The Fleece Project: The Study

[piggiesinpa]

I switched to fleece and love it. It's so easy to clean up poos everyday and just send the towels/fleece through the wash once a week compared to using rodent bedding. Odor is not a problem and it's so much better on my piggies feet. Saves so much money!!!1

Moonfire - I put down bricks in the corners and in places were the fleece overlapped each other. I have never seen my pigs chew on the fleece or confuse it for food. Their hay and chew balls prevent this pretty well. The bricks keeps the fleece down as well as provides a place for water bottles to drip on to. I would imagine that if you used bricks or something of the sort, it would keep the fleece down and make it difficult for the piggy to get ahold of and chew on.

[pigsforlife]

I am actually changing to fleece this afternoon but new nothing about doing an underlay, let alone much else. I am currently using aspen but am looking for something more effective, which is where the idea of fleece came in. Thanks for the tips.

[Granma piggy]

I have been doing a lot of reading of late as I will be the Proud Mum to Two Beautiful Boys in a week or two, My Daughters Princess gave birth to 3 little Darlings, on Girl and two Lads, the Lads are comming to live with me, so I have been gaining information.
The information you gave on Fleece is very interesting and just what i was looking for, Thank You, all I have to do now is get all the ideas I have together and build the Lads Falcore ( he is white with pink eyes) and Matthias ( white, grey and black).
So once again thank you.

[Hershey's Mom]

Hershey was confused at first, but then he seemed to love it!!! can't wait to build his bigger cage and watch him popcorn again! It came out very clean in the wash too!

[Love4Piggers]

This is such a great thread, thank you so much for all the great advice!!

I have 2 piggies that have been living in a pet store cage, but then this month I found this site, and I can't hardly wait until I get my check on the 1st of next month, because I'm going to buy a C&C cage for them! I am so excited just thinking what their reactions will be! Anyway, when I get the new cage, I plan on switching to fleece. I have used Aspen their whole lives, but fleece seems so much cleaner and less messy, and I bet the piggy's will love how it feels, too. Plus the money savings, which I could certainly use. I don't even want to know how much I have spent on Aspen since I've had them! So the savings will be great, too.

I already purchased 2 yards of nice fleece. It is blue with little cars and airplanes and stuff all over it, my boys are going to look so cute on it! I've already washed it once, but per the instructions here, I will be sure and wash it a couple more times before I start using it for bedding.

I sure hope it works out for me, thanks again for the great info!!

[morganbeth44]

Hi! Great great great post--I tried the fleece bedding about a year ago, but was never told that I needed something underneath--so it failed miserably, and I hated it! Now I am ready to give it another try--I definately plan on sewing the layers together and making a piggy quilt more or less. I haven't decided if I should use towels or diaper material as suggested by a poster? Anyone have preferences they wish to share?

thanks again for a GREAT resource!

[Sopher7132]

I definately plan on sewing the layers together and making a piggy quilt more or less. I haven't decided if I should use towels or diaper material as suggested by a poster? Anyone have preferences they wish to share?

What I have found best so far is using the mattress pads. I know there are several threads posted about them on here but I have used towels and they too worked out nicely but washing so many of them was hard to do, especially since I have to pay quarters each time I wash and dry. The mattress pads I have actually found more absorbant and have gotten more use out of them than placing several layers of towels. It is also much easier for me to pin or sew the fleece to the mattress pad since usually you can cut it to size.

[HippiePig]

I switched to fleece a few weeks ago after reading this thread. I sewed together several layers of hemp terry with the fleece on top, like a cloth diaper. My 2 male piggies love it, and I love the fact that I don't have bedding scattered all over the place.

The problem I'm facing is the smell. It's horrific. After 2 days I'm knocked over by the stench as soon as I walk in the room. It smells like a zoo on a hot day. I have no idea how 2 piggies can stink so bad after such a short period of time. I vacuum up the poops daily, and aside from doing laundry every other day, I don't know what else I can do. It's discouraging... as much as I didn't like the mess and expense of traditional bedding, I never had a problem with odors. Even when the cage didn't get cleaned as often as it should. I never expected to have this problem with the fleece... everyone seems to say it should last a week. At this point I'd be thrilled if I didn't have to change the fleece every other day. Any suggestions as to how I can deal with the odors?

[Maisiepaisie]

Hippiepig it was the same for me when I started using fleece, I was so disappointed. However I'm using mattress pads underneath now instead of the towels and its staying clean. I've had my fleece down for five days now and it doesn't smell. The mattress pads are great and much better than towels. The towels only kept the smell at bay for two days

[HippiePig]

Thanks Maisiepaisie. What kind of mattress pad should I use? Waterproof or regular? And since I already sewed all the layers together, if I was to take it apart and resew it, where should I put the mattress pad? Directly underneath the fleece? Should I get rid of the hemp terry altogether?

