Vet Bed During The Summer

[Kaya87]

Hi guys

We have swapped from wooden shavings and hay to vet fleece bedding last year. The bedding keeps them warm throughout the winter but I am worried that they might find it uncomfortable during the summer.

We air their room out every day and they have a fan to keep them cool during really hot days. Long hair piggy Anya has been struggling recently due to the hot weather and I worry that the vet bedding is making her worse?

I trim her hair short every few weeks and bathe her to cool her down as often as I feel she needs it.

Despite my best efforts, the fans and the hair trim she still seems to be struggling. Have any of you experienced similar issues with vet beds? Have you tried swapping to wooden shavings? Has it helped?

 

[DM030819]

Have you tried a thinner version of fleece? I have vetbed areas in the cage and I always stop using them in summer as my two boys spend half of their time underneath them.

 

[Kaya87]

Hey, it seems obvious, doesn't it? My only worry is that thinner fleece will not be as absorbent. Have you had similar issues with your piggies during the summer (using the vet beds)?

 

[Swissgreys]

You can always try placing a couple of old floor tiles at strategic locations around the cage.
This means they have something cool to lie on if they want to.

 

[rome_italy]

what a lovely cage your piggies have!
Looking at the pic, I am not sure if your fleece is the "woolly" thick type. I can suggest you to replace vet beds with simple newspapers which absorb the wet very well and don't smell at all. I don't know vet beds, if they are warm, but at home I have now 24 degrees and my longhaired piggies are comfortable; yesterday I put a cool pad under the fleece but they preferred sleeping on the warmer side of the fleece. Into one of their houses I tried to cover the newspapers with a cotton towel (which remains wet and I don't like it for this reason) and one piggie appreciated it for her nap today. For now they don't seem to be hot, but I have to cut another piece of cooler fleece I have just bought.
Give it a try with newspapers (I use flyers of supermarkets)

 

[Kaya87]

You can always try placing a couple of old floor tiles at strategic locations around the cage.
This means they have something cool to lie on if they want to.

Great idea!

 

[DM030819]

@Kaya87 Fleece and VetBed aren't meant to be absorbant. They are supposed to wick the urine straight through into an absorbing layer underneath (I use Puppy pee pads).

In summer my pigs are fine on the fleece. I give them a couple of floor tiles like Swissgreys suggest and also half filled frozen water bottles wrapped in a towel that they can snuggle against

 

[Kaya87]

Perhaps it was a wrong choice of words I am actually using fleece already in the loft and to be honest... I'm not 100% convinced but will definitely experiment with different set ups.
Like I've mentioned above, I am using vet beds, towels and dry bed pads which has worked brilliantly so far, I'm certainly not just using vet beds hoping that they will "absorb" all the mess.

To be honest I've used puppy pads for a bit but I have found them less absorbent then dry pads (designed for humans so more absorbent and much bigger...and cheaper then puppy pads! ). Puppy pads also gave out this strange smell which I've read it's meant to attract puppies to pee in the same spot to help to train them. Haven't got that problem with dry pads which is really great. I suppose it all depends on what kind you buy.