Help: Sensitive to Odor

[jen_jen_ng]

Hi everyone, I'm new here. I just found this forum today and I desparately need your help. I'll give you all a more formal intro about me and my guinea pigs later =P

My family is very sensitive to odor thus... I need your suggestion for eliminating the odor~

I live in Toronto so it'll be awesome if you can list a store or brand that is available in my area. If not, just list me the names and I'll search in stores or online for them.

I did a brief research and two factors came up very frequent
1) bedding
2) some sort of odor absorber

I'd appreciate it if you can help me specify what kind and brand to use. And any additional suggestion is appreciated!

thank you thank you so much!
~ Jennifer ~

 

[skrikopanik]

Odor depends on many things... Do you have boars or sows or a mix? What bedding do you use today? How big is the cage and how often do you clean it out?

Do a search for "bed-o-linum" some members have tried it and like it both for lack of dustiness and odor control.

 

[jen_jen_ng]

Odor depends on many things... Do you have boars or sows or a mix? What bedding do you use today? How big is the cage and how often do you clean it out?

Here is my current situation. The owner is unable to take care of the guinea pigs so she wants to give them away asap. I should be getting them this week! >.< One of my family is particular senstive to odor but of course the rest of us would appreciate odor free. We are all excited to welcome two new members to our family but we hope to make elminate as many newbie mistakes as possible.

I don't know if they (2 pigs) are sows or boars, yet. Still waiting for a reply.
All I know is the cage is 40-65 inches.

Please be mindful that I'm slightly on a budget when you provide recommendations >.<
but I would make the stretch if the suggestion is effective >=).
So please give me any suggestion (odor remover materials, filter, etc.)

Thank you Thank you!

 

[skrikopanik]

If the cage is 65 inches long it's a good start. Larger cages tend to smell less.

A lot of us on here use fleece as bedding, but then your family must be ok with you using the washing machine for it.

I think the cheapest ok alternative for bedding is wood shavings. If you buy it in big bales it's really cheap so you won't feel wasteful changing the bedding often (which is key to a smell free cage). On the downside shavings themselves smell (of wood) and tend to stick to your piggies and get all over your house...

There are many paper based pet beddings too, carefresh and megazorb to name two. They are more expensive than shavings but are said to smell less.

Piggies will wee and poop mainly where they sleep and eat, so changing the bedding in these areas every day will help keep the smell down. Weed on hay will smell too so remove that daily.

I would not recommend any scented candles or bedding (scented bedding can be harmful!). Think about that your piggies are in their cage most of the time and walking around in a perpetual flower scent would drive anyone bonkers. Keeping piggies in a bigger and well ventilated room will also help.

Get the piggies and start trying out what works best for you! You can also check out the bedding reviews on this page.
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=9

The smell is such a small issue, you'll be able to handle it. Congratulations on getting piggies!

 

[flips]

Someone recently suggested growing a couple of pots of herbs in the room where you pigs live as a natural air freshener- parsley, mint , coriander are all good- and you can feed them to your pigs, so a bonus all round.

Good luck with your new arrivals. x

 

[jen_jen_ng]

Thank you both, skrikopanik and flips!
Perhaps these things are no biggies but i'm just so new to guinea pigs~ :{
thank goodness I found this forum!

I will take both of your suggestions to mind.
If everything goes well, I think I will get the guinea pigs today.
So excited and a bit nervous at the same time. Hehehe~

I'm sue I'll be coming back with more questions. All I wish for is they are healthy.

Hope you all can help out this newbie here >.<
~ Jennifer ~

[ As for other members here, more other suggestion for odor control is appreciated =) ]

 

[JackyB]

Hi Jen,

I am a relative newbie too (Had my piggies for just over a month now) i use fleece with towels underneath which gets changed every 3-4 days- i also but newspaper between the fleece and towel in their house which is where they tend to wee. I find this works very well for controlling odour as i haven't had any foul smells- you do get a "woody" type smell though from the hay but that's about it. (I do clean up all the poos everyday too as they can get a bit smelly)

 

[jen_jen_ng]

Hi Jen,

I am a relative newbie too (Had my piggies for just over a month now) i use fleece with towels underneath which gets changed every 3-4 days- i also but newspaper between the fleece and towel in their house which is where they tend to wee. I find this works very well for controlling odour as i haven't had any foul smells- you do get a "woody" type smell though from the hay but that's about it. (I do clean up all the poos everyday too as they can get a bit smelly)

Hi JackB!
it's extremely nice to meet someone in a similar process as I am =)
Do the guinea pigs dig up the fleece, towel, newpaper, etc?
I had hamsters before, and I know they do. lolz

~ Jennifer ~

 

[JackyB]

Hi Jen,

Mine don't bother to dig it up or get underneath it to be honest- i do peg the fleece around the edges but only so i can sweep up without the fleece getting pulled- they do have cosies to get in so maybe that's why they don't try and get under the fleece?!