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Fleece Alternatives to UHaul Blankets

HollyG

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I'm working on creating some fleece liners for my one pig, however I don't have access to a UHaul store and have limited funds. It doesn't make sense for me to spend the $15 on shipping alone for the UHaul blankets. Are there any dupes for them that anyone knows of? I bought a Hyper Tough moving blanket from Walmart to try out because it looked similarto the UHaul blankets. However I poured a bit of water on it and the water just sits on top of it. The material just says 100% nonwoven for the cover and 100% fiber for the fill.

What about egg crate bed toppers? It seems like those are almost like sponges, however I'm not sure if that is a good or bad thing. I've heard of people using towels but they smell quickly. I am looking into using wood pellets but I can't get them for a few days and I would still like another layer between the fleece and the pellets. I've heard of people using mattress pads as well but I'm super paranoid about getting the wrong one. I'm still in the process of treating the fleece to wick but I hope to get these done in the next day or two.
Thank you!
 

bpatters

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The bed toppers are a bad idea. If you think towels smell, you really don't want to smell a peed-on bed topper.

Mattress pads work well -- you want the cotton kind. They're available cheaply from resale shops.

Why do you want something between the fleece and the pellets?
 

HollyG

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Oh jeez, thanks for that info! I might try mattress pads - do I want the kind that say waterproof? Unfortunately I live basically in the middle of nowhere and my car just got totalled so I don't have transportation and don't have any resale or thrift shops near me.
I was just thinking that it might help to have another layer between fleece and pellets. My pig has two sores on her feet that I'm hoping will heal, so I thought maybe the extra padding between her feet and the pellets would be softer and encourage healing more.
 

HollyG

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I took her to the vet for a wellness visit a couple of weeks ago and she is the one that mentioned the sores, I didn't notice them. She called them corns. She didn't seem concerned about them, should I contact her again and ask about them?
 

HollyG

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Yes, I believe that is what it is! I'll have to get someone to help me hold her so I can trim them. So if I do end up using the pellets, just the one layer of fleece should be sufficient? I just want to make sure she's comfortable, I recently bought a new brand of Aspen bedding and I've noticed she tries to avoid laying directly on it, I think it may be too rough or uncomfortable. Also, would you recommend the horse pellets or the heating pellets? I'm wondering if the heating pellets would be difficult to find in the summer.
 

bpatters

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It doesn't matter whether you use the horse pellets or the heating pellets. You just have to be careful that the stove pellets don't have any accelerant added, and that neither of them smell strongly of pine. Just pick the cheapest ones that meet those qualifications.

If you use cooking pellets, don't get the expensive barbecue ones. You want something that costs $5-$8 a bag, or so.

One layer of fleece is fine. The pellets disintegrate into sawdust pretty quickly, so the pig isn't walking on a rough surface.
 

Superman123

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Yes, I believe that is what it is! I'll have to get someone to help me hold her so I can trim them. So if I do end up using the pellets, just the one layer of fleece should be sufficient? I just want to make sure she's comfortable, I recently bought a new brand of Aspen bedding and I've noticed she tries to avoid laying directly on it, I think it may be too rough or uncomfortable. Also, would you recommend the horse pellets or the heating pellets? I'm wondering if the heating pellets would be difficult to find in the summer.

Under the fleece layer, you can use a waterproof/water-protection bed pad (like for a toddler). If you use the bed pad, the quilted cotton side goes next to the fleece and the waterproof side towards the floor. Its cheaper for us than pellets, cause we can just wash and reuse the bed pad. They are $15 or so at walmart and last for years.

And I just cut our guinea's nails for the first time and it turned out it was easier to hold her myself, so you might find it goes ok. When I had a rabbit I found this video very helpful, and I essentially did it the same way for the guinea pig.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9KemnaTGIs
 

HollyG

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Thank you [MENTION=42464]LynOprinka[/MENTION], I may try that. It's not quite time to trim my pig's nails yet, but I think I'll try it this way the next time they do need to be clipped.
As far as bedding I am currently using a layer of fleece over the equine pellets and so far they have worked very well! Charlie seems more comfortable and seems to popcorn much more, she also does zoomies! Another added bonus that I love is that she seems to have litter trained herself! She's had a litter box for a few weeks now, but she would only occasionally use it. Now she rarely goes on the fleece and mostly uses her litter box! She does still poo on the fleece but I'd much rather deal with spot cleaning rather than having to change fleece more often! Like I said, I'm using the pellets now but I am considering using mattress pads. When I got home with the bag of pellets I bought I didn't smell any pine but later in the day after I brought my pig back into the room my brother was visiting and said he smelt pine. I don't want to risk my pig's health in case this happens again, so I'll look into the mattress pads.
 
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