Has anyone tried fleece only to return to "conventional" bedding?

[neoma]

I guess the title says it all.

I'm a new piggy keeper. This is week two, and I've already gone through two bags of Carefresh and a fair amount of wood shavings. Fleece sounds like an attractive alternative, though I have concerns.

DH and I live in an apartment. There is no laundry in our building; we have to go to a laundromat to wash clothes. I wonder whether fleece will really be practical since we don't have a washing machine at the ready.

I'm sure that there are other issues that I haven't considered.

I'd like to hear from folks who tried fleece and decided to return to wood shavings and the like.:rose

 

[PiratePig]

I haven't "officially" tried fleece, but when Athena first moved in I felt bad for her in her little pet shop cage but at the time I had no coroplast so I just set up the cubes on the linoleum in the kitchen and put towels down.
There was soooooooooooo much poo. Actually I'm not quite sure how such little animals can produce so much. I found it made the poo more apparent.
It did seem to require changing/ washing everyday, so not having a washing machine may be a drawback.
Do you have a bathtub? It would take more time but you could buy multiple fleeces and wash them by hand in the tub and hang it to dry. I would think that it would dry in a couple days at the absolute longest, meaning that you could rotate between three or four fleeces, using them once or twice then just take them to the laudromat with you when you go.
This of course is assuming that you have some space to hang them to dry... and I have heard that NY apartments resemble postage stamps more than anything.

 

[neoma]

Thank you for your reply, PiratePig.

It really is amazing how much poo these little guys produce.

Our apartment is a little bit bigger than a postage stamp. And, yes, we do have a bath tub. I guess it could be done.

I'm curious to see if anyone else weighs in on this one.

 

[starsky@hutch]

I tried fleece then went back to sawdust,I found it was to much washing,picking up poop was everyday,fleece and towels 2-3 days

 

[4piggiepigs]

Towel's will smell bad and quick as they don't dry and piggies pee in the sam place over and over again it *** never dry, i use cotton topped mattress topper's sewn to fleece, because the filling/wadding is airy it dries quick and locks in the smell i only need to change mine every 5 to 7 days mostly 7 days

 

[ruthigrace23]

I used to use carefresh but it got way too expensive. I have since gone to fleece and I love the decision. I have 2 guinea pigs. I have three different pieces of fleece and 6 white towels (use 2 under the fleece) that I rotate. I do not always wash the dirty bedding right away after taking it out, often I wait till the next time I clean the cage and wash it all at the same time, then put in my 3rd set. I just use bleach for the white towels and a color safe bleach for the fleece (I wash the fleece with other colored towels from around the house). I change their bedding every 6-7 days (unless it is smelling bad before) and sweep out the poop every day with a small hand broom from Target.
So really if you have more than 1 set of fleece/towels you can go without washing for a week or 2 depending on how often you want to wash. With only having 2 pigs I don't feel it is necessary to wash more than once a week, at least for me. The fleece wicks the pee really well and I rarely feel that the bedding is wet, unless they just went.
I get my fleece for cheap too and just found old towels! Joann's fabric store, don't know if you have those in NYC, very often have their fleece on 50% off so mine have all been about 5 or 6 dollars a yard.
I can tell you, I really think my girls like the fleece a lot better and carefresh is pretty dusty, mine seemed to sneeze a lot when they lived on it. Plus it is cute/pretty/whatever for humans to look at! Also carefresh is messy! Their running always sent it flying out of the cage, which got annoying.

Happy fleece hunting and good luck if you decide to switch over!

 

[sandra turpin]

I used profleece for a while but although I haven't gone back to shavings I am now using megazorb topped with hay. I couldn't keep up with the washing

 

[MintyAndGarry (TEAS)]

Mine used to be fleece pigs but are now on megazorb. It's great stuff. I found that the fleece started to smell after only a day or two in the cage.

 

[Romily]

I tried fleece but found it unmanagable at the time, other bedding tyoes are too expensive for the number of piggies I have so it is shavings for mine at the moment!

 

[ajb]

I use fleece, but I don't think I could do it without a washing machine.

 

[beaverstar]

I use fleece and would never go back, but it is a lot of washing! I use a cat litter tray for their hay with a bit of sawdust, and they go to the toilet in that now so it's easy to change, meaning the fleece can last about 5 days without a change. We have loads of towels, fleeces, puppy pads and cuddle cups, so I usually replace and wait till I have a full load for washing.

