Nightmare Vetbed

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hello,

I have had an absolute nightmare of a day trying to clean the guinea pig cage for the first time with the vetbed. Everything I have read on here suggests its as good as fleece but better.......... well I seriously challange this!

To begin getting it out is a nightmare as it doesnt roll as such .... then carrying it outside was hellish as it stunk and there was urine/water dribbling onto the floor, outside not all the hay came off and then I had to put them separately into the washing machine.

What am I doing wrong?

At the moment I have an offcut (left over) in each of the cages with newspaper and fleece too ....

I have put a picture for you to have a look.

I would also like your thoughts on the hay rack; ive replaced one of the grids with a mesh one as the hay keeps falling down the side of the cage and its causing so much mess. Any other suggestions would be hugely appreciated, Ive been hoping for months (since having them in pen) that this cage situation will get easier and so far it really hasnt ....

Thanks

Jen
 
Hi There!


Ive just started using VetBed in the past two weeks, and I find it brilliant.

Our Hay is now in a large ceramic dog food bowl in the top story of the cage (for the same reason as the hay rack was so messy, half the hay was on my living room floor), having hay downstairs was awful you couldnt see the vetbed for the ammount of hay thrown around (so bad a threw that piece away, the cleaning wasnt worth it) so its strictly kept on the top floor now which is easier to spot clean, which I do daily with a Black and Decker hand held hoover, it gets the hay out very effectively (around £60 but very powerful and i highly recommend to anyone).

I am finding it difficult to remove and although I havent washed any yet I am really wondering how its going to get in the washing machine as it is new its very stiff and doesnt roll up easily at all. But I'm doing that this week and I'll let you know how it goes.

Ive never used fleece I previously used sawdust so for me the vet bed is just brilliant although may change my mind if the washing is a nightmare ^^

I'm wondering where you got yours from? I left mine for a little too long last week as I work night shifts so it was a bit smelly and obviously quite water and pee soaked (I will never let it get that bad again, I'm utterly ashamed) however even after that no fluids dripped out from it at all, it was all on the newspaper underneath and it remained dry to the touch on top.

Hope this helps :)
 
I use Vetbed for one of my boys, and I have to change that every other day otherwise it'd get wet & smelly. If there wehre any more piggies I'd have to do it every day.

As for taking the VetBed out, I just grab every corner and fold it up like a lil parcle :)
Have you tried hoovering it? Alot of people on here hoover their VB
 
I've had mine a week and it's worked brilliantly for myself, how many pigs do you have? I have two, and by the end of the week my vet bed wasn't pee soaked...did you pre wash the vet bed three times before use with detergent that doesn't have conditioner in it?

I'd suggest hanging the vet bed onto a washing line and beating it with the back of your dust pan to remove all the stray hay bits etc, and use a clean dust brush to brush over the vetbed :)

For the hay rack I put a plastic tray down to catch any stray hays, and I dont use vetbed in the hay area instead I just use newspaper and kitchen towels, and replace them everyday.

Oh and if you have large pieces of vetbed you will need to wash them separately, otherwise they wont wash properly hope this helped :)
 
Do you have a towel under it? I think you need something absorbent under it to soak up the urine.

I just got some recently. It does get more flexible after a couple of washes. On the other hand, the rows of fluff have separated on mine, so there are grooves between them that hay and poops can get stuck in.
 
ClaireBear said:
your meant to wash it before you use it the first time?

didn't know that, why is that?
Click to expand...

I don't use vetbed yet- but do use washable nappies for my kids, and you prewash as it removes residues and also increases absorbancy, some fabrics, like hemp and bamboo only reach full absorbancy after maybe 10 washes, whereas man made fibres tend to be less.

Using too much detergent can also cause build up in fabrics and reduce absorbency, for nappies it's recommended you use a half dose of non-bio without conditioner (not fairy)

You can use white wine vinegar as a natural softener, capful in softener drawer, and on nappies you can add napisan powder to the wash to zap stains and smells.
 
Thanks everyone for your responses, I have been saving up for ages for a handheld over thing as I really want a good one. I will also have to buy some trays to go under the hay.

ClaireBear - I bought mine off a seller on ebay. Maybe I did leave it too long plus the water bottle seemed to have leaked and causing some clumping of food/poos too. I'm going to have another go at tidying/cleaning again this evening - hopefully it should be easier.

Squigle - I will give hovering a go this evening, my piggies are not that keen on the hover but I guess they will get used to it soon enough. My dog used to be scared of it too - he would sit on the sofa while my Mum hovered the lounge.

AudioHeart- I have two piggies who have separate cages.

AJB- yes I had a towel and some newspaper ...

I didnt wash it before use, I didnt realise I was supposed too.....

Jen
 
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