smelly fleece

[starshine123102]

I just changed my piggies fleece yesterday and man does it stink already. Right now I am using one layer of fleece and one layer of towel. I am also planning on adding in a thin layer of white fabric to check for UTI. Is there anything I can add to her cage so she doesn't smell as much?

[KinderCavy]

Well, if you leave fleece in the washer to long after you wash it it might stink, but make sure you sweep up all of the poopies that are under the fleece after you remove the fleece!

[Haley0489]

Two layers of towels may help.

[PrayerWarrior]

You can also wash the fleece with vinegar to help with the smell.

[mailemomo]

Bac-out is a natural odor nutralizer I used with my cloth diapers. It can get spendy but you may only have to use it once in a while.

[banjosnotbombs]

How big is her cage? The smaller cages get dirty faster. Maybe you could set up a small area for her hay and food, or where she's likely to go potty more often, and just change that daily. That's what I do.
I find towels smell faster than a mattress pads. Mattress pads are costly, but it will last you a long time.
I also put about 3/4 cup of vinegar in when washing their bedding.

[crazywiggy]

Firstly, did you prepare the fleece before you started using it? It usually needs at least three washes (sometimes many more) before it starts to wick properly.
Another thing is are you using any fabric softener or condition in the wash as this also adds a waterproofing barrier.

For the bottom layer I second Banjo's suggestion of mattress pads. I started off using towells, but the pad works so much better.
If you want to stick with towells you may find you need a thicker layer - one towel can only soak up so much pee! I used three.

You could also consider a kitchen or litter box area. You'll probably notice a lot of mess in the places your piggies spend the most time. I gave mine a hay and litter box in one - I just made a box with a hole cut in it, lined it with a whole newspaper, and added the hay rack. Every day I throw out old hay and newspaper and put in fresh stuff.

[starshine123102]

yes I did wash my fleece multiple times before I started to use it and I do not use anything except tide cold water to wash and nothing in the dryer.

Unfortunately her cage is only a 2x2 c&c cage because my boyfriend doesn't think there is enough room in the apartment for her to get that one extra grid, but I'm working on it.

I bought some more towels and this time instead of cutting them to size I will just fold them so that they are thicker. She gets her cage changed tomorrow so I'll see how it all works out.

[sammy_kaye]

My boys stink up there cage quickly if I forget to leave something in that still smells of them. When I clean everything they feel that they have to mark everything all over again which can get smelly.

[DinnyPids]

The 2 layers of toweling ought to really help. I started noticing that my cage smells pretty bad by day 3 and I usually do the cage cleaning every 4 days. I used a pet store cage base as a kitchen area and it did help. Then I decided to buy a rabbit hutch base from a farm supply store. It's nearly twice as big (36" x 36") as the pet store cage base and it's made all the difference in the world! Today was day 5 and the cage still didn't smell. I still changed out the fleece rinsed the kitchen area and I noticed that there were no urine stains on the towels. I was so surprised that all the urine remained in the kitchen! I might be able to get away with weekly fleece changing and refreshing the kitchen area twice a week.

[Bennalaya]

Do they have a litter box area in their cage? While Abby will still wet some areas of her cage (particularly near her Pigloo where she likes to drag her veggies to eat), she does most of her urinating in her litter box where I keep her hay rack. She will pee while she grazes. It makes it much less stinky.

Also, I place a reusable puppy training pad called a Pooch Pad under her Pigloo. I order them from PetEdge. The edges are securely serged and the bottoms are not plastic, so I don't have to worry about her chewing off pieces and swallowing them. I usually change the Carefresh in her litter box and wash the pee pad under her Pigloo twice a week and it isn't so smelly.

[Noodles]

Your first priority should be to make a larger cage. Having such a small area to poopie means it's more concentrated and will get smellier much quicker than if it's spread out more. I expanded my cage to 2X4 grids for my one guinea pig when I switched to fleece and it really helps. Also, consider putting in a kitchen area where you would put her hay, food, and water with an easier to change bedding (like carefresh or pine) that you can frequently change.
The key to keeping the smell down is having several really good layers for absorbtion. Definately try another layer or two or three (depending on how much your piggy is peeing). There are a bunch of things out there that make great absorbtion layers: towels, matress pads, comforters, puppy pads, newspaper... Choose a few options and experiment with what works for you. Sometimes it's good to use several types of layers together (newspaper, then a towel or two, and then a mattress pad, for example) Also, be sure to clean up her poopies several times daily and perhaps add another layer of something underneath where she spends a great deal of her time. My girl piggy spends most of her time in her big pigloo, so I make sure to sweep under there several times daily and use not only two towels and fleece, but a puppy pad under the pigloo for extra absorbtion.