Benefits of a Kitchen Area?

PixieStix · Jul 25, 2008

So, I'm soon going to be redesigning my pigs' cage. I'm planning on making it a single level, but the bottom level being larger than the cage they're in now (2x4 L shaped bottom with a loft). I'm debating making part of it a kitchen area with disposable bedding most likely, where they can have a hayrack and hay on the ground, as well as water and pellets. I was wondering, what do those of you who use kitchen areas prefer about them? How big do you suggest for the kitchen? For the size you have, how often do you do a full cleanout of it? What's the entrance to the area (a doorway in the coro, a 'scoop' out of it, a fiddle stix bridge?) And any other thoughts.

I think it would be a great idea to have a kitchen to help control mess. Right now I'm using a litter box with a hay rack over it, and the whole front part of the cage gets covered in hay as they like to play in it and pull it down. My concern is however- if the kitchen is a seperate box of coroplast, does that not take away from lap running space and room for hideys, etc? Or is this not that big a deal. Like I said, I'm hoping the bottom will be pretty large, so they'll still have space, but I'm just trying to decide if I want a kitchen or not.

One quick, off topic question- the new cage will be open topped, as the dogs aren't allowed in the room it's going in. They've always been in closed cages, though I haven't noticed any climbing or anything on grids. But they do like to shuffle the pigloo around all the time, and have climbed up on it in the past (they go through 'phases' where they do stuff like that). I can keep their other hidey's away from the edges, but has anyone ever had a pigloo-escape problem? Any solution other than to make the edges higher or take away the pigloo?

Thanks in advance for any help. Sorry if there's a thread on this, I did a search and couldn't find much.

Jane_G · Jul 25, 2008

Your question got me thinking. I have a kitchen area and for the most part it's worked out ok. I use a small cat litter pan with a CareFresh type bedding. It has low-ish sides and she has no problem hopping over them to get in. I have her food bowl, her water bottle and the hay rack all over on that part of the cage. I had thought that having a kitchen area would catch a lot of the poo. It seems that Cookie likes to poo while she's in her house. In fact, it can actually pile up if I miss a day or two of dustbusting!

Tonight I changed out her fleece and decided not to put back her kitchen. I still have her water and bowls over on that side, but just no bin. What a difference. I think she likes it much better. Since her cage is small, every inch makes a difference.

I will watch for the next few days to see how the poo situation is. I mean, piggies poo a lot, so unless it's a huge mess in under a day, I think I might leave her cage kitchen-less.

EscobarsMom · Jul 28, 2008

I've only had my C&C cage for a few days, but I did a little different take on the kitchen area. I decided not to go with a separate container in the cage, but towards the back (underneath the second level), i just put some Carefresh bedding down, with the water bottle and food dish in that area. I'm hoping that will help with urine, as my piggy is a boy and seems to be a little stinky.

I also don't keep the hay in the kitchen area, because Escobar LOVES to play and hide in it as well as eat it. I basically keep a pile of it in the open area of the cage, with the outer perimeters clear for his running. He treats it like his little track. He just runs and runs around it, then he'll popcorn his way into the hay and make the biggest mess.

I've given up the fight to keep his cage as neat as my room. He seems bent on destruction, which is too cute to curb. I lined his play pen with fleece before the C&C cage, and three times a week I take out his toys and food dish, fold up the fleece, and take it out to the dumpster of my apartment building to shake it out before washing. Easiest clean up ever, in my opinion. I also don't have to worry about taking out his kitchen bin and all that business.

I don't know if this helps, but it works perfectly for us.

Gemiinii · Jul 28, 2008

I do have a kitchen area (I use the old petstore that I first had for the bin) and I've used it for awhile now and love it. As you know the piggies love to pee and poop a lot while they eat, so having their food dish and hay rack in the kitchen seems to concentrate where they poop. But I also have a litter in the main part of the cage. The only place where I find a lot of poop other than their kitchen and their litter is the large hidey where they sleep.

I like having a kitchen because for the most part it keeps their hay off of the fleece. I use disposable bedding which I can change every other day or whenever it needs to be changed without having to do a major clean on the main cage.

I would say that as long as your cage is large enough, then having a kitchen is fine. I think it all depends on how many piggies you have in your space. If its more than enough space, I say a kitchen is a wonderful idea. If you have just enough space, then you might want to think up something that's still a 'kitchen' but isn't separte. If none of this made any sense or if you have question, go ahead and shoot me a pm and I'll upload some pictures of their new cage layout for you.

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Benefits of a Kitchen Area?

PixieStix

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Jane_G

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EscobarsMom

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Gemiinii

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