Whats Best For Soaking Up Pee?

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Jenwah

Jenwah

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Hey guys.

You've probably had this question 10000 times and get sick of answering it. But no matter how hard I try to get things sorted with this, my brain just wont let me see sense. I have tried vet bed in the past, but Birt was going through a time where he seemed to have an infection and he was so smelly it was terrible and everything just stunk so I gave up with it and put them back on shavings.

I have sort of trialed it again this week with Birt's condition (he has cellulitis in one of his legs), and I noticed with them being on wood shavings, their little feet were becoming red. Since being on the vet bed though - they're looking a lot pink now and not red or irritated which is good.

I want to keep my pigs on vet bed / pillow beds now and keep them off wood shavings for good and I want to really do a good job this time.

Ok so this is my set up - currently, i removed the wood shavings, and bought this waterproof mattress protector and some water absorbs towels underneath, then the vet bed on top.

With Birt hardly moving, he's been peeing in the same space and I have cleaned it and put new bedding down so he doesn't get any infections/sores and this seems to work. The only thing is, I think I will end up spending more money on vet beds and towels and stuff to absorb the wee.

Can I ask what do you all use, mainly for what you put UNDER the vet beds? How do you stop the wee from ponging or what do you use that absorbs it well? Is there any cheap site for the UK?

I was thinking of going on an incontinence site and buying in some materials but thought I'd come on here first and get some advice ! .......

Cheers for your help & sorry for asking this question, I've probably asked it about 40 times already.
 
I use disposable puppy pads under fleece (vet bed same difference). Wash the fleece maximum every 3 days on hot wash with non bio. Put distilled (white) vinegar in the rinse instead of fabric softener - it kills off bacteria and is an odour neutraliser. Throw away puppy pads when changing the fleece. Simple - no smell as long as you spot clean and keep on top of it. Hope that helps.
 
I use vet bed and find it excellent. Its literally what the vet practices use to bed inpatients on, the difference when id go to change a bed of an ill dog sat on a urinated fleece blanket compared to a vet bed was huge.. Blankets caused the dog to be sitting in its own wee as apposed to totally dry with vet bed.

Vet bed works by allowing urine to pass through the green base layer, but not allowing it back up meaning the upper layer (woven material our pets lay on) stays dry. I line the c&c with puppy pads covering every inch of base of cage, then place vetbed on top- thats literally it! The urine passes through the vet bed and green base layer where it is then soaked up by the puppy pads- the pads and green base keep the urine under the bed, reducing smells and keeping your piggies clean and dry.

Every day i simply hoover up poos from vetbed (several times a day with these pooing machines!), fold the vet bed back off half the base, change those pads then do the same on the other. Vetbed is washed every 3rd day and replaced with the 2nd set. I give the base a quick spray and wipe before i lay the new pads each morning but the base of the cage literally never has urine on it, and its so quick and simple to even do a full cage clean. Makes me feel like their living quarters are to standard as there isnt any materials with urine soaked in that i cant get rid of!
 
Is there any difference between vetbed and using fleece . Sorry to hijack post but I cant seem to find a suitable floor covering and its doing my head in .
 
I'd also jut like to point out that if you have 2 boars in together and they are still working out who is boss they can get smelly quick when trying to one up each other on the peeing stakes.
 
Maria71 said:
Is there any difference between vetbed and using fleece . Sorry to hijack post but I cant seem to find a suitable floor covering and its doing my head in .
Click to expand...

Personally i find vetbed better as my girls stay dry and arent laying in wee, and i found fleece became soaking (too and bottom layer) very quickly and my girls became damp/urine stained. I think most people on here use fleece over vetbed though so must have different experiences from what i've had with it.

Dont get me wrong, my girls still get smelly eventually.. They have hay trays that they use as a toilet.. And like to rummage !
 
i use fleece liner in the main part of the cage and then put a puppy pad down on top of the fleece in their favourite sleeping area. Makes it easy to whip the puppy pad out daily or as needed to change with another.
 
Probably a silly question but I was wondering if the vet bed is as effective with a fleece layer over the top? It's much easier to poo pick fleece!
 
Maria71 said:
Is there any difference between vetbed and using fleece . Sorry to hijack post but I cant seem to find a suitable floor covering and its doing my head in .
Click to expand...

Just a matter of preference and cost, I think.
 
I use shredded paper in my piggies cage. Usually I line the base with a layer or two of paper towel, the industrial kind they use in hospitals etc. My mother is a nurse so she brings me a fresh roll when i need it. I'm sure you can pick it up in most wholesale places. I just scatter the paper over that. I find it pretty good for absorbing the pee and it dries in quickly.

The problem with a lot of pads (animal and human) is that they are made from synthetic fibres/plastics which don't really absorb the moisture but leave it sitting there.

Another plus with the towels and paper is there's no chance of skin infection like you may get with some shavings/sawdusts.

Hope that helps
 
Wow! Thankyou all so much who replied with all your information!

