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

[Cat&ThePiggies]

I use fleece for one of my sets of piggies and find it so much better than shavings. I also found it had health benefits for one of the piggies as he was sneezing a lot when on the shavings but now I've got them on fleece, he sneezes a lot less.

I find I only have to change the fleece and towels once a week. Although, I do think I'd find it a struggle if I didnt have a washing machine and tumble drier. I think you really have to think hard about whether you have the time, space and resources for changing them onto fleece. You could give it a trial, to see if it works out for you. I would imagine that if you were to use a washer bag or pillowcase to put the fleece and towels in, the laundrette would be ok with you washing them there. Also, if you were to get a few sets of bedding, you wouldn't have to wash them every week.

 

[neoma]

I use fleece for one of my sets of piggies and find it so much better than shavings. I also found it had health benefits for one of the piggies as he was sneezing a lot when on the shavings but now I've got them on fleece, he sneezes a lot less.

I find I only have to change the fleece and towels once a week. Although, I do think I'd find it a struggle if I didnt have a washing machine and tumble drier. I think you really have to think hard about whether you have the time, space and resources for changing them onto fleece. You could give it a trial, to see if it works out for you. I would imagine that if you were to use a washer bag or pillowcase to put the fleece and towels in, the laundrette would be ok with you washing them there. Also, if you were to get a few sets of bedding, you wouldn't have to wash them every week.

Cat&ThePiggies, thank you for your feedback. I really am tempted. It seems to me that finding and cleaning out the poos would be a lot easier with fleece.

I was wondering: Has anyone tried putting fleece on top of shavings? I still have 3/4 of a big bag of shavings. I thoroughly cleaned out the boys cage this morning (scrubbed it down in the bathtub, etc.) and was really tempted to put a fleece throw on top of the shavings.

 

[neoma]

OK, I gave in this morning. I'm tired of sorting through the wood shavings to find hidden poos.

I'm doing a variation on the theme. I hope it works.

I already had wood shavings on their floor. They were fresh -- I cleaned their house thoroughly yesterday.

I put a towel over that.

Then I put a fleece throw that has been washed on top of everything. It looks so cute tucked into their house.

I made them a little litter box out of a low cardboard box. I filled it with wood shavings. It may have been an accident, but one of them already pooed in there.

The piggies seem very excited about their new fleece floor. Ginger was popcorning. Then again, he popcorns every time I do anything to his house.

If this works, I will have to get another fleece or two.

I'll keep you posted.

 

[neoma]

I caught a great sale on fleece throws this afternoon. I bought two at $1.99 each.

Somebody please help me...

How many times am I supposed to wash them before using them? I will have to wash them by hand. And why am I washing them before using them? Will they repel urine if I use them unwashed?

My boys are not going in their litter box. I came home from running some errands and they had pooed all over their cage. Does it make any sense to keep the litter box in their cage?

The plus is that picking up the poos was a lot easier on the fleece than trying to sort through shavings to find them. (Awkward sentence -- please forgive me.)

Another question...

Has anyone tried using disposable diapers as the layer under the fleece? I don't think that is an ecologically sound idea, but I wonder how well it would work.

 

[Carly and co]

I switched to fleece and love it, mine were on newspaper as Cheryl was allergic to wood shavings, she is a self cream and the newspaper over a period of time and dyed her fur, i bathed her several times and shes been off the newspaper for about 3 months now but shes still covered in newspaper print!
I found an easier way to clean the fleece, i change it every day because of the smell, but now i put newspaper underneath then 2 fleeces, the next day i remove the top fleece leaving a clean fleece underneath and shake it off in the bin and wash, then a total clean the next day with 2 clean fleeces. i find by the time ive swept and spot cleaned the fleece i may aswell of changed it. x

 

[neoma]

I switched to fleece and love it, mine were on newspaper as Cheryl was allergic to wood shavings, she is a self cream and the newspaper over a period of time and dyed her fur, i bathed her several times and shes been off the newspaper for about 3 months now but shes still covered in newspaper print!
I found an easier way to clean the fleece, i change it every day because of the smell, but now i put newspaper underneath then 2 fleeces, the next day i remove the top fleece leaving a clean fleece underneath and shake it off in the bin and wash, then a total clean the next day with 2 clean fleeces. i find by the time ive swept and spot cleaned the fleece i may aswell of changed it. x

Oh, poor little Cheryl being covered in newsprint!

