Fleece: Any way to get rid of odor?

[PiggiePaws]

Hi all,

I have 3 sows and 1 boar (in a seperate cage) and I've been using fleece for a little while now. The problem is my sows cage has a bad odor to it, my boars cage is just fine, though! My underbedding consists of a layer of towels, layer of matress pad and then the fleece. I change out the towels and matress pads every couple days and wash the fleece probably every 6 days.

Is there any way to help get rid of the odor? My parents are getting tired of it and my dad actually wants to put the pigs out in the garage(), I'll be moving them back into my room, but I still want to get the odor under control.

Also, my mom wants to put litter boxes on each end of the sows cage, where they pee most. My concern is that this will take up too much running room, what do you think? They're in a 2x5 C&C, the litter boxes would be short enough that they could easily jump in and out.

Thanks!

[Rnd210]

What laundry soap are you useing?

I use Tide and it takes all the oders out of the fleece, towels, and cotton blankets.

[PiggiePaws]

My mom usually just buys whatever's on sale, I washed their fleece yesterday and the soap-of-the-week was Snuggle (no fabric softener was in it).

[Rnd210]

I can understand that, have you tried adding vinegar to the wash.

[PiggiePaws]

Yes, I always add some vinegar.

[Seonta]

You could also get a mister bottle that is used for reptile/amphibian cages and put vinegar water solution in it and then spray the fleece each time you clean the poop.

[Heady]

Originally Posted by PiggiePaws

Also, my mom wants to put litter boxes on each end of the sows cage, where they pee most. My concern is that this will take up too much running room, what do you think? They're in a 2x5 C&C, the litter boxes would be short enough that they could easily jump in and out.

I can't help you about the odor thing because I haven't experienced it, but I do use litter boxes and they help a great deal, and don't take up a lot of space. I got the smallest available at Walmart for about a dollar...they're half the size of a normal cats' litter box. I believe they're the ones people use for litter training kittens. Anyway, with a bit of carefresh at the bottom and some hay on top, they tend to keep the fleece clean from most of the pee and a lot of poops. One under the hay rack on one side of the cage and the other is under the water bottles on the other side of the cage.

I think there is a picture of Santino sitting in one on my profile...just to show you how small they are.

I think they're a great idea and I'm glad Angie told me about them!

[PiggiePaws]

You could also get a mister bottle that is used for reptile/amphibian cages and put vinegar water solution in it and then spray the fleece each time you clean the poop.

I hadn't thought of that, thanks!

Heady, good to know they don't take up too much room.

[Peggysu]

I use litter boxes under hay racks. It seems like they like to do most of their bussiness under them.

I have one guinea pig in quarantine right now who doesn't have a litter box and you can smell the difference. I mean it's not terrible, but there is definitely an odor.

[ferndalezoo]

The odor problem is one reason I ultimately went back to using a disposable bedding (Aspen). No matter how often (or how thoroughly-- as sometimes overcleaning can cause piggies to scent mark MORE), I cleaned the cage (I have boars), it always kinda smelled like, well, pigs.