Suitable bedding to help prevent matted hair?

Edanomel

Junior Guinea Pig
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I have had my piggies almost 1 year now so you'd think I'd have this figured out by now!

I'm just having such a hard time finding a suitable bedding for the cages. I've tried fleece, which definitely looks the nicest - for the first 5 minutes anyway haha but with all that hay and long haired pigs, I worry about ruining my washing machine with so much washing. I tried megazorb which I did like but the smell was way too much to put up with, I didn't even finish the bag, I gave it away. I really like carefresh but that's so expensive with the amount I would need! I'm using woodshavings at the moment as I used to buy huge bales of it as I also had a hamster until she was recently put to sleep, so once this is finished I want to change to something else.

The main issue I have is one of the pigs, Finn, keeps getting matted on his bottom. I brush him and I trim the hair in that area to try keep it short, but he just keeps drinking and peeing and then just sitting in a pee patch and I think the woodshavings are sticking to him and making it worse and I feel so bad for him. So I was thinking for Finn's cage is getting some bath mats from ikea, like that sort of noodle style mat if you know what I mean, and just changing them daily and washing them all together once a week, has anyone used bath mats? Are they absorbent enough?

Or any other recommendations what's best for helping long haired piggies keep dry? It's mostly Finn that's having the issue, I have the other 2 that share and their hair seems to be fine with brushing and trimming.
 
@Edanomel I use a laundry bag in my washing machine so the bits of hay and hair don't get caught in the washing machine.

I have my first long haired pig and I use a combination of fleece and VetBed in his cage and he seems to be okay.
 
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