 

[vicky1804]

I used fleece for a while but i just didnt like it at all.

I'm back to using wood shavings and hay

 

[BellasMummy]

I have always used fleece and find it works out ok. Some weeks i feel it needs to be changed sooner than others. I generally change the entire cage once a week but clear out the poos everyday. I couldn't do without a washing machine, as its not just 1 fleece it amounts to around 7 fleeces and 3 towels and we just have one cage!

 

[lilmisscavy]

Fleecing as bedding for an animal that continually poops and pees? I'd say it's far from practical. I tried it once and went promptly back to proper animal beddings. All mine (apart from one) live outside in hutches, with wood-shavings and hay, where it is much more natural for them.

Ahem, rant over... if you have more than say 4 pigs, I'd advise going for bulk bedding wood-shavings, like horse beddings. I have 10 at the moment, and a rabbit, and it lasts me a good 3-4 weeks. Every day when you feed them, just take bedding which is damp or heavily soiled and use the dry bedding from inside their cage/hutch instead of fresh stuff. If you're doing a big clean out, still keep some dry bedding from their hutch to mix back in so it smells like them or the dominant one of a pair etc. It saves money and saves males making too much of a stink from scent marking their territory again, which if they live inside can be a little horrid for some owners.

 

[daftscotslass]

Fleecing as bedding for an animal that continually poops and pees? I'd say it's far from practical. I tried it once and went promptly back to proper animal beddings. All mine (apart from one) live outside in hutches, with wood-shavings and hay, where it is much more natural for them.

Ahem, rant over... if you have more than say 4 pigs, I'd advise going for bulk bedding wood-shavings, like horse beddings. I have 10 at the moment, and a rabbit, and it lasts me a good 3-4 weeks. Every day when you feed them, just take bedding which is damp or heavily soiled and use the dry bedding from inside their cage/hutch instead of fresh stuff. If you're doing a big clean out, still keep some dry bedding from their hutch to mix back in so it smells like them or the dominant one of a pair etc. It saves money and saves males making too much of a stink from scent marking their territory again, which if they live inside can be a little horrid for some owners.

I think if you use it for an extended period of time then you'll start to see the health benefits for your guinea pigs using "alternative" beddings over traditional woodshavings. In my experience there's no comparison health-wise for the piggies if it's woodshavings vs fleece. For what it's worth wild guinea pigs would be around rocks and grass so no, woodshavings are not a natural bedding for them. Hay, yes.

Could you find a happy medium between something like hay/carefresh and fleece? At one point I had a cage that had a megazorb (not available in the US, similar to carefresh) section and a fleece section. With a bit of perseverance and a hay rack above the megazorb the fleece was rarely peed on and only needed changed once a week (albeit with daily spot cleaning). This would reduce your laundry load to once a fortnight, assuming you keep the dirty fleece in something airtight as it can be a bit smelly if you leave it.

FWIW if you decide to launder it, always wash it in a pillow case, then you won't have the laundry owner after you for hairy washers

 

[neoma]

Wow! Many thanks to everyone who weighed in with their experience and opinions on fleece vs. conventional bedding. The think that I would give it a go if we had a washing machine, but we don't. And we have enough trouble lugging our human laundry to the laundromat.

I haven't totally closed the door on the idea, but I think I'll stick with wood shavings for now.

Has anyone tried topping CareFresh or wood shavings with Fleece? Of course, that would probably be a real mess --- I guess the paper or wood would stick to the fleece... Just thinking out loud.

 

[shiseido]

we are thinking about going back to sawdust or to try megasorb thing as it takes too much effort to change and wash the fleece. we dont want use our washing machine to wash animal stuff as it doesnt sound hygienic. so everything is handwashed. (back to stone age) its too much work.

 

[AudioHeart]

I've found you have to try a few different bedding types before you find the best for you I now use, self adheisive tiles for the hutch floor which doesn't soak any of the pee up so it's easier to wipe down and clean, I then put hay on the top, although now in winter I've started to put in ripped up newspaper in their bedding area for warmth So i don't use wood shavings i found it's cheap and easy to use and clean too as I'm only buying hay!

I use fleece in the bedding area and find it needs changing every 2 days, but it's only a small amount of fleece which works out better for myself.

