Bedding smelly cage: more towels? or what??

[englishdaffodil]

OK, I need help, please. Rosie's cage is STINKY.

I am fine with scooping poop every day, but right now I'm finding her cage needs a complete cleaning every other day, and that seems like a lot to me.

I use fleece and towels. At the moment I just use two large bath towels in her 2x3 c&c cage. This is exactly enough to cover the coroplast completely with two layers of towel under the fleece.

Any suggestions for increasing the time between full cage cleanings? Would more layers of towel help? If I could get her to even 3-4 days between big cleanings, that would sure be helpful.

Thanks!

 

[Duffinvt]

Do you wash the towels with some white vinegar added to the wash and rinse? Are you keeping soiled hay picked up? Sometimes a vegetable will make urine smell more intense. Try switching some different vegetables into her diet and don't overdo on any one particular thing. You could also put small fleece over small (like dish or wash cloth) towel mats in the places where she pees the most and change those out daily.

 

[englishdaffodil]

Hmmm, well...she's only been here a week and a half, and in that time she's had a ton of different veggies. I do use vinegar in the wash, as I do with all my towels. And she pees and poops everywhere...she's the most ladylike piggy ever, except with regard to toileting!!

 

[Squint96]

I think this might help; my room was HORRIBLE with two cages in it, and it was so gross. Then my daddy got me an air purifier for Christmas and it is amazing! This is the onebroken link removed)
I know it doesn't solve the cage problem, but it works wonders. (yeah, its kind of expensive too)

 

[betty]

You probably know this but guinea pigs pee & poo alot while they eat. Have you tried putting a litter box under her hay rack and pellet dish so that she can do her business there? You fill the littler box with various types of litter and just take out the wet bits every day and do a full change every 2-3 days. You may have to investigate the stink with your nose to see exactly what is smelly.

 

[Tylerryan79]

How often do you pick up the poo? I found that a combination of using a uhaul blanket and picking all the poos anytime I was near the cage(I'm home all day so it's a lot)drastically reduced cage smell. I literally smelt nothing until day 7, which is what I wanted. I also have a larger cage, so that definitely contributes to less smells. Smaller cage means less space to pee/poo, so the pee gets more concentrated and smelly probably. I've read about someone who sprinkles baking soda on their towels or something to eat up odors too.

 

[Saecula]

How enclosed is the cage? Is there also enough air currant for bad odor to leave? I noticed in a small cage it directly smells, ever since I'm just keeping old or secondhanded bed sheets (linen/cotton) I don't have to do a full clean often. Right now my 2 boys (and you can imagine boys smell more easily from male hormones) have an area on the ground about 3,5 meters to 1,5 / 2 meters, and they only pee a lot where they sleep. Those spaces I need to refresh every two days (I have so many hideys that they swap around when they like, which is mostly when it's dirty. And for the rest of their enclosure, sometimes it lasts for a week, but some parts I even noticed didn't even smell after two weeks even though then the urinated parts were looking very bad. I don't use fleece, only cloth, as far as cloth gets time to dry a bit nothing smells badly.
Perhaps also the amount of veggies you've given may affect smell. As example if you've overwhelmed her with many kinds the intestines didn't get used to, or some that may cause gas to the pig. Just keep it simple and build up slowly (over weeks time)

 

[Onetwo]

Also if they are new and the bedding is new they are often times "smelling" everything up to make them feel at home.

If you are using a scented soap then that could cause excessive smells too because she is trying to get rid of them because they hurt her nose.

Also did you wash the fleece and towels properly? Wash/dry wash/dry wash/dry not wash wash wash dry! Did you use fabric softener and/or dryer sheets? As they prevent the fleece from wicking and the towels from absorbing...

 

[englishdaffodil]

OK, thanks, everybody. The good news is: I'm doing most everything suggested already--the cage, although not huge (2x3 c&c) is well-ventilated. I wash the bedding properly and don't use scented detergent. (I'm a very allergic person, so all this was standard policy in my house anyway.) Poops get swept up daily.

The bad news is: that leaves no obvious solution. Perhaps too many veggies in a week is right. And could be that she's making the place smellier so it feels like her home! I may wait and see for a bit, and then try a few things.

Other suggestions welcome, too. Thanks, all.