What Should I Use

[scoutingsam]

so I am going to be making some cage liners and lap pads etc.

I was going to to use some old towels I had but. Somebody said these take longer to dry and can become smelly. So suggested using polyester wadding

Just wondering if any body had used polyester wadding and if it is ok to use

My plan is to use fleece as the top layer. Wadding for the middle. And I have a mattress for the bottom layer

Thank you

 

[sport_billy]

Have a read of this fab thread How To Make A Cage Liner (with Pics)

 

[Namaah]

I made liners with a layer of fleece, then a layer of polyester wadding and then a layer of poly cotton. It works really well for wicking the wee through it. It still does need an absorbent layer underneath though as there isn't much absorbancy in the liners. I use old towels just because I have a huge pile of old towels in my house. I don't find they get overly wet quickly.
I am switching the towels every 3 days and washing the fleece once a week(or twice if he has been messy). The good thing about having my absorbent layer separate is that the fleece liner only takes about 30 minutes to dry (it comes out the machine pretty much dry)
The towels are never wet when I switch them out but mildly damp under his water bottle and in his pee spot. The fleece liner is never wet, i tested it before I sewed it to see how quickly it wicked the pee away and it wicked away really quickly. I never really noticed much of a smell from it, just a mild smell occasionally when I was changing the towels but it wasn't noticeable until I was actually lifting the fleece out. You could use any absorbent layer under the fleece like newspaper or paper bedding etc though. I've just never tried anything except towels.
If you are making lap pads with it then I would suggest putting a waterproof layer on the bottom like PVC fabric or the wee will wick right through the pads onto your clothes

 

[7squeakers.]

I have sewn up lots of fleece lap- pad size liners for inside the Trixie huts and under the wooden huts that my pigs sleep in. I use old towels and Zorb material inside. The liners are open down one side so that the fleece, Zorb and towels can be washed separately. Zorb and fleece dry much quicker than cotton towels.

 

[Namaah]

Make sure you wash every thing before you sew it though. The first one I made I never washing the polyester wadding first and after the first time I washed the liner the wadding shrunk and made my fleece go all baggy on the top.
And not sure if you know but you have to wash the fleece a few times with detergent and no fabric softener to remove the waterproofness of the fleece. Once it's been washed and dried a couple of times pour a little bit of water onto it, if the water sits on the top of the fleece even for a few seconds then wash it again until the water soaks into it immediately.
The first time I washed my fleece I made the mistake of using detergent and softener, then read somewhere to not put liquid in your machine (I assumed anything since my detergent is liquid) so washed it a few times with nothing and it still wasn't wicking. I ended up washing my first bit of fleece about 12 times