the vetbed idea is not working out...

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gembob

i brought some vetbed aroung two weeks ago now. i think the first mistake i made was to have it in white! ive found that the hutch stinks all the time, it doesnt smell as clean as when they had shavings in! ive washed it, and it looked lovely going back down, but within half an hour it looked a mess, stained and they smelt again-I'm changing it later, ive had enough.I'm gunna bring them into their indoor cage in our bedroom, and try toweling and paper.sorrrryyy vetbeds not for me!gemxx:{:{:{:(
 
I wash the piggies vetbed everyday, otherwise, yes I tend to agree it does smell. I use a really good spray cleaner for the house and run when I remove the vet bed and it does smell alot fresher . Do you use a pet cleaning spray? I find vetbed much less of a hassle than shavings and kinder and less messier :) maybe give it a bit of time and try changing everyday. It takes me half an hour every morning to sweep the vetbed spray clean the house and run and put the clean vetbed down, its worth doing to see the girls happily popcorning on the fresh vetbed :)
 
AWW Gem I have to say I agree.

First on the white colour. I didn't have white evt bed but i did have very pale blue fleece and the poop / hay / wee makes it look horrible in no time. I have now switched to brown.

I also found vetbed to be smelly and hard to get clean. My washing machine clogged up about 5 times so I switched to fleece. Now fleece I still find a bit stinky BUT by putting all their hay above a litter tray filled with newspaper and cheap bedding hay they wee and poop ALOT in there. So I empty this every day and sweep the rest with a dustpan and brush and it doesn't need doing every day or even every other day. It's every third day now.

It's horrible when it's stinky isn't it. Makes you feel like a bad piggy mummy (which you're not!)
 
Aww what a shame it's not working. Gucci has pale pink to match her cage but she only poops and wees in the one corner, so it doesn't look too bad. Hay sticks to it terrible, so maybe try a hay cube or rack if you're getting fed up of it. I can't say I've noticed the smell really, I change Gucci's every 4-5 days. I'm sorry it hasn't worked out for you :(
 
that's a shame you didn't get on with the vet bed. i have been using ved bed for over a year now - i do hoover all poos and hay out every night, and sometimes the bedding can get a bit smell but i wash mine once a week. I just find vet bed kinda on the piggy than woodshavings. Mine has worn down cos its been washed so much, but i dont think i would ever change using it and I think whatever bedding you use, the gps make a mess within a few hours anyway, so mine always looks a mess not long after i have cleaned all poos etc out.
 
I changed to using vetbed almost a year ago, and will admit that there is a certain amount of trial and error involved, especially to begin with.
I've discovered I need to hoover the vetbed at least once a day, change the newspaper underneath every 2 or 3 days, and wash the vetbed every 5 days. My handheld dyson is invaluable for removing the vast amount of poops my boys produce, and fortunately I chose dark green and blue vetbed so they don't tend to stain all that easily. Probably most importantly I've learned to clean the washing machine filter each time I wash vetbed. Saying this, I would never go back to using anything else for my pigs, they look so content, warm and comfortable.
 
thanks for all your messages and advice everyone.I'm gunna try all these ideas and tips before i give up and go back to shavings then...fingers crossed....gemx
 
vet bed

I have just been givin lots of vetbed for my guinea rescue and the guineas love it i washed them and dryed them all before using them and they look so lovley and warm in there hutches hope i have a good experiance with it as i would love to keep using it..:)i also use lino in there hutches and newspaper does anyone have any more good tips?
 
I tried vetbed last winter and I had a similar experience to you. I persevered for a couple of months but in the end I binned it. The smell was too much and I don't have time to clean out every day.

I have just switched to Carefresh, much better.
 
Oooh I didn't think of puppy pads, I just bought a bunch of cheap chunks of fleece. Thats a good idea though thanks!
 
you can buy it from petshops, and the wee goes through it and keeps the top layer clean, its a fleecy type of material, its used for animals that maybe suffer from incontinence, or recovering from surgery to keep them warmer and cleaner. but sorry guys ive binned it, i couldnt put up with it any longer(i know it was a waste of money) but they are in their indoor cage now on towels with newspaper under. gemx
 
I currently have a bin liner layer, newspaper layer, old curtain layer and a fleece. I find it gets messy straight away, but I need to wash ever two days.
 
Dyson hand held

Indy said:
My handheld dyson is invaluable for removing the vast amount of poops my boys produceQUOTE]

Hi Indy
Is your handheld Dyson the rechargeable one? if yes how long does it run, without being recharged?

I'm thinking of buying one of these to clean out the hutch & run....
do you have to keep unblocking the dyson or does it cope OK

I've seen one that's specifically for caravan & boats which I thought might be more suitable....
Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...
 
Some people on the forum use vet bed and also a litter tray with news paper and hay on the top, maybe you could try this to see if your piggies will poop in there. They make a seperate litter tray using the correx and pop it up one end of the cage. Worth a try I suppose. I use vetbed an wash at 50 degrees every three to four days. Another tip I read on here was to wash your vetbed in an old duvet cover, that way your washer stays clean. Hope this helps.
 
I hated fleece bedding the first time I began to use it. A short while later after I'd returned to my old bedding, I found a way of using it which worked for me. Since then I've never really gone back to megazorb... I only use megazorb in the "kitchen" area where I may need to spot clean.

