General Puppy pads with attractant

[miniver]

I need to buy more disposable puppy pads to use while traveling over the holidays. I use in heavy-use areas under fleece and towels in their vacation cage.
Every brand I'm seeing has an "attractant". Will this harm or annoy my guinea pigs, or will they not notice?

 

[bpatters]

I wouldn't use them myself. Puppies use pads only when they have to pee, and then they're off of them. Guinea pigs have their noses an inch away all of their lives. I'd think the odor would be overpowering.

 

[spy9doc]

I'd think the odor would be overpowering.

Most puppy pads have a so-called attractant added. It does not seem to overpower or offend a cavy's sensibilities. What it does do is attract a piggy! Whatever odor it emits tells my cavies where the pads are under the fleece liners....and they will dig under the liners to get to the blue plastic on the edges and chew it for hours. :crazy: I can sometimes thwart the little rascals, but they seem to know if I'm using a puppy pad under the towels for lap time and will try to get to them even there......right under my nose.

If you come across a brand that doesn't have the attractant, please let me know. That way I can test my theory and see if the lack of an attractant changes their behavior.

 

[miniver]

It's hard to fool them! They hear the crinkle of the pad if it's directly under the fleece and then they dig it out. I had to stop using them in my regular cage. If it's under a towel then under fleece in there vacation cage they don't seem to know it's there.
I bought the pack I have over a year ago. It looks like all the pads now are "new and improved" with stronger attractant. Maybe I can find an older package somewhere but I should prepare to use extra towels.

Thanks for the responses.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

This is interesting. I used to use puppy training pads under my boys fleece, and they NEVER tried to get to them. Not once. I stopped using them over a year ago, but none of my boys ever tried to get to them.

 

[spy9doc]

For the most part, I stopped using them and switched to incontinence pads. But, I have older liners and pads that were used in a slightly smaller cage and I use them only to fill in where the incontinence pads are too short. But, I have had the issue with all the cavies that I've known and loved in recent years. I previously had a Texel sow who had pea eye and didn't see well. But, those little beady eyes could spot the edge of a puppy pad no matter where it was.

 

[miniver]

One of my sows completely ignores them. The other would dig them out right away. She ended up spending two days at the vet with a stomach blockage and I wasn't sure she was going to make it. That one puppy pad cost me $500.
For some reason, they both ignore them in their vacation cage. I still watch them very closely.