If you can, see where you piggies pee and poop, as you can use this as their toilet area and utalise the space to be more convenient for cleaning times (my boys now have a low plastic tray with a plastic table mat in and thats where they do their buisness! Although i do find the occassional accident!) Good luck finding what works best for you x

 

[lilmisscavy]

I think if you use it for an extended period of time then you'll start to see the health benefits for your guinea pigs using "alternative" beddings over traditional woodshavings. In my experience there's no comparison health-wise for the piggies if it's woodshavings vs fleece. For what it's worth wild guinea pigs would be around rocks and grass so no, woodshavings are not a natural bedding for them. Hay, yes.

Could you find a happy medium between something like hay/carefresh and fleece? At one point I had a cage that had a megazorb (not available in the US, similar to carefresh) section and a fleece section. With a bit of perseverance and a hay rack above the megazorb the fleece was rarely peed on and only needed changed once a week (albeit with daily spot cleaning). This would reduce your laundry load to once a fortnight, assuming you keep the dirty fleece in something airtight as it can be a bit smelly if you leave it.

FWIW if you decide to launder it, always wash it in a pillow case, then you won't have the laundry owner after you for hairy washers

These are domesticated animals, but they're still very much wild in their behaviour, eg. being petrified of everything. We have to make do with what we have to give them a natural environment, and they'd likely find a muddy burrow to snuggle into than a fleecy sofa in the wild anyway.

All pigs need is bedding to go to the toilet on that is absorbent enough and comfortable enough to walk on, hay to snuggle into and eat, and a secure enclosure from harm's way. Of course, if you have money to waste washing soiled fleecing and silly sofas then so be it, but mine aren't missing out and neither are the others who don't live on fleecing, although.. mine live in hutches and I don't think fleecing would be advisable in hutches!

Health-wise, unless you can teach your pig not to pee and poop on fleecing EVER, it would probably be healthier yes and you'd also be a genius being able to litter-train pigs, but I had 2 of my boys on fleecing for a while in my room and after around 3 months, I just couldn't cope with it any longer from cleaning it, the smell just after one night was horrendous that my dad was beginning to complain of it smelling downstairs even, and they began to eat it which in my experience.. isn't a dietary requirement for a pig. The worse thing for me was having to chase them around the pen, its bad enough in their runs but it must have been terrifying for them. I hated seeing them distressed like that, why anyone would put themselves and their pigs through such pointlessness when there are perfectly good beddings and cages/hutches out there that are so much more easier to clean and safe for them, completely baffles me.

The hazards are still there, no matter what you bedding you use, you just have to be aware of them, do your best to avoid them, and be prepared for them if they crop up.

This isn't a dig at you by the way, I've just had no problems with wood-shavings in my 13 years of having pigs, and the reason I've gone back to using is is because I don't have rats anymore and obviously couldn't have them on shavings so had to find other alternatives over the past 6-7 years, and fleecing was the worst for me personally and would strongly advise anyone else the trouble.

 

[lilmisscavy]

we are thinking about going back to sawdust or to try megasorb thing as it takes too much effort to change and wash the fleece. we dont want use our washing machine to wash animal stuff as it doesnt sound hygienic. so everything is handwashed. (back to stone age) its too much work.

Sawdust and Megazorb are extremely dusty so very bad for animals like guinea-pigs who like to forage around their enclosures for bits of food and hay. One of my girlfriend's ferrets, last year began having coughing fits due to a piece of Megazorb being in his mouth, it absorbed his saliva and so was choking him. She never used it again after that so it is a word of warning if you are considering it. She also found most of her other animals, her rats, pigs, even her mice and degus were beginning to get sniffles in their noses and would cough when housed on Megazorb as well.

I've no experience with sawdust as since a very young child, I'd been advised away from it for animals so I wouldn't risk it. If you can find a good, clean wood-shaving or hemp bedding (don't go after ones with eucalyptus in as its poisonous I believe!), give that a go. Remember that "dust extracted" beddings don't mean they have no dust in... there is no completely free-from-dust bedding! But the cleaner the better, obviously

 

[neoma]

I've found you have to try a few different bedding types before you find the best for you I now use, self adheisive tiles for the hutch floor which doesn't soak any of the pee up so it's easier to wipe down and clean, I then put hay on the top, although now in winter I've started to put in ripped up newspaper in their bedding area for warmth So i don't use wood shavings i found it's cheap and easy to use and clean too as I'm only buying hay!

I use fleece in the bedding area and find it needs changing every 2 days, but it's only a small amount of fleece which works out better for myself.

