Vet Bed, Felt Or Rubber Backed?

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Florrieberry

Florrieberry

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Hi folks, just testing out some felt backed vet bed, and wondering if there are any advantages /disadvantages between felt backed or rubber backed please?
 

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I knew someone who always used the rubber backed. Sorry! I can't give any more advice. Someone else can shed some light I'm sure!
 
I always use the rubber-backed vetbed.
My reasons are thus: for my ramps it stays in place better.
I like the fact that it's more or less waterproof, and that pee does not seep onto the metal grids of my ramps, thus messing up the metal AND I have found that guinea pee stains the correx, so I do prefer a washable waterproof layer between the fluffy bits and the correx :) I have a five level cage (used to be four) and one level has vetbed as the liner. They've pee'd on it a few times but the correx beneath is pristine.

However according to the sites selling the felt-back it states that any wetness seeps right through into anything you put beneath, so are designed to wick moisture completely away. I have not used this sort but perhaps it is designed to have a towel underneath to keep the vetbed itself dry. In which case it has an advantage right there :)

In my case most of the piggy-wee's are done in their messy-trays with Fitch and hay, both of which are spot-cleaned daily and sometimes twice a day. There isn't a great amount of wee going on the vetbed or the fleece-quilts so the fact that it's not completely wicked away isn't an issue for my particular set-up.
 
Critter said:
I always use the rubber-backed vetbed.
My reasons are thus: for my ramps it stays in place better.
I like the fact that it's more or less waterproof, and that pee does not seep onto the metal grids of my ramps, thus messing up the metal AND I have found that guinea pee stains the correx, so I do prefer a washable waterproof layer between the fluffy bits and the correx :) I have a five level cage (used to be four) and one level has vetbed as the liner. They've pee'd on it a few times but the correx beneath is pristine.

However according to the sites selling the felt-back it states that any wetness seeps right through into anything you put beneath, so are designed to wick moisture completely away. I have not used this sort but perhaps it is designed to have a towel underneath to keep the vetbed itself dry. In which case it has an advantage right there :)

In my case most of the piggy-wee's are done in their messy-trays with Fitch and hay, both of which are spot-cleaned daily and sometimes twice a day. There isn't a great amount of wee going on the vetbed or the fleece-quilts so the fact that it's not completely wicked away isn't an issue for my particular set-up.
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So don't you use an underlay with the rubber backed? Do you fix it to your ramps? My ramps are gutters with carpet fixed to them but that is going to be a pain replacing it. Washable would be better, but now I've extended the cage to 3 levels not sure how I'm going to get to the ramps to replace it.. Lol!
 
Florrieberry said:
So don't you use an underlay with the rubber backed? Do you fix it to your ramps? My ramps are gutters with carpet fixed to them but that is going to be a pain replacing it. Washable would be better, but now I've extended the cage to 3 levels not sure how I'm going to get to the ramps to replace it.. Lol!
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With some ramps it just sticks nicely all by itself. It helps to have the vetbed going part way up the sides too. With the shorter ramps I have sewn the fluffy side of Velcro onto the vetbed and the ramp has the 'sharp' side woven in and out of the grid.

No I don't use anything under the rubber-backed vetbed as it's almost waterproof :)
 
I got my vet bed on ebay. I have rubber backed and use news paper and puppy pads underneath. I change the corner newspapers daily as they get very wet, the vet bed wicks the wet away and doesn't let it back through. Puppy pads only get changed weekly although I do turn the corners round once or twice a week to use up the whole pad, can never tell how much wet if any has gone into them. 5 years ago I had pigs on the green back version and the rubber, this old type was much thinner and easier to get in the washing machine but I didn't notice any difference in performance between the two. I have noticed since I bought mine that some sellers say what they are selling is the extra thick type so maybe that's what I got and you can actually get different thicknesses. I think thinner would be just as good for piggies. My cage is now a 160 so it's a big piece of vet bed to cram in the washing machine. Wish my boars would use a litter tray so they didn't make paper so wet, the one time I tried it one of them used it then went to sleep in the wet bit and needed a bath as he was rather smelly.
 
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