Opinions from fleece fans

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keli

keli

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Since becomming a member of this site I've been bursting with new knowledge and spending more and more on my guinea pigs every week rolleyes
I want to ask the fleece users what they think of this bedding option.
Is the fleece in question the little blankets that you can get in 3 foot squares for children in Primark etc?
How many times does the fleece need to be washed before use?
How often after that does the fleece need to be washed to keep it clean?
Do I have to attach the fleece to the towls or will it stay down by itself?
Is one towel enough for underneath?
Do you still use a litter tray?
Also any additional pros/cons youve come across with fleece is mucho appreciated xoxo
 
Hi,

I use fleece for my pigs because one of my boys has allergies. I wash the bedding every second day. I put 2 towels underneath the fleece to soak up the urine as fleece wicks it away. I find it's quite easy to use and they really love it. Everytime I put fresh fleece blankets down they popcorn like crazy!

I have a couple hideboxes to keep the fleece blankets down as they like to burrow underneath. It has been working fine. And I don't have wood shavings all over the place.

Lynn
 
Fleece does need changing quite often and i have experienced several problems with it.
I would recommend it though as its nice and soft on there feet and its not a regular cost. Very minimal start up costs also :)
 
I bought mine from poundstretcher, some are pet blankets which are £2.99 each, others were throws which were £7.99 each but are huge and very very soft. We used to just use vet bed so obviously still have that so we put newspaper then vet bed then fleece on top. The fleece we change every other day but sweep them out daily. The vet bed gets cleaned once a week as it doesn't really get dirty, obviously though if I think they need cleaning out more often/less often then I will do. We have our cage lined with correx which they chewed so now we overlap the fleece over the edges and have giant paperclips which we use to clip it on. Ours will get under the fleece given the opportunity.

I think it all depends on how many piggies you have and what kind of space they're in. We have 3 girls in one cage which is 4x3 ( it's a c&c cage ) with a 1x4 hay loft. We have a pair in a seperate, smaller cage but clean them out the same amount as the space is smaller so they get just as messy even though theres one less.
 
You can look for bed throws as well!

I would recommend that you wash them at least twice to remove all traces of fabric softener before the first use.

With my tribe, I usually change every three days on average; I have a spare set of fleece and towels.

You would need some kind of tray with a higher edge for your hay, or you will have a mess on your fleece.

It might be useful to wash your fleece in an old or cheap duvet cover in order to keep the machine from going "hairy" and the filter from clogging up. Shake the fleece out before washing and after washing/drying again.
 
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Ok so I went to Dunnes (like Primark) today and I got a huge fleece, its about 5x4 and two towels for underneath. I've washed the fleece once now already. Is the fabric softener the only reason you need to wash out the fleece?

I'm going to try out the fleece with my female and pups first.
They're in a store bought cage at the moment

cage.jpg
[/IMG]
This is the cage until I have my own place and can upgrade to a c&c

I have a hay cage and one of those balls that hang from the roof of the cage that I put hay in. Do I need a litter tray too?
 
Ok so I went to Dunnes (like Primark) today and I got a huge fleece, its about 5x4 and two towels for underneath. I've washed the fleece once now already. Is the fabric softener the only reason you need to wash out the fleece?

I'm going to try out the fleece with my female and pups first.
They're in a store bought cage at the moment

cage.jpg
[/IMG]
This is the cage until I have my own place and can upgrade to a c&c

I have a hay cage and one of those balls that hang from the roof of the cage that I put hay in. Do I need a litter tray too?
 
I just bought fleece and used it on the bottom, the 2X4 part and then in the 1X2 loft I had newspaper and plenty of hay for burrowing. As we're going through mite treatment the vet reccomended using a hay rack instead of having them always burrowed in the hay as that is better for their condition.

However I think it is good to have a tray or box with hay in it because they do love going in it and eating it freely. Also wash the fleece at least one more time. I only washed mine twice but I think it couldn't done with another go through. Still it did the job!
 
think most been answered now. I am a MASSIVE fleece fan. you can get fleece throws in ikea for under £2. Its fab, only colour is baby blue and it is fairly thin compared to our other large pet fleece thats from wilkos (think thats £5 ) but as its thinner its fab for making things out of! and as its so cheap it doesnt matter if something doesnt turn out right! ( I'm rubbish at sewing but its fun trying :D )
 
So today the cage went from this

guineapigs007.jpg


to this

guineapigs032.jpg


Can anyone tell me if I'm missing anything?
I've got newspaper, towel, and fleece on top.
I'm not sure what the story will be with the hay/litter tray situation yet?
As now it looks great, but I'm sure the pigs will be more than willing to mess it up for me.



I had a small piece of leftover towel that I gave to Gizmo.
I guess he liked it more than I thought he would.
guineapigs040.jpg

guineapigs043.jpg

Happy Piggie :))
 
I would invest in a cheap plastic storage box with a rim of at least 2 inches high. You will find that your cardboard box could be upturned; the rim at the back is far too low and will have all the hay dragged put. I can also go rather yucky when they use it as a toilet!
 
Very cute piggies! I agree that a plastic hay tray would be much easier to keep clean - just line it with newspaper or something to absorb any wee, changing it daily. Your little ones look tiny so naturally just make sure that they can easily get in and out, so they don't miss out on all the fun!

The cage looks great! If you don't already have a pigloo or some kind of hidey like that you may want to get one. In my cage I put a pigloo type house over the fleecey bed, as piggies usually like to have a 'hidden' area which is enclosed. The tube you have in there is good for hiding too :)
 
Thanks for the input.
I'll invest in a cat litter tray today and see how they get on with that.
I might have to put an opening in it for the babies although they seem to be quite talented climbers :)) That'll get them into trouble some day.
They're bed usually has a cover over it for them to hide in, it was just taken out for the sake of the picture.
I really can't wait until I have my own place to build a c&c for them!
I got impatient the other day and ordered the grids already haha
 
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