Leaky bedding?

[Kinzie12]

Hello,
I am new to using fleece liners. I made my own with fleece on top, a uhaul pad, waterproof layer, and fleece on the bottom. So far it has been good but one of my liners is wet on the bottom. It is made out of the same material and is wet almost everywhere.
I do use pee pads.
has anybody else had this issue? Is it possible it didn’t dry right?

 

[Free Ranger]

I'm guessing here so it could be a few things...

It could well be that the pad didn't dry properly as the waterproof layer will prevent drying through the bottom half (50% less efficient). This is after a wash or after it has been peed on - the liquid will only be able to dry/evaporate away through the top surface.

Or - if it is just one of the pads - it could be that the waterproof layer in that pad has got a little hole or tear so liquid is seeping through and then pooling underneath. Fleece (a man-made fibre) isn't absorbent like natural fibres (cotton etc) so any water would be trapped underneath and just sit in a puddle. I guess the way to test that would be wash and dry the offending pad and then deliberately put it down onto a wet surface. Press it down - if any part of the top starts to feel wet that is where the water is seeping up through a hole. If it all starts to feel damp all over your waterproof layer might not be waterproof enough! I'm remembering an uncomfortable beach picnic here - on a typically damp British beach - we thought we'd done well using a tarp under our picnic blanket but then had to walk back to the car past a lot of people with very obvious wet bottoms!

My liners are fleece/absorbent layer (Zorb)/fleece so they can be used either way up. It also makes drying them after a wash much quicker. My pigs are on a hard tiled floor underneath though, so I don't have to worry about pee soaking in - it just gets wiped over each week. I use big homemade liners and then smaller versions on top (pee pads) where they tend to pee a lot, and switch them out as they need it which might be once a week or after a few days. TBH I sometimes just flip a smaller pad over and get another day out of it! I can understand why you included a waterproof layer but the problem here is drying. If I was on a different surface - like wood or something - I think I would rather line out the whole enclosure with something thick and waterproof like correx or lino (we can get off-cuts pretty cheap from carpet shops) and then just stick with fleece/zorb/fleece on top of that rather than worry about leaking liners. But then I bet your sewing skills are much better than my rough efforts

Good luck! Let us know how you get on.

 

[Kinzie12]

I'm guessing here so it could be a few things...

It could well be that the pad didn't dry properly as the waterproof layer will prevent drying through the bottom half (50% less efficient). This is after a wash or after it has been peed on - the liquid will only be able to dry/evaporate away through the top surface.

Or - if it is just one of the pads - it could be that the waterproof layer in that pad has got a little hole or tear so liquid is seeping through and then pooling underneath. Fleece (a man-made fibre) isn't absorbent like natural fibres (cotton etc) so any water would be trapped underneath and just sit in a puddle. I guess the way to test that would be wash and dry the offending pad and then deliberately put it down onto a wet surface. Press it down - if any part of the top starts to feel wet that is where the water is seeping up through a hole. If it all starts to feel damp all over your waterproof layer might not be waterproof enough! I'm remembering an uncomfortable beach picnic here - on a typically damp British beach - we thought we'd done well using a tarp under our picnic blanket but then had to walk back to the car past a lot of people with very obvious wet bottoms!

My liners are fleece/absorbent layer (Zorb)/fleece so they can be used either way up. It also makes drying them after a wash much quicker. My pigs are on a hard tiled floor underneath though, so I don't have to worry about pee soaking in - it just gets wiped over each week. I use big homemade liners and then smaller versions on top (pee pads) where they tend to pee a lot, and switch them out as they need it which might be once a week or after a few days. TBH I sometimes just flip a smaller pad over and get another day out of it! I can understand why you included a waterproof layer but the problem here is drying. If I was on a different surface - like wood or something - I think I would rather line out the whole enclosure with something thick and waterproof like correx or lino (we can get off-cuts pretty cheap from carpet shops) and then just stick with fleece/zorb/fleece on top of that rather than worry about leaking liners. But then I bet your sewing skills are much better than my rough efforts

Good luck! Let us know how you get on.

Thank you so much! I will test it out, it is very odd as I don’t think the wetness smells like guinea pee. It’s odd because this liner is smaller than my other liners I use for the main part of their cage. The liner is also covered with 2 or 3 pee pads. I will let you know how it works out