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Cleaning Stinky w/ Fleece

EvelynsCavies
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Peggysu

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How many layers of towels to fleece are you using? I do two to three layers of towels to one layer of fleece. I used to do four towels but I noticed they didn't dry out well, so with two to three towels I notice hardly any odor. When you wash the fleece and towels you can add a cup of vinegar to the wash, this will cut through the urine in the towels and fleece and should freshen it a little bit more. I usually just add the vinegar at the begining of the wash with my detergent.
 

Duffinvt

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Do your pigs pee in the corners only? If so, do what I do. Put a towel in the middle part of cage and one on either side so you can flip up the fleece and take those end towels out and replace with fresh ones every other day. I also put a piece of fleece over a hand towel or wash cloth and put under the hideys. These are "mats" that get switched out when they start to smell bad. I can disassemble the whole bedding and do one wash load of all these once per week. The mats, towels get soaked in a big bucket with some vinegar while waiting for the once per week wash. Or I hang them outside, out of sight and take the whole bunch in to wash. Works for me.
 

lissie

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Try to leave an uncleaned fleece in the cage when you clean out the cage. I don't mean to leave dirty fleece in the cage, just something that smells like them. For example, fleece tent or towel tent. So they don't have to go crazy and scent mark everything.
My boars do that when I over clean their cage. They needed to stink up the place to make it feel like home.
 

blackarrow

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I agree with Lissie, you may actually be overdoing it, and making it SO clean they feel compelled to re-scent everything. That was the case when I first got my boars - they'd get it smelling like a zoo within minutes if I had just scrubbed everything. It's counterintuitive, but if I don't scrub out the whole cage every time, it smells a lot better in here.
 

MyZoo2

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I have 2 boys, and I have a mattress protector (the real thin one with vinyl on oneside & a "felt" sort of material on the other) on the very bottom, 1 thick towel & then 1 layer of fleece. No issues with odor at all. I spray the coroplast with a tea tree oil cleaner that I make at home (15 drop of tea tree oil plus 32 oz hot water). Everytime we clean out the cage, they pick a new potty corner!
 

horsiecutie

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I'm trying to fix that same problem. My cage is also the right size (4-2) with 2 boars, but it stinks so badly!! I'm doing their almost weekly cleaning today but I seem to have the same problem.
 

MyZoo2

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I have an idea/suggestion for cleaning: Has anyone considered soaking and/or cleaning their bedding in an enzymatic cleaner (ie: Nature's Miracle, Mess Eliminator) or a non-chlorine bleach (we use one by Seventh Generation) rather than vinegar? We have been washing our fleece & towels on the heavy duty cycle of our washer, with the Seventh Generation non-chlorine bleach & Seventh Generation laundry soap without any residual odor. I have found with the cleaning of other pet odors that sometimes vinegar intensifies the urine smell rather than cutting it sometimes (like with cat urine).

Side note: I state Seventh Generation only because that is the only detergent that I do not personally have a reaction to. Any other brand of detergent & I will get super itchy.
 

JD In Van

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I have to agree. If you over clean (especially with boars) they'll go around and pee on everything. When I do a 'full clean' I always always always leave the litter trays unscrubbed. I clean those mid way through the week when I"m not changing the fleece.

If I don't the boys just go and pee on everything.
 

Rnd210

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I have 2 boys, and I have a mattress protector (the real thin one with vinyl on oneside & a "felt" sort of material on the other) on the very bottom, 1 thick towel & then 1 layer of fleece. No issues with odor at all. I spray the coroplast with a tea tree oil cleaner that I make at home (15 drop of tea tree oil plus 32 oz hot water). Everytime we clean out the cage, they pick a new potty corner!


Tea tree oil why? Does it help keep mites or lice away?

I know if you put a couple of drops of tea tree oil in your shampoo it keeps you from getting lice and it does wonders for dry scalp and dry skin.
 

lissie

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I've read that Tea Tree Oil is toxic for guinea pigs.
 

Kareen

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As an opposite thought completely, is there possibly a corner or areas in the cage that pee is seeping into that isn't getting cleaned? We have our guinea pigs c&c cage built on top of the bunnies c&c cage and while I was cleaning this weekend I noticed guinea pig pee inside the bunny cage :eye-poppi. I then realized there was an area where the coroplast folds that had soaked with pee and I wasn't getting to it with regular water/vinegar wipe down. I went back an rechecked all corners and lifted out the kitchen area and gave it a good clean - that time it was thorough!!
 

vicky2

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I'm pretty sure your right, lissie, Tea Tree Oil is toxic to dogs so I'm sure it is to pigs too.
 

MyZoo2

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Tea tree oil why? Does it help keep mites or lice away?

I know if you put a couple of drops of tea tree oil in your shampoo it keeps you from getting lice and it does wonders for dry scalp and dry skin.

Actually it has nothing to do with that. I use it as a natural all purpose cleaner. Tea Tree oil is a naturally antibacterial. If tea tree oil in it's raw form is ingested, and it has not diluted in any form then it is toxic. However, there are applications and methods in which it can be used without being toxic. In the application I am using for, the piggies never come in contact with the cleaning solution. It is used to clean the coroplast only. My entire coroplast tray gets covered in fleece, and it is well dryed and aired out before the piggies are put back in their cage.

However, you will find tea tree oil in many products like shampoo (even dog shampoo), ear drops, etc. We use a special homeopathic ear drop solution in our dogs ears to prevent recurrent yeast infections, and that was actually per our vet's recommendation.
 
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lissie

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How big is the cage and how many in each cage?

Oops. I just noticed you already mentioned the cage size. Is it possible to pin point which pig is causing the odor? She might have some medical issues.
 

Rnd210

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Do you have sides for your cage?

If not, could their urine that didn't get soaked up by the towels end up escaping the plastic by the edge and getting on the floor around the cage.
 

JordynThePiggie

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Do your pigs pee in the corners only? If so, do what I do.

My pig does this and its so annoying! She backs her butt up to the corner and away she pees. I'm new to the fleece myself and I've noticed no matter how many towels I put down in the one spot she pees, it still smells :confused:
 
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