Fleece Poop Patrol

[Wandalea]

Now that my piggies are well over a year old, they put out waaaay more poops than they used to. Vacuuming it doesn't work because the fleece gets sucked in. When sweeping with a whisk broom, the broom sticks on the fleece. Their cage is only a few inches off the floor so hunching down & having to tuck in a clean fleece all around the edges every day is not fun. I have been using one tucked-in fleece over the pellets that can stay in place for awhile & having another folded to size one on top, anchored down on the edges with rocks or they will burrow. This is easier to keep replaced with a clean one. Still not ideal. So now I am going to try sewing 2 fleeces together with some layers of extra fleece inside. Then "quilt" it, with lots of topstitching crisscrossing the whole thing. Made to exactly fit the cage & keep using a tuck-in fleece underneath. This should eliminate the rocks if it's stiff enough & allow it to be vacuumed, getting up the poops & not sucking in the fleece. If it works, I'll let you know. If I don't post here again, you will know it was doomed.

 

[DonkeyBrainz]

Are you using fleece alone? You need an absorbent layer underneath (puppy pads, old towels, etc...). I use binder clips to keep my fleece in place and it stays while vacuuming for me.

 

[Soecara]

Before you get to the sewing part see if water will wick through that many layers of fleece. The last thing you want is to put in all the work of sewing that only to not have the urine pass through the fleece to the pellets.

Another thing you could consider to make things easier for you is to raise the guinea pigs up higher off of the floor by putting a stand under the cage.

 

[Wandalea]

Thanks for the ideas! I do use wood pellets under the fleece. Great idea about the binder clips--I'll try that. I'll also check the wicking. 2 layers wick fine & the fleece I will use as the inside layer has been correctly washed to allow wicking, but still I'll check before I sew. I would love to raise their cage up but it would block the window. Now that I think about it though, might be worth it--I'll ponder that.

 

[bpatters]

You may be defeating the whole purpose of using fleece by having two layers of it. Fleece only wicks when it's over an absorbent layer, and two layers of it is not better than one. Why not just put one layer of fleece down over the pellets and weight it down with rocks or bricks? It would save on laundry, and it works just fine. That's the way I do my cage.

 

[Wandalea]

Do you vacuum the fleece? I guess weighted down all around it would not get sucked in. It seems like the pee is going through two layers, but probably not as well. I will try one layer with bricks around the edges. I hadn't done that so they would have a race track around the edges, although I did put in 3 rocks they didn't push around on each end. Thanks! This would be the easiest solution.

You may be defeating the whole purpose of using fleece by having two layers of it. Fleece only wicks when it's over an absorbent layer, and two layers of it is not better than one. Why not just put one layer of fleece down over the pellets and weight it down with rocks or bricks? It would save on laundry, and it works just fine. That's the way I do my cage.

 

[bpatters]

I don't vacuum it. I've never found a way to weight it down so it doesn't get sucked up in the vacuum. I just take it out and shake it in the yard.

 

[Wandalea]

On my way to get bricks today. Scratch the vacuuming idea. What about the piggies peeing on them? They do pee on their favorite rocks, ha ha. I need non-porous brick substitutes. I'll find something. Maybe I'll leave the favorite rocks in there as decoys. Pigs are such an adventure! With every change in their house, they get all excited & do popcorns.

 

[lissie]

You could try this idea:
https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...-set-up-Holding-down-fleece-over-wood-pellets

 

[bpatters]

I just put the bricks in the corners of the cage, with an occasional one down the long sides. My pigs have never peed on them. They use them as pulpits to stand in front of and demand food.

 

[Wandalea]

Now I'm checking out this rod idea. I looked at bricks & blocks today, but decided not to get those because I know my little guys--they will pee on them. Maybe I will go back to my original way of one layer of fleece over the wood pellets, tucked in over the coroplast. I can understand now that 2 layers causes it to not wick well. And maybe raise the cage up off the floor to make it much easier. Thanks everyone!

You could try this idea:
https://www.guineapigcages.com/foru...-set-up-Holding-down-fleece-over-wood-pellets

 

[Wandalea]

That's so cute! My piggies do pee on certain rocks so I'm sure they would choose favorite bricks too. I think I'll leave off the 2nd fleece layer & have just one over wood pellets, tucked in over the coroplast sides as I used to do. Pretend I'm doing yoga as I stretch to do the tucking in, ha ha.

I just put the bricks in the corners of the cage, with an occasional one down the long sides. My pigs have never peed on them. They use them as pulpits to stand in front of and demand food.