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Fleece A Question for those who use a kitchen with fleece

LunchBunchPiggi

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For those of you who use a bin or litter tray filled with disposable bedding for a kitchen with fleece in the rest of the cage, do you typically have your fleece liner cover the whole cage including under the bin? I have sourced a bin that is almost exactly the same width as the cage, so there would only be maybe a quarter inch gap on either side of the bin. Obviously I'd have to clean out that gap regularly, but would I be able to to make my liners just the length of the cage not occupied by the kitchen?
 

spy9doc

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Quite honestly, I have never understood what the big deal is about a kitchen!

I have fleece liners over the entire cage, both the 5x2 main level and the 2x2 loft. I have a kitten litter pan lined with litter and with a generous layer of hay on top of that. The boys love it because they can do two things at once in the litter box......both eat and poop. I have a water bottle on each level and a non-skid, non-tip pellet dish nearby. There really is little mess in the cage from anything other than stray poops. Of course with this setup, the litter box needs to be tidied about 3x a day because my Sparky just adores sleeping in it and will have a dirty belly and bum if it isn't kept clean.

The cage is vacuumed about 3x/day, water bottles refreshed, and litter boxes cleaned. I use extra small pads under the hideys where they sleep and change those out frequently. Otherwise, I do a full thorough cage clean about every 5-7 days. Mid-week, I often simply take out the liners, shake them outside, spray the soiled side with Clean-Cage (a deodorizer) and turn that soiled/sprayed side down. I also have an air cleaner by the cage that runs 24/7 to keep the room fresh.

My boys share my small home office and of course I am in there much of the day, plus my clothes closets are in the same room. Not eager to have nasty smells nearby.

Sorry, I got carried away! To directly answer your question is that I would absolutely make my liners to completely cover the floor of the cage. The fewer gaps there are between liners and any pads below, the cleaner the cage seems to stay without poops dropping down into the cracks.
 

bbxylee.m

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I personally don't have fleece under my kitchen. My liners are oversized, so there is no gap, but if you're worried about it you could put a towel under it lol
 

LunchBunchPiggi

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I was definitely thinking that they my liners would be a bit oversized. What I may do, based on two opinions I've received so far, is make my full liners just the size of the rest of the cage plus a few inches excess in both dimensions and a separate pad for under the kitchen out of the extra fleece from making the liners, because I think with the kitchen over 99% of it, it won't likely need changed quite as often as the rest of the cage. Thanks so much for the insight, it helped me make fleece buying decisions for tomorrow!
 

spy9doc

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make my full liners just the size of the rest of the cage plus a few inches excess in both dimensions and a separate pad for under the kitchen out of the extra fleece from making the liners

Sounds like a good plan to me! Liners have a way of shrinking over time so you are wise to make them about 1.5-2.0" larger than the cage. Mine are quite old and have shrunk a bit which leaves gaps around the outside and a place for debris to collect.

I would also suggest using something like incontinence pads under the fleece. They last a long time and are meant to absorb bodily waste. Insofar as the incontinence pads go, I recommend altering them to fit your cage. Just be sure to sew around the pad BEFORE cutting it to keep the layers from separating. Once sewn/overcast to the desired size, then you can trim very close to the stitching.

As an aside, towels are probably one of the worst items you can use in the cage! They get wet......and stay wet.......and STINK! You are better off to use the incontinence pads or puppy pads. The issue with puppy pads is that my cavies have always been obsessed with the blue plastic around the puppy pads and will dig it out and eat it! Not good. I switched to incontinence pads because they are reusable and much kinder to the environment.
(broken link removed) (34" x 36")
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003QSDFL4 (35" x 80")
 

LunchBunchPiggi

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Yeah, I personally never would use towels, even if I didn't have experience with cloth diapers and "mama cloth" (I get horribly sad rashy skin with commercially produced pads, so made my own reusables for years before I found another solution that works for me. Sorry if that's TMI.) experience with how long it takes a towel to dry in this apartment alone tells me that, at the very least, that's not the right choice for me.

My plan actually, after looking at the linked incontinence pads that you like so well, should work perfectly. Basically, I was just planning to add an extra layer to how I always made the absorbing layer in my pads so that the resulting liner would be usable from both sides without being so thick that it never has a chance to fully dry (which in my experience is what tends to lead to most animal smells). Fleece, 100% cotton batting, Bamboo blend batting, another cotton batting layer, followed by fleece. Not too bulky and should absorb great based on my experience making things that need to absorb well.
 

spy9doc

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Good for you! You have obviously found a solution that works for you. I know nothing about cloth diapers and wouldn't even attempt to change what you're doing.

But, I and many others use uHaul pads as the absorbent layer in liners. A uHaul pad is huge, inexpensive, and superb at absorption. Some folks use two layers of uHaul between fleece, but they take a while to dry plus some sewing machines simply can't handle two layers of fleece plus two layers of uHaul. I find that just one layer of uHaul does the job.......at least until the liners get older. I can tell that the uHaul middle has worn out in my liners by the fact that they leak to the absorbent layer below. My liners are probably 7 yrs. old by now and are in tatters so I desperately need to find the time to make new ones.

Black Friday fleece shopping is the best! :cool: Did you make a haul today? I avoided JoAnn totally as I still have yards of fleece to sew that I previously purchased.
 

LunchBunchPiggi

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Fleece doesn't go on super sale until tomorrow this year, I'm planning on shopping online though, the better Joann's in my area is near the biggest mall for hundreds of miles and I want nothing to do with that business this weekend. It's going to be a disaster for miles around! I'll gladly stay at home in my PJs! The only problem with that plan was needing to buy in full yard increments. However, since my two liner approach will work with two yards, I won't be stuck buying a third yard just to get a few extra inches.

Batting is basically the same composition as the Uhaul pads, compressed/felted cotton fibers, just lighter weight. They should fit it our small apartment laundry room washers better and dry faster. The drying part is important as I hope to avoid paying for the drying time and just air dry them without too much trouble. I'm excited to see how well they work.

I actually don't have piggies yet, but am getting things together to adopt them some time next year. Everything will be all set to go when I am ready to rescue a trio of ladies!
 
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spy9doc

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Good for you for doing all this research and planning up front! I wish more prospective cavy owners would do the same. :cool:
 

LunchBunchPiggi

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I've always been an obsessive planner, so I've done it with all my animals. I wish more people would do an extensive amount of research before getting pets too. Or any research, really. Impulse pets shouldn't be a thing!!
 
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