Using towels and fleece

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hitchick

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Hi,

I have been using towels and fleece in the bottom over the last 4 days.
Do you normally find they smell bad?
I changed them on Tuesday and about 4 hours later they stink again.

Do I need to go back to using sawdust, I'd prefer to use towels and fleece, if possible.

I'm wondering if it's co-incident and not the towels.
The bottom of the hutch did have wet patches, would it be better if I get one of those bed wetting pads, to put right at the bottom. If you use them, how often do you wash them?

My piggies are 4months old, could the smell have suddenly gotten worse because they have hit puberty?
It's quite a strong musky smell.

How much does neutering cost if that is the answer?

Any advise would be great

Best Regards

Sheena
 
Hello Sheena,

What temp do you put your washing on? Its best if you can put it on a 50's instead of a 30's etc....oooh and do you use detergent ? If you do, you could try putting white vinegar in the wash with your towels and fleece as this really does wash away any smells.

It might be an idea to use puppy pads or inco pads underneath your fleece, although i have no personal experience using these methods, as i use vetbed and newspaper hopefully someone will come along soon and help you with this part :)

As for boars...i have two and they do smell esp in the hormonal months...mine are nine months old and still smell but i dont mind as they are kept in a shed! It might be an idea to bathe your boys if their kept indoors on a reg. basis, every three months or so, and give their pigloos/hidey/toys a good wash down and hutch a wash down too with white vinegar or pet disinfectant one a fortnight as this helps keep on top of the smell.

The boar glue is usually what smells the most and if you find any on pigloos, toys and bowls etc i suggest washing them straight away as it stinks!

Neutering wont change their behaviour, smell or personalities, it just stops them from being able to make a sow pregnant.
laura xx
 
my boys are a bit stinky anyway and need cleaning quite often- I use fleece but not towels, I'm currently using disposable toddler bed wetting mats but do intend to get washable ones at some point.

I also use white wine vinegar in with washing, and where possible line dry as I find this helps smells too (I use washable nappies on my kids so use this for them) Also don't use fabric conditioner and with towels use half the dose of washing liquid as a build up of detergent can cause smells too, some washing powders (think Fairy is one) have a built in conditioner so watch out for that too.

One thing that has helped me massively is that I started putting a tray in with newspaper and hay, and Both pairs decided they like this as a toilet, so I now put the tray in, then another box inside for the hay, and they use the bigger box as a toilet a lot, and I just change that every 1-2 days and get rid of a lot of their wees and poos that way
 
Oohh thats a good point that Helen has made, i use a gardening seed tray and fill it with hay and sawdust which the boys use as a toilet which helps alot when it comes to cleaning and helping keep the pong at bay! :)
 
I use fleece with my Tribe - I couldn't have such a big group in my living room otherwise.

You can wash fleece at higher temperatures. Make sure that you do not overfill the machine - fleece soaks up a lot of water and when there isn't enough left for the washing process, the fleece comes out smelly instead of clean.

I have tried baking soda and a children's antibacterial fabric solution (but make sure that there is an extra rinse afterwards) to help combat odours in the fleece.
 
Thank you for all the helpful replies :)

The towels and fleeces hadn't been used for the piggies before, so didn't have any left over smells.
I'm just testing out using it at the moment.

I didn't know neutering had no other effects other than the obvious, so that good to know, no point putting them through it for no reason.

I think it's the wood getting wet with wee, I've ordered an indoor pen for them. There was a a two week delay on my order, but after chasing them today (it has been nearly 3 weeks now). They are going to send most of my order through, luckily that includes the pen.
When it turns up I can pop them in there and wash the hutch out and leave it to dry out for hours, see if that helps.

I think I'll look for a washable bed wetting pad and try that, if I get one and it works I can get more then :)

I will also put in a litter tray, they never used it when I used sawdust for bedding, but perhaps they will use it instead of the fleece.
That would be great.
 
Hey, I use carefresh bedding under my fleece and towels where they go to the toilet the most. It's great as I can easily remove and replace this as needed and it just acts as an extra absorbent layer :) of course boys can be very smelly themselves! Once a week I give my boys a rub down with pet wipes which helps a bit xox
 
I find if they don't use the littertray, the fleece/towels need to be changed every 2-3 days otherwise it does start to smell:))
 
I use newspaper then puppy pads (£1 for 4 from £land) and then double lined/folded fleece on the top, 2 of my girls are in the house and they can get a bit stinky but those in the shed (all on the same beeding) don't smell at all, whether that's to do with fresh air getting to them constantly I don't know.
I use a cheap brand (for the fleeces and fleece houses) from wilkos called astonish 4 in 1, it's about £2.00 and it washes them lovely, they smell gorgeous, keep the water resistance, dry quickly.
I even wash the dog's bedding and towels in it lol.
 
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