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Fleece Where do you buy your pre-made cage liners from?

ThatGirlMarie

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So I am using fleece but currently I am using fleece blankets we had lying around that were unused. They work, but I really need something a bit easier to deal with so was just going to order a fleece cage liner from the Cozy Cavy. However, despite emailing an order and sending a message on FB, I have not heard back and I am getting desperate. The weewee pad + towel + fleece thing WORKS but it smells. And since the piggies are in the office area where my partner works a lot, he's complaining about the smell. I change the bedding 100% (towels + fleece + the addition of waterproof changing pads for babies) every 2-3 days (it's killing my back) but within 12 hours it's back to smelling noticeably. I also wonder if it could be their urine - what color is piggy pee supposed to be? It often looks white? I can vacuum up poops a few times a day so don't think that's a problem.

I was going to do the fleece flippers but then I saw the shipping was $15 and my aversion to paying so much on such an expensive product for shipping kicked in. I don't mind paying a bit, but $80 for the flippers + $15 for shipping was a bit shell-shocking.

Where do you order your fleece cage liners? Piggybedspreads look cool but I am wondering if there any other options that I haven't found in my googling? I heard some people put wood pellets under their fleece too. if you do, how long do they last before needing to be changed out?
 

lunarminx

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I quit using fleece because of that reason. What many have started doing is using wood horse stall pellets or another type of wood pellets, that are kiln dried or have no fuel additives to them. With the fleece laying over them and the daily sweeping of poos, the odors are cut down so much. Is your cage on the floor or a stand? You can read through this post to get an idea about it. Instead of towels and fleece etc to wash, you have just fleece and their cozy sacks and whatever.

https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...ding-story-finally-found-the-perfect-solution!
 

Jmoore77

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I bought fleece flippers but I also bought a cage liner on Etsy. There are quite a few people who sell them on there. I don't really notice any smell and I change mine about every 4 to 5 days.
 

Jessicaswafford

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My mom and I made liners with a layer of fleece on bottom and top sandwiching a UHaul furniture pad. It lasts for several days. No stink. On each end of the cage (where they poo and pee) we have a small pad (same layering) that covers the width of the cage so I can just grab that pad and shake it out into a wastebasket. It's really easy and not too much extra washing. My mom's the one who sewed it together - it didn't take long.
 

ThatGirlMarie

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I could, in theory because I sew reasonably well, make my own but again: the components are a pain to get for me. Fleece is difficult to find in a store easily in NYC and every single uHaul location is either not near a train and requires a car or is out of the way + difficult to get to/sketchy neighborhood. Ordering would defeat the purpose of not paying for shipping.

I'm going to look into the wood pellet option, if I can figure out whether or not the ones I find are safe.
 

Tarams

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I bought some etsy, there are some great shops there. I bought from Kelli's cage creations. Just search 'guinea pig fleece'
 

HeresTheSkinny

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Is your reason for buying premade because you can't sew, or you don't want to take the time?

If it's because you can't sew, I found a no-sew tutorial on youtube where you use fuse tape instead of sewing. It took me a while, but I was able to produce five liners for about $100 (cost of fuse tape at Michael's, incontinence liners from Amazon, and fleece from Joann's). It was a solid two days of work, but well worth it for the cost effectiveness.

If it's because you don't want to take the time, I'd be going on etsy. I sell crochet things on there, so I like to buy there whenever possible. They also have way cuter fleece guinea pig stuff than pretty much anywhere else I've seen.
 

ThatGirlMarie

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I can sew, but like I said already: fleece is actually difficult to find in stores(most NYC fabric stores are for fashion and fleece isn't included - though I might try Mood) and there are only a few uHaul locations and most are in difficult to reach places/out of the way/etc. I'd have to order everything online which isn't cost effective - especially when you're ordering from Joann that can't get an order (at least my orders) right to save their lives. I did look on etsy but when I read the descriptions of the liners most don't have an absorbent layer in between. I'll keep looking.

And again, I'm going to be looking into the pellet idea for under the fleece blanket I'm currently using.
 

lex_tw

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I don't know anything about wood chips sorry but I too had trouble finding liners because I couldn't justify paying $100+ for one liner and beyond that I just couldn't in general. I don't how big your cage is or its set up but mines a 2x6 and the kitchen is of course the messiest spot. I use my fleece and towel set up for everything but that and switched the kitchen to flippers. It helped a lot. it worked for me but again I don't know if it would for you. I also had a friend of mine make liners for the rest for me since I didn't have a sewing machine, maybe someone on here who could would be willing to work a better price out with you?
There's also sewing for a cause that has some of the best prices I've seen. Etsy is a good place to start in general too- I think her name is Kelli's crafts and more? She has really nice ones too. I don't know how quick you need a solution but maybe signing up or looking for Jo Ann's fabric coupons? Sometimes they offer free shipping online and seeing if there's anywhere you get an absorbent pad shipped for free?

