Where can you find fleece for the cage?

[Sweetywheety]

FLEECE. Where can you find it? Do you use it in place of bedding? Do you let the pigs urinate and poop on it? How often does it need to be washed? Is it better than bedding? How much is it? Sorry about all the questions, but I kind of need to know. Thanks! -Jenna S.

 

[ScottandDebbie]

Hi