[envisionary333]

I completely agree about the mattress pads, I switched from towels to mattress pads and have had much better success with them. Waterproof mattress pads can work if they are waterproof on only one side and you use that for the bottom of the cage, but then you are limited to having only one layer at any time. For that reason, I think it's better to use regular, non-waterproof cotton or polyester mattress pads. You can get them from yard sales, thrift stores, or Walmart at very little cost, and they will save you money since they dry much faster than towels do. The mattress pads go directly under the fleece. If you want a waterproof layer, you can always add vinyl shower curtains or a plastic tarp underneath the mattress pads, but it really isn't necessary since the mattress pads will absorb all of the urine.

If you are using more than one layer of mattress pads, I would advise against sewing the layers together. When you have several layers stuck together like that, it is harder for them to get completely clean in the washing machine. Setting up the mattress pads in the cage takes far less time than arranging towels because they maintain their shape, so having them separate from the fleece won't cause you any inconvenience. When you wash them, add some vinegar and use an extra rinse cycle in hot water to make sure they are fresh and clean. Make sure you aren't using dryer sheets for them, or the fleece. And if the fleece causing your problems with smell, it will work better after its been through the wash several more times. Mine seems to wick more efficiently after every wash, and I have no problems with smell even with 11 piggies! I use about eight layers of mattress pads and only wash the bedding once a month since my cage is huge (79 square feet), and I still have no trouble with smell. (That's a little excessive for most people, but in my case it's very helpful since cleaning the cage takes me several days and at least six loads of laundry!)

[Love4Piggers]

I have been using fleece since my 2 boys moved into their C&C on Sept. 10th, and I absolutely love it. I vaccuum once a day with my little handheld hoover, and if for some reason it seems to be an extra poopy day, LOL, I will spot clean, too. I have 2 layers of fleece on top, (actually it's 2 yards folded in half,) which I washed several times first. Then 4 layers of towels, and a mattress pad underneath. As I am nearing the end of week 2, this is working great for me so far. I washed when I was almost 1 week in, and I will wash again this weekend. So about once a week seems to work fine. It's so much neater than Aspen, which always managed to end up all over the floor around the cage. And what a money saver, too! I don't seem to have much of a problem with smell, even though I'm sitting right next to their cage at my computer much of the day. So unless this changes, I think I will be sticking to fleece from now on.

Hippie, give the mattress pads a try, and I sure hope it works for you!

[envisionary333]

There's really no need to use two layers of fleece, and it might be less effective. The fleece is just there to wick the moisture through so the absorbent layers underneath can contain it.

[Love4Piggers]

So would it be better if I cut the fleece in half and only had one layer instead of having to fold it in half? It seems to be working fine so far but thought I'd ask as I am very new at this. Thanks.

[envisionary333]

It will probably still work with two layers, but you don't need two since the urine then has to wick through them both and might start to smell sooner. You could cut the fleece in half and then alternate between the two pieces so it's easier when cage cleaning time comes around. Fleece is great because you can cut it and wash it and it stays in one piece.

[Love4Piggers]

Great, so I can turn the one piece into two, sounds good to me! Thanks envisionary, you always rock, girl.

[kala83]

I had a quick question my own self, I am not really thinking of using fleece as a subsitute bedding just a lining around the cardboard box I am using at the bottom level of my 2X5 3 level cage. Should I do the same stuff as you girls are doing with my fleece just in case the girls don't poo or pee in the right areas (meaning missing the box and doing it outside of it) I am planning on using Aspen bedding inside the box and then just lining the floors and ramps of the cage with fleece so its not so hard on their feets and was wondering just what all I need to do if I was going set my cage up that way, as well as how much fleece would you girls think I would need to for a cage my size.
Any advise would be great! thanks

[fillycate]

I told my wife about not using the fabric softener (we use unscented for babies).

She said that the one time she didn't use it, the fleece was horribly full of static and is afraid of the piggies getting shocked (metal grids). We are in L.A., so there is low humidity mostly. How would you prevent static when not using softener?

Thanks.

We use dryer balls in our dryer instead of dryer sheets. I have loved using them! I get fluffy laundry with no static, and there are no chemicals involved! I think I bought them at Walmart.

Love the idea of quilted fleece!! I am going to see what I can throw together for my piggies. I can't wait to be done with kicked up shavings!

[Jenni_Feathers]

Wow, I cant believe I just now finally read this, I never really understood fleece before but now I am thinking about switchin ot it!

[ChloeZoeAndMe]

Thank you so much for this!! I love fleece and so do my piggies. It is so much easier than having to deal with shavings.