So, you only use newspaper and the two fleeces -- no towels?

That would be a huge savings for us. Free newspapers are readily available.

Do you only use the black and white pages or the color ones, also?

 

[christine]

The piggies sometimes tear the newspaper but dont seem to eat it ,though they do love to chew the cardboard boxes.. I put logs and twigs with bark on them for the piiggies to gnaw at. I have never had any tooth or digestive problems . I only use black and white newsprint and my friends all save it for me so I have plenty and put it down quite thickly.

 

[Carly and co]

Oh, poor little Cheryl being covered in newsprint!

So, you only use newspaper and the two fleeces -- no towels?

That would be a huge savings for us. Free newspapers are readily available.

Do you only use the black and white pages or the color ones, also?

Yeah, no towels, thick layer of newspaper then 2 fleece on first day, take one out next day with all the mess on and leave one in. next day everything out and start again. x

 

[Sodapops]

I use fleece for all my 6 guinea pigs (i have 3 pairs - two pairs of boys and 1 pair of girls - all in separate cages) - each pairing lives in a 5ft x 2ft indoor cage where the whole bottom tray slides out for easy cleaning.

When i first had my piggies i used wood shavings but found it got dragged everywhere around the house and the cleanup was just too much (i was hoovering my whole house twice daily).

I switched to fleece mainly because i liked the idea of saving money by washing and re-using their bedding as opposed to lugging huge bags of wood shavings back from my local pet store.

I used to do a couple of layers of newspaper followed by 2-3 layers of old towels, topped with 1 single layer of fleece material. While it worked well, i had to have a wash and wear set and the drying time of the 3-4 layers of towels was a few hours.

I then came on to these forums and saw that most people didn't use towels under their fleece but instead used washable bed pads or disposable puppy pads. As i very much liked the idea of being able to wash everything i opted for washable bed pads. I think i paid 50.00 pounds + postage in total for 12 pads and i use two in each cage (so i have a was and a wear set). I used to clip the bed pads to the fleece using small bulldog clips. But since this was timely when removing the clips for wash time i have since sewed the bed pads to the fleece material (and it fits the bottom of their cages perfect).

The cages i have, have got two levels so their food, a hidey house, their hay tray and litter tray stay upstairs (the upstairs floor is covered with lino so is easily wiped clean). Their litter tray sits directly underneath their hay tray to catch and falling hay, and is filled with wood shavings topped with hay - since guinea pigs like to do their business where they eat, this seemed the perfect solution.

My two girls are very clean - and my eldest girl will pee and poop in the litter tray (when she was pregnant the litter tray was the only thing i emptied on a daily basis - the rest of her cage was spotless). Her daughter liked to pee and poop in every available corner of the cage - but she will also use the litter tray - so cleanup is relatively straight forward.

My long haired boys on the other hand just love to drag the shavings and hay down on the fleece material - which can be a pain when it comes to clean-out day. However i have invested in a small cyliner hoover that i use for daily spot cleans - this picks up any shavings/hay/food/and poops that the boys just love to spread everywhere.

I clean up piggie poop every day and clean out the litter trays every 2-3 days - i do a full cage clean for two of my boys every 3 days (they poop and pee everywhere) - my long haired boys and my two girls have their cage cleaned thoroughly every 4-5 days - in all honesty though my girls could probably go longer than a week and still smell of roses.

In your situation i suppose disposable pads would be the way forward - you can pick these up fairly cheap - depending on how messy your pigs are you could probably get away with weekly cleanups - so you'd only have to wash the fleece once a week (easily done by hand).