On the guinea_pigs community I moderate, one of my co-mods uses vet bed.
http://pics.livejournal.com/thalestral/gallery/0000feaq

The only thing I've noticed between using fleece (vet bed is one-up from fleece, I guess, since it's designed to be peed on) and normal beddings is that fleece is a bit more unforgiving if you're delinquent in spot-cleaning.
 
squeaks

iam not sure we have this in Oz

What do the other aussies think?

venice
 
I moved on to vet bed a few years ago and really like it, although there is a big difference in quality between the brands - and I have to say Vet Bed isn't the best!

I originally bought some 'official' Vet Bed to try out but it was quite expensive for a fairly small piece. Once I decided to get more I search E-bay and bought from the following supplier:

http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/dogtastic_tamara0204/

Her fleece is at least double the density of Vet Bed, stays much drier on top for longer, poo and hay shakes off it more easily, and despite numerous washings has lasted extremely well. You can also get it in a range of colours - I went for dark green which stays looking clean for longer.

I agree with you that when I use the Vet Bed pieces the run does seem to become smellier more quickly, but you might want to consider trying another brand before you dismiss this style of bedding completely. Compared to shavings I find fleece bed with a think layer of newspaper underneath: quicker to 'muck out'; less dusty (if it's better for my asthma it must be better for the piggies); less waste on the compost heap; and cheaper in the long term.
 
I haven't change over to vet bed yet, but after seeing this on ebay, it does look good...
How often do you wash it, is that daily or every few days..?
I need to know how much to buy as I'd need spares
Thanks x
 
gembob said:
you can buy it from petshops, and the wee goes through it and keeps the top layer clean, its a fleecy type of material, its used for animals that maybe suffer from incontinence, or recovering from surgery to keep them warmer and cleaner. but sorry guys ive binned it, i couldnt put up with it any longer(i know it was a waste of money) but they are in their indoor cage now on towels with newspaper under. gemx
Click to expand...

Gem only thing I would say is the towel will stay wet with the wee and I believe your cage is mainly plastic with a roof bars (is it the one you got from freeads?). I'm not sure the amonia will be good for them (someone please add to this if I'm barking up the wrong tree).

You will have to be changing the towels daily so the guineas aren't getting wet from wee or ill from the amonia - again I think.

The point of the vet bed / fleece / megazorb or whatever is that the top layer stays dry so the guineas don't get wet or poorly.
 
Lisajazz said:
AWW Gem I have to say I agree.

First on the white colour. I didn't have white evt bed but i did have very pale blue fleece and the poop / hay / wee makes it look horrible in no time. I have now switched to brown.

I also found vetbed to be smelly and hard to get clean. My washing machine clogged up about 5 times so I switched to fleece. Now fleece I still find a bit stinky BUT by putting all their hay above a litter tray filled with newspaper and cheap bedding hay they wee and poop ALOT in there. So I empty this every day and sweep the rest with a dustpan and brush and it doesn't need doing every day or even every other day. It's every third day now.

It's horrible when it's stinky isn't it. Makes you feel like a bad piggy mummy (which you're not!)
Click to expand...

I do something similar, got a couple of bargain fleeces from ASDA (£2 each I think) in chocolate brown. I have a tray in the corner next to their hayrack lined with paper, scraps of bedding and extra hay...I'm very lucky as mine tend to only wee there...they poop everywhere but that's easy to sweep up each evening. Or you can hoover it up but make sure the piggy's are elsewhere otherwise they get frightened! I only have to change the fleece every 3-4 days, if they spent lots of time outside then sometimes even less.

Generally I think it's the wee that smells so try to give them areas that are more absorbant and they might tend to go there.
 
Just a tip for vet bed smells...
When you wash it put in a sposh of white vinigar gets rid of all the smells and helps brake down the calcium deposits.
I use vet bed, then towel then newspaper lasts 5 days without smelling.
 
first time vet bed user

Linden said:
I originally bought some 'official' Vet Bed to try out but it was quite expensive for a fairly small piece. Once I decided to get more I search E-bay and bought from the following supplier:

http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/dogtastic_tamara0204/

Her fleece is at least double the density of Vet Bed, stays much drier on top for longer, poo and hay shakes off it more easily, and despite numerous washings has lasted extremely well. You can also get it in a range of colours - I went for dark green which stays looking clean for longer.
QUOTE]

Hi Linden,
After reading your post, I bought some of the 'vet bed' from this ebay site, very quick delivery, she only had it in dark grey which is fine.......
it looks fantastic, and I used it yesterday for the first time, and I am very impressed....
so are my two piggies, they were chattering away to each other, I'm sure I heard them say 'WOW' rolleyes

Admittedly I haven't had to wash it yet, but I just brushed off the poos and changed the newspaper and it was all clean in minutes.
Much better than all that sweeping out the wood chips/megazorb, as I've tried both.
I'm a vet bed convert ;)
Click to expand...
 
the one **** I'm finding with the vetbed is the guineas walk in the poo then they have it all stuck to there feet i clean it every day and change the paper under it but with in a few hrs its the same ,poo stuck to there feet again, think it maybe just these 2 guineas ive got as they poo anywhere..the other rescue guineas which i have on it doesnt stand in the poo as they tend to keep there poo to one corner..verdict...yes it suits some guineas and some it doesnt(the mucky ones):)):)):))
 
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