Cleaning Stinky piggy and house

[zolscody]

Hello all,
Yofie's area is really starting to stink! I'm good about keeping up with his house, but even after washing the fleece and vet bed, it still stinks! He stinks as well and will be getting a bath very soon. I haven't tried washing his stuff with vinegar yet. Any ideas on how to help the smell in the room (he's in our living room) and his house? Do boy guinea pigs smell more to "attract" a mate?

Thanks!

 

[PhinniePig]

Hey, I have 2 males guinea pigs (less than a yr old and about 5-6yo). They barely ever smell. Usually right after a cage clean they smell a little. I have had people over and they are often surprised that my guinea pigs dont smell. I use fleece liners with uhaul pads and have a 1*2 kitchen area in a 2x5 C&C cage. I do a full cage clean once a week, but sweep out the cage twice a day, I also use pee pads and remove those ever 2-3 days (this is used under their hidey houses). I wash my fleece items with free and clear detergent, some oxyclean and about 1/4-1/2 cup of vineger per load. I wash my fleece items in a pillow protector (which is pretty much a pillow case with a zipper on the end - this stops any extra hair/debris from getting into my washing machine). I also have a little moso natural charcoal bag ((broken link removed)) that i clip onto their cage to help absorb any excess smell.

Hope this helps.

 

[zolscody]

Thanks PhinniePig. I do have some of the charcoal bags and I'm going to try to wash his stuff with the Vinegar. Do you wash on hot or cold? I don't know if neutering him will help since he is our only pig. He's about 5 months old and I figured those hormones are kicking in lol.

 

[lissie]

How big is his cage? What are you using under fleece vet bed?

 

[PhinniePig]

I do a hot wash. The vinegar will help strip the fleece of ammonia from the guinea pigs pee. So might help with the smell. I'm not sure, I have always washed my fleece with vinegar. But as @lissie is indicating, it makes a huge difference if you have an appropriately sized cage and some good absorbent under layers. I highly recommend uhaul pads.

 

[zolscody]

OK next time hot wash with vinegar. He has. 2x3 c&c cage, plenty of space for 1 piggy. I don't use anything under the vet bed because I read not to. But the size of the vet bed doesn't cover all the ground so I use fleece and uhaul pads for that. I also just learned about their grease gland. We've only had him for about 2 months so its all pretty new. He is a long hair pig so I never saw it lol. I'll be giving that tushie a nice wash!

 

[PhinniePig]

You may need to wash the vet bed and fleece + uhaul a couple times to make sure everything is stripped from it! Good luck! Sounds like you have a pretty good sized cage for now.. maybe once you work out the smell problem you should look into adopting a friend for him I noticed a major difference in my lone boar when i adopted a second piggy (he is definitely happier now!). Make sure you trim his hair as it grow.. maybe keep the back a little shorter so that pee doesn't get on his butt all the time! Maybe that will also help for the smell ?

 

[lissie]

Vet bed works the same way as fleece. It allows urine to drain through to the layer underneath. If you don't have anything to catch the urine, that might be the cause of the smell. Try to put uhaul pads under the vet bed.