If you can, see where you piggies pee and poop, as you can use this as their toilet area and utalise the space to be more convenient for cleaning times (my boys now have a low plastic tray with a plastic table mat in and thats where they do their buisness! Although i do find the occassional accident!) Good luck finding what works best for you x

This is very interesting, AudioHeart. Thank you. :rose

Alas, my boys seem to be using three out of four corners in their cage for their business.

 

[AudioHeart]

This is very interesting, AudioHeart. Thank you. :rose

Alas, my boys seem to be using three out of four corners in their cage for their business.

No problems, I wish you the best of luck finding the right bedding And aww bless them, Harvey and Artie (my lads) are very particular where they poop, and if they do poop upstairs in the shed they push dirty bedding down the rampmallethead which can be a bit messy to clean up but i guess they're trying to help haha!

 

[neoma]

No problems, I wish you the best of luck finding the right bedding And aww bless them, Harvey and Artie (my lads) are very particular where they poop, and if they do poop upstairs in the shed they push dirty bedding down the rampmallethead which can be a bit messy to clean up but i guess they're trying to help haha!

Oh, that's funny. They sound like very clever boys!

 

[daftscotslass]

These are domesticated animals, but they're still very much wild in their behaviour, eg. being petrified of everything. We have to make do with what we have to give them a natural environment, and they'd likely find a muddy burrow to snuggle into than a fleecy sofa in the wild anyway.

All pigs need is bedding to go to the toilet on that is absorbent enough and comfortable enough to walk on, hay to snuggle into and eat, and a secure enclosure from harm's way. Of course, if you have money to waste washing soiled fleecing and silly sofas then so be it, but mine aren't missing out and neither are the others who don't live on fleecing, although.. mine live in hutches and I don't think fleecing would be advisable in hutches!

Health-wise, unless you can teach your pig not to pee and poop on fleecing EVER, it would probably be healthier yes and you'd also be a genius being able to litter-train pigs, but I had 2 of my boys on fleecing for a while in my room and after around 3 months, I just couldn't cope with it any longer from cleaning it, the smell just after one night was horrendous that my dad was beginning to complain of it smelling downstairs even, and they began to eat it which in my experience.. isn't a dietary requirement for a pig. The worse thing for me was having to chase them around the pen, its bad enough in their runs but it must have been terrifying for them. I hated seeing them distressed like that, why anyone would put themselves and their pigs through such pointlessness when there are perfectly good beddings and cages/hutches out there that are so much more easier to clean and safe for them, completely baffles me.

The hazards are still there, no matter what you bedding you use, you just have to be aware of them, do your best to avoid them, and be prepared for them if they crop up.

This isn't a dig at you by the way, I've just had no problems with wood-shavings in my 13 years of having pigs, and the reason I've gone back to using is is because I don't have rats anymore and obviously couldn't have them on shavings so had to find other alternatives over the past 6-7 years, and fleecing was the worst for me personally and would strongly advise anyone else the trouble.

Yet you don't mention the dangers of the oils in pine shavings and the dust (even the dust extracted stuff is FULL of it as you said yourself). Have you taken a handful of woodshavings and rubbed them into your hands? It's not fun and something I advise new owners to do who are thinking of using it as a bedding. There's a reason why pine oil is used in toilet cleaners. Now imagine not only your bare feet and belly on it but your nose a couple of centimetres from it 24 hours a day.

Smell isn't an issue because mine urinate in a large litter tray with megazorb and hay. 6 years I've been using fleece now and counting. The difference in number of problems with pigs with skin issues and respiratory infections I've had since switching from shavings (which previously I used for over a decade) has been absolutely immense and, for me, excuse the pun, isn't something to be sniffed at.

Personally, I would prefer "pointless" cleaning of fleece to pointless discomfort for my animals. I also don't have to chase mine around their cage to get them out, they come to me, that's more about socialisation than the type of bedding you use

 

[Midge&Panda]

To begin with I used shavings and hay then discovered this forum and heard wonderful things about fleece and vetbed so I changed to that, this was about 8 mths ago when the little ones came along. They liked it being soft and snuggly to run around on but unfortunatly what with the wet weather and the girls seeming to pee a huge amount- they have to be completely changed every 2 days I just cant keep up with the washing and more importantly the drying of blankets, towels etc, tonight I have changed to puppy pads then a fleece to cover and shavings. The younger girls are going nuts over it , running and pop-corning like mad things. so if they're happy then I'm happy. Once the warmer weather is here though and I can start drying outdoors then they will be changed back to fleece for the while. I do find it's easier to keep clean and more importantly cheaper.