Before you use any fleece material make sure you wash it at least 3-4 times, this will allow the urine to be absorbed and wicked way leaving the fleece dry to touch. If you dont wash it prior to use the urine will sit on the fleece material and wont be absorbed (something to do with it having a protective layer on it that must be removed by washing it first)

hope this helps - appologies if ive waffled on slightly

 

[neoma]

I use fleece for all my 6 guinea pigs (i have 3 pairs - two pairs of boys and 1 pair of girls - all in separate cages) - each pairing lives in a 5ft x 2ft indoor cage where the whole bottom tray slides out for easy cleaning.

When i first had my piggies i used wood shavings but found it got dragged everywhere around the house and the cleanup was just too much (i was hoovering my whole house twice daily).

I switched to fleece mainly because i liked the idea of saving money by washing and re-using their bedding as opposed to lugging huge bags of wood shavings back from my local pet store.

I used to do a couple of layers of newspaper followed by 2-3 layers of old towels, topped with 1 single layer of fleece material. While it worked well, i had to have a wash and wear set and the drying time of the 3-4 layers of towels was a few hours.

I then came on to these forums and saw that most people didn't use towels under their fleece but instead used washable bed pads or disposable puppy pads. As i very much liked the idea of being able to wash everything i opted for washable bed pads. I think i paid 50.00 pounds + postage in total for 12 pads and i use two in each cage (so i have a was and a wear set). I used to clip the bed pads to the fleece using small bulldog clips. But since this was timely when removing the clips for wash time i have since sewed the bed pads to the fleece material (and it fits the bottom of their cages perfect).

The cages i have, have got two levels so their food, a hidey house, their hay tray and litter tray stay upstairs (the upstairs floor is covered with lino so is easily wiped clean). Their litter tray sits directly underneath their hay tray to catch and falling hay, and is filled with wood shavings topped with hay - since guinea pigs like to do their business where they eat, this seemed the perfect solution.

My two girls are very clean - and my eldest girl will pee and poop in the litter tray (when she was pregnant the litter tray was the only thing i emptied on a daily basis - the rest of her cage was spotless). Her daughter liked to pee and poop in every available corner of the cage - but she will also use the litter tray - so cleanup is relatively straight forward.

My long haired boys on the other hand just love to drag the shavings and hay down on the fleece material - which can be a pain when it comes to clean-out day. However i have invested in a small cyliner hoover that i use for daily spot cleans - this picks up any shavings/hay/food/and poops that the boys just love to spread everywhere.

I clean up piggie poop every day and clean out the litter trays every 2-3 days - i do a full cage clean for two of my boys every 3 days (they poop and pee everywhere) - my long haired boys and my two girls have their cage cleaned thoroughly every 4-5 days - in all honesty though my girls could probably go longer than a week and still smell of roses.

In your situation i suppose disposable pads would be the way forward - you can pick these up fairly cheap - depending on how messy your pigs are you could probably get away with weekly cleanups - so you'd only have to wash the fleece once a week (easily done by hand).

Before you use any fleece material make sure you wash it at least 3-4 times, this will allow the urine to be absorbed and wicked way leaving the fleece dry to touch. If you dont wash it prior to use the urine will sit on the fleece material and wont be absorbed (something to do with it having a protective layer on it that must be removed by washing it first)

hope this helps - appologies if ive waffled on slightly

Thank you so much for taking the time to tell me about your experience and your current set up, Sodapops!

I will wash their new fleece blankets three times before I use them.

My boys poo a lot. I pick up after them several times a day. I guess I'll figure out how often I need to change the whole set up via sniff test. I'm hoping that I can go a week.

I do hope that the fleece works out for me. I really hate lugging stuff home from the pet store on the bus.

 

[neoma]

I give up...

Yesterday, I changed the piggies' fleece. I tracked wood shavings and hay all through the apartment. Washing the old fleece by hand was time-consuming and not at all thorough.

This morning, I realized that their two new replacement fleeces are much less substantial than the old one. Because they have no "body," they bunched up in mountains of wrinkles as I tried scoop all of their poo into a pile for removal.

I finally gave up. I bunched the fleece up and threw it away, then filled their house with wood shavings.

I think that if I had a washer and dryer this would be an excellent bedding option. Since I don't, it isn't. I'm not sorry that I tried it. If I hadn't, I would always have wondered.

Many thanks to everyone who shared their experience and advice regarding this method.