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Fleece So MAD!!

Bailey4

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I just switched to fleece bedding and my girls really like it. It started to smell really bad, so i cleaned everything and put new fleece back down into the cage. I have newspaper underneath the fleece. Then I have two 'litter boxes' which i am using for hay, thinking that they would eat and poo and pee in them. I put their pellet food in one corner, the hay box is in the other, then at the other end, there is a bed, and the other hay box.


When i put the girls back in, what do they do?? They go into the corner with the pellet food and pee and poo right next to the two bowls! I am so frustrated and fed up with the stink...please help!!
 

bpatters

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Well, newspaper is the absolute smelliest thing you can put under the fleece -- it's guaranteed to stink, and quickly.

Try putting some old towels or mattress pad pieces underneath if you have them. You can use incontinence pads, but they're expensive.

Apparently they've chosen the corner where you put the pellet food as their litter box. I'd move the pellets somewhere else, and put a folded towel in that corner to catch some of the poop and pee. You can change that towel much easier than you can change out the whole cage.
 

Bailey4

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Thank you!! I will try that! :) they are so stubborn!
 

sdpiggylvr

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Did you prewash your fleece before putting it in the cage? Fleece is treated to be waterproof, so you need to strip the fabric of this in order to get the fleece to wick instead of absorb. If you didn't prewash it, you will get puddles on top of the fleece, which would definitely produce some not-so-nice smells.

Whatever is under the fleece needs to be absorbent, as bpatters mentioned. Newspaper really doesn't work. I have also used bath towels, but I really like (broken link removed)and (broken link removed). Some people use puppy pads, too, if you're looking for something you can toss each week.
 

Bailey4

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i did prewash the fleece, I think i washed it 3 times? I think im going to try puppy pads and a towel for where they like to go to the bathroom. They really seem to like the fleece, so i dont really want to change. Thank you for you help!
 

RubyRain

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Just a note not to use fabric softener or dryer sheets either.

Washing and drying the fleece on hot should speed up of the "stripping" process too.

Good luck!
 

CarpeCavia

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I ordered my fleece liners for my 2x3 grid C&C cages at piggybedspreads.com. The absorbant layer is quilted to the fleece, then the liner is finished with a waterproof layer. They are awesome! You sweep up the poos and chuck the whole thing in the wash... nothing to throw in the landfill. I also use a litterbox whose contents get composted.
 

Bailey4

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I did see the piggy bed spread site, but that just seems so expensive..but i guess after the cost of the fleece and puppy pads and anything else, it will probably end up being the same. I did change their cage yesterday, I put down newspaper, then puppy pads only where they pee and i cant smell anything. I also found fleece really cheap on Hancock Fabrics website, so i can change the cage more often. If this doesnt work, I will look into the bedspread. Thank you so much for your help!!
 

karwask

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I've been using just the one layer of fleece, cut to fit the round shape of my current and temporary large kiddie wading pool abode. I have two layers of the Uhaul pads under that and one of those is not cut to fit so I use two small towels to fill in the rounded spaces. I have no smell whatsoever and have had this arrangement for about 4.5 months now. It cleans up so well, now that I put some scrap fleece under their pigloos that I don't even have to wash it all more than once a week and I can easily go longer than that. I just wash it on cold, short cycle with a small amount of eco friendly detergent and air dry so it wouldn't shrink and it wouldn't fall apart any sooner than necessary. Just FYI.

best of luck in finding what works best for you
 
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