I know it's probably the most stupidest question ever but i just couldn't get it right but I now have a plan , thanks to you all

I was thinking of getting one of those little hand held Hoover thingies.

I think really, because I've always used wood shavings, using vet bed and other stuff it was just a big change and different routine but, I'm liking it! And I think my pigs do too. Their little feet are probably liking it more than anything

Once again, Thankyou all!
 
I use vet bed and puppy pads with newspaper in between on the toilet patch which often saves the pad. Now my boars are older (18 mths) they wee in the hay trays and one place at the back of the cage so I've cut the vet bed in thirds (cage is 160cms long). I can take out the wet end move other two pieces up the cage and put clean bit at other end. By rotating bedding in this way I have one machine load a week to wash, I store the wet bits in the greenhouse until I have a full load.
 
I use vetbed and a hybrid bedding in my c and c cages,6x2.i use megasorb in two grids of the cage ,use news paper on top of part of vetbed,use puppypads under vetbed,newspaper prevents any tracking onto vetbed from megasorb,urine and feaces tends to be done in the disosible bedding area,change vetbed and puppypads every three days,sweep feaces from vetbed twice aday,ive four adult piggies on this in this cageand sweep on average 6 poops aday from vetbed.
 
Great ideas for me these guys, Thankyou for providing me with all your bedding it's really helped me understand better!

I have just ordered a hand held Hoover to get the poops up quicker haha I'm so slow at spot checking.

I've decided the next thing I want as well - a c&c cage haha!
 
Adelle said:
I use vet bed and find it excellent. Its literally what the vet practices use to bed inpatients on, the difference when id go to change a bed of an ill dog sat on a urinated fleece blanket compared to a vet bed was huge.. Blankets caused the dog to be sitting in its own wee as apposed to totally dry with vet bed.

Vet bed works by allowing urine to pass through the green base layer, but not allowing it back up meaning the upper layer (woven material our pets lay on) stays dry. I line the c&c with puppy pads covering every inch of base of cage, then place vetbed on top- thats literally it! The urine passes through the vet bed and green base layer where it is then soaked up by the puppy pads- the pads and green base keep the urine under the bed, reducing smells and keeping your piggies clean and dry.

Every day i simply hoover up poos from vetbed (several times a day with these pooing machines!), fold the vet bed back off half the base, change those pads then do the same on the other. Vetbed is washed every 3rd day and replaced with the 2nd set. I give the base a quick spray and wipe before i lay the new pads each morning but the base of the cage literally never has urine on it, and its so quick and simple to even do a full cage clean. Makes me feel like their living quarters are to standard as there isnt any materials with urine soaked in that i cant get rid of!
Click to expand...
what puppy pads do you use ? xx
 
artcasper said:
what puppy pads do you use ? xx
Click to expand...

B&m bag of 100 for £12.99

Decent sized 60x60cm , i use 1 and a half pads for a 2 grid wide c&c and 3 for 4 grid length. Excellent quality, super absorbent. Bought a 30 box from home bargains which worked out at same price as b&ms.. Horrendous quality! Ones of amazon where pretty rubbish too!
 
Adelle said:
B&m bag of 100 for £12.99

Decent sized 60x60cm , i use 1 and a half pads for a 2 grid wide c&c and 3 for 4 grid length. Excellent quality, super absorbent. Bought a 30 box from home bargains which worked out at same price as b&ms.. Horrendous quality! Ones of amazon where pretty rubbish too!
Click to expand...
i have seen them in B&M... was going to buy some to put under the high traffic areas even tho i use fleece liners.. hopefully they won't eat them !
 
artcasper said:
i have seen them in B&M... was going to buy some to put under the high traffic areas even tho i use fleece liners.. hopefully they won't eat them !
Click to expand...

I tried this with them too! But they all decided it was better for eating than soaking up pee! Hopefully your girls won't eat them haha x
 
ayemee said:
I tried this with them too! But they all decided it was better for eating than soaking up pee! Hopefully your girls won't eat them haha x
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knowing Pippin.... she will eat them lol ! i might just put them under their fleece that they have for floor time to protect my floor.... have some plastic stuff under there at the moment..
 
Crunchie used to be facinated by eating them as my vet bed had shrunk and they where sticking out the sides.. Now i have vet bed thats too wide and she cant get anywhere near them!

I do have one in the litter trays but she must prefer the hay as she never eats them in there lol
 
:D I have large cotton towels under the fleece in the C and C cages with washable puppy pads under the hay racks where they pee most. These are changed every week. In the houses/huts that they sleep in, I use fleece covers with a large piece of Zorb material, folded twice to make a thick pad, inside. These are changed once or twice a week, depending how dirty they get. I have recently taken their round fleecy hides away and given them sea grass huts instead. I was using Profleece pads with round pads of Zorb underneath inside them, and changing these every day. The new beds need changing less often, so slightly less washing. (Also, sea grass huts are cooler, larger and give them something to gnaw on!) I will be giving away the round hides when I've washed them.
 
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