Good luck!
 

ThatGirlMarie

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I can't seem to find this Kelli's Crafts or whatever on etsy so if anyone has a direct link I'd appreciate it.

And I've also said more than once why I can't make them myself and it has nothing to do with: not having a sewing machine, not knowing how to sew, or not having the time and everything to do with the supplies being (I know, this is probably surprising) difficult to find in NYC. And again: after three consecutive bad experiences with Joann (the most recent being an order of Fleece that, surprise! was cancelled after the other half of my order was already shipped) I will never order from them again so I'll just have to keep an eye out for another fleece option online. None of my go-to online fabric stores sell fleece unfortunately.
 

ThatGirlMarie

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foggycreekcavy

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Oh, Mood! Say Hi to Swatch!

Yes, I watch a lot of Project Runway.
 

ThatGirlMarie

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Oh, Mood! Say Hi to Swatch!

Yes, I watch a lot of Project Runway.

Haha Swatch is a cute little bugger :) he's there almost every time I go. Admittedly, that's not that often because it's not on my normal commute and I could spend hours there (tough life, I know!) and even more money!
 

mizzpiggie

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I get my liners from (broken link removed) and I make my own accessories (beds, hammocks, etc.) The waterproof fabric on the bottom keeps me from having to clean anything off of the coroplast (no calcium deposits!) and since everything is all on piece, I can just take the whole liner out, shake off the poops/hay and throw it in the washing machine (I do this weekly, and do spot cleans throughout the week without removing the liner). They are a little on the expensive side, but if you consider you only have to buy one liner (mine has survived over a year of washing with no wear that I can see) and you don't have to mess with all the layers, I think it's worth it.
 

ThatGirlMarie

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So I ordered the two liners from Kelli before I decided to expand my cage (not a big deal, I'll either double up or use something else for the other portion until I make my 3x3 ones) and they're nice. The only issue is she doesn't sew the uhaul into ALL edges so I fear it could bunch. I'm going to take my sewing machine to that one edge and into the middle before I put them in my cage. Otherwise, the fabric is great!
 

Tarams

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I washed them about 10 times now, so far no problem. I had the same concern, but so far so good :)
 

ThatGirlMarie

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Good to know! I still think I'll feel better if I sew an extra bit. I have apartment building washers and don't trust them at all. Also: do you know if they come pre-washed?
 

CavieGuy

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@ThatGirlMarie I had a problem with urine smell (sensitive nose) using fleece with uhaul pads on the third day...I've tried carefresh, wood shavings, fleece liners, uhaul pads, towels, etc.... I tried them all. A couple months ago I read a thread by a member who journaled her experience with fleece + wood pellets. I was desperate so I gave it a try and presto it worked. No urine smell at all. I change the wood pellets every 8 weeks, clean the fleece once a week. This was with 5 piggies too (recently adopted my 6th).

You can order fleece online:

https://www.joann.com/fabric/fleece-fabric/

Sometimes there is free shipping if you order certain amount and fleece is usually on sale, if not, then wait until it comes back on sale to purchase them.

To answer your previous question, I bought my fleece liners through LoungingLeo (she was either on facebook or etsy), now I use them as lap pads
 

ThatGirlMarie

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@ThatGirlMarie I had a problem with urine smell (sensitive nose) using fleece with uhaul pads on the third day...I've tried carefresh, wood shavings, fleece liners, uhaul pads, towels, etc.... I tried them all. A couple months ago I read a thread by a member who journaled her experience with fleece + wood pellets. I was desperate so I gave it a try and presto it worked. No urine smell at all. I change the wood pellets every 8 weeks, clean the fleece once a week. This was with 5 piggies too (recently adopted my 6th).

You can order fleece online:

https://www.joann.com/fabric/fleece-fabric/

Sometimes there is free shipping if you order certain amount and fleece is usually on sale, if not, then wait until it comes back on sale to purchase them.

To answer your previous question, I bought my fleece liners through LoungingLeo (she was either on facebook or etsy), now I use them as lap pads


I actually already said why I wasn't going to order my fleece from Joann - and it's (to my surprise anyway), expensive + the cost of shipping. I did recently get some fleece that was on sale at a Joann store thanks to someone VERY helpful and I intend to make my own, but the cost of shipping makes getting pellets in NYC extremely impractical. I also read the thread about fleece + wood pellets (and I commented on it and you replied!) but as I don't drive and stuff like that is expensive to ship - although to be fair, I didn't look on amazon and should - it didn't seem a cost-effective option for us unfortunately (but I looked on Target and I couldn't read the bag well enough to feel comfortable ordering online and in person they just don't sell that kind of stuff locally). City living doesn't lend itself easily to things like heavy bags of anything. Or large animal supplies...if we can find pellets inexpensively, maybe we'll give it a try in the future, but for now, it just didn't seem doable.
 
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