 

[christine]

I use Duobed which is a mixture of chopped straw and shavings ,It is very soft and absorbent. This is used in the large run area with newspaper and hay in the sleeping boxes. The boxes are changed every day and the run area every 3rd day. No smell except the smell of hay which is quite pleasant.

The Duobed is dust free pretty well and I have never had any respiritary problems either in the piggies or myaelf even though I am asthmatic.

 

[flips]

I love fleece because I can give my girls so much more space. I couldn't afford to use aubiose for the whole area of my c & c. It would also be a pain to dispose of the waste bedding.
However, I couldn't manage fleece without my own washing machine. It was a real pain when it broke down recently. I took my washing to a friend's house as I don't think my local laundromat would let me wash my fleece there.
I also advise people to think hard before committing to fleece because you need to be organised (and have the time) to keep up with it. I have found the washable incontinence pads to be so much better than towels as an absorbent layer. I've never noticed a smell from them and they dry on an indoor airer overnight.

 

[neoma]

First, I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to reply to my post. I am learning so much in this forum, and I appreciate everyone's patience and kindness.

To begin with I used shavings and hay then discovered this forum and heard wonderful things about fleece and vetbed so I changed to that, this was about 8 mths ago when the little ones came along. They liked it being soft and snuggly to run around on but unfortunatly what with the wet weather and the girls seeming to pee a huge amount- they have to be completely changed every 2 days I just cant keep up with the washing and more importantly the drying of blankets, towels etc, tonight I have changed to puppy pads then a fleece to cover and shavings. The younger girls are going nuts over it , running and pop-corning like mad things. so if they're happy then I'm happy. Once the warmer weather is here though and I can start drying outdoors then they will be changed back to fleece for the while. I do find it's easier to keep clean and more importantly cheaper.

Using puppy pads in lieu of towels sounds like an interesting idea.

I use Duobed which is a mixture of chopped straw and shavings ,It is very soft and absorbent. This is used in the large run area with newspaper and hay in the sleeping boxes. The boxes are changed every day and the run area every 3rd day. No smell except the smell of hay which is quite pleasant.

The Duobed is dust free pretty well and I have never had any respiritary problems either in the piggies or myaelf even though I am asthmatic.

christine, I read somewhere (I don't remember where) that piggies will eat newspaper instead of just chewing on it. I presume from your post that you haven't had any problem with the newspaper that you place in their sleeping boxes. I'd love to hear people's thoughts on newspaper. Quite frankly, newspaper is something I have an abundant supply of. And do you use only the black and white pages, not color? (We have pet birds, too, and you're only supposed to use the black and white pages for them.)

I love fleece because I can give my girls so much more space. I couldn't afford to use aubiose for the whole area of my c & c. It would also be a pain to dispose of the waste bedding.
However, I couldn't manage fleece without my own washing machine. It was a real pain when it broke down recently. I took my washing to a friend's house as I don't think my local laundromat would let me wash my fleece there.
I also advise people to think hard before committing to fleece because you need to be organised (and have the time) to keep up with it. I have found the washable incontinence pads to be so much better than towels as an absorbent layer. I've never noticed a smell from them and they dry on an indoor airer overnight.

flips, I really appreciate your comment about thinking long and hard before committing to fleece. I really love the idea of using fleece, but, as I mentioned above, we don't have a washing machine. Getting to the laundry is a real hassle. It sounds as if fleece isn't the right solution for us right now.

 

[flips]

Just to add a thought about something you may like to do for floortime. I set up a space for the pigs to run about and put down a piece of pvc table covering (wipe clean, hurrah!), add some cardboard boxes and tubes, then lay a fleece throw over the top. The pigs LOVE it and spend ages running and burrowing underneath. It doesn't need washing very often as no poop/ wee/ hay gets on it.

 

[neoma]

Just to add a thought about something you may like to do for floortime. I set up a space for the pigs to run about and put down a piece of pvc table covering (wipe clean, hurrah!), add some cardboard boxes and tubes, then lay a fleece throw over the top. The pigs LOVE it and spend ages running and burrowing underneath. It doesn't need washing very often as no poop/ wee/ hay gets on it.

That's a great idea, flips. Thank you! I do have a fleece throw that I will gladly let them play on. Now the only problem is finding/making a playpen for them. Right now, all of their "out time" is on the couch, which we keep covered because of our pet birds.