easier to clean out and less faff!
 
Fleece, comfortable for the piggy and they had lived on it since birth so seemed only right to carry on.

Just poops are very more noticeable. Half the fleeces I don’t see as it’s just covered with a ton of hay. The piggies love to play and lie on this the most. But the fleece is all in one so I know the wee is wicking away
 
I think most guinea pig owners use fleece just because in the long run its cheaper (most of the time) and easier to clean/spot clean, but bedding can also be a good option it really just depends on the guinea pigs and the needs of the owner really try whatever works for you
 
I rescued my 4 guinea pigs (different times and different ages the last one being this week) and they were all used to shavings but as I've got 4 rescued pet rats as well so as soon as the wood shavings came in the room all of my rats got a respiratory infection and needed antibiotics so I switched to fleece and puppy pads but when I bought my C&C cage off a lady secondhand she was also selling a load of other stuff which I also bought (I love a good old bargain!) and part of it was bath mats, the soft spiky ones if you know what I mean 🤷‍♀️, and it seems that my piggies love that over the fleece and I find it easier to spot clean the poos....my hand held vacuum doesn't suck up the mats like it does the fleece! Now I just need to go out and get a ton more since I enlarged their cage this week (one section is 5 x 2.5 with the end area being 2 x 2 and a 1 x 2 loft then a ramp leading to a 3.5 x 2 area made from the cage bars from 2 rabbit 100 cages)
 
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