Piggie Cage Bottom

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Daughter Has Pigs

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Help PLEASE! My 20-something daughter has 7 piiggies and is not very good at keeping the area clean, cleans at most once a week. Not only cruel to the piggies but the house STINKS. She uses fleece cloth pads which, understandably, my wife does not want to fill her washer and dryer with fur and "piggie smell".
I want to build them a L shaped area to live in using poplar and some 1/4 inch tool mesh/chicken cage fence and use shavings and disposable pads for the bottom, but with 7 pigs....the cost of the pads is very high. She is rather neglectful in keeping the area clean and so we are trying to make it easier this way....just roll up the mats, shavings and all and throw away. Perhaps she'll clean more often. We pay for everything as she does not work (college student....don't get me started), so we are looking for recommended and safe puppy/pet pads that are not so darned expensive. Any suggestions?
 
Hi there!

Are the piggies all female? If there are males, are they neutered? I'm asking because surprise babies will not be helpful ;)

As for your problem, @Viennese Furbabies has 5 piggies on disposable bedding, I'm sure she could offer advice!

I'm sorry for your situation. The cage should be spot cleaned at least 1-2 times a day to keep the piggies comfortable. Your daughter should be made aware of this :(

Thanks for caring for them, and hopefully other members will be here soon! :)
 
For my pigs I use newspaper (get loads of them for free from an old folks home) and then either IKEA bathmats on top (washed every 3 days, they dry quickly), or hay, which is cheap to buy by the bale. Every day I inspect their pens and remove any wet/dirty bedding. Sometimes I don't do a full clean, just the bits that are dirty. But generally a full clean every three days at least. There is something magical about the IKEA bathmats, I've tried other similar looking ones and they don't stay dry as well as the IKEA ones.

For an enclosure I use the wire grids that you can get on Amazon which are very reasonably priced. If you look at the reviews there are pictures from people that have used them to make pig habitats. For the base I use vinyl flooring like the stuff you have in the bathroom/kitchen, though you have to be careful they don't chew it.
Amazon.co.uk

It's so important to keep them clean to avoid them getting unwell with things like urinary tract infection, bumblefoot, flystrike, as well as being horrible/dangerous for the pigs it will also result in expensive vet bills. Well done for stepping in and reaching out for advice.
 
Adelyn said:
Hi there!

Are the piggies all female? If there are males, are they neutered? I'm asking because surprise babies will not be helpful ;)

As for your problem, @Viennese Furbabies has 5 piggies on disposable bedding, I'm sure she could offer advice!

I'm sorry for your situation. The cage should be spot cleaned at least 1-2 times a day to keep the piggies comfortable. Your daughter should be made aware of this :(

Thanks for caring for them, and hopefully other members will be here soon! :)
Click to expand...
All females…she also hates all things male🙄
 
I have multiple pets - three guinea pigs and two rabbits.
The pigs all live in separate cages (I did have four pigs but one lost his cagemate last week and the bond is the other two broke down over a year ago) so I have three pig cages and a 120 square foot rabbit enclosure with a 6 ft hutch inside. The hutch has bedding inside the main enclosure does not.
You can imagine the amount of cleaning there is there.
All my animals are bedded on: a layer of newspaper, then a layer is shavings and then all topped with hay. They are spot cleaned at least once a day and full cage cleans once around a week, perhaps every 5 days.
My wider family save their newspapers to give to me. I buy bedding and meadow hay by the bale from a local farm as it’s cheaper.
 
I would also recommend using newspapers as a bottom layer and shavings on top. But of course you need lot's of newspaper.
My piggies live on shavings and I clean out the cage once a week with spot cleaning dailey or every other day depending on how wet the favourite spots are.
I just take the shavings out with a dustpan, that doesn't take long.
The downside of shavings is the dust they create.
 
I'm sorry for your situation and well done for trying to make things better for the piggies. Just to say that if she won't change from using fleeces, you can buy pet wash bags to put them in before they go in the washer. As others have mentioned, it is very important that they are cleaned at least daily for their health and comfort.
 
I used to use disposable paper bedding (Carefresh or similar bedding.) I still use it for my hamsters because they need it for burrowing. I switched to fleece for my guinea pigs because paper bedding is EXPENSIVE in a large cage. You may be sticker-shocked when you find out what it will cost to keep a 7-pig cage clean with disposable bedding.

Honestly, washing fleece in the washing machine doesn't have to result in piggie smell and fur everywhere. I shake mine out outside, then use a handheld vacuum to go over them to suck up stray fur and bits of hay. Then then just go into the machine. The machine doesn't smell like piggies or get clogged or anything. I spot clean every day and change the fleece out every three or four days. It doens't smell and it's a LOT cheaper than paper shavings.
 
Newspaper with shavings on top for me, it works well if you can get a free supply of newspaper as I find with a thick layer of newspaper you only need a full clean out once a week. And you're right, scoop everything out and just throw it all in the bin. I'm lucky as my council accept pet bedding and the newspaper in the compost bin (brown bin for us) but I know that isn't the case everywhere.
 
I use disposable puppy pads and bath mats. The Bath mats are great because they can go for almost a week before needing to wash them. But I only have 1 guinea pig, so for 7 piggies the mats will have to be washed a lot more frequently. I spot clean at least twice daily. To cut down on the amount of washing needed, I put the puppy pads in "likely-to-get-dirty-first" areas like under hidey houses and places where they sleep and eat.
Keeping 7 guinea pigs clean and happy is a massive commitment, I understand that it is a lot of work, but that's just what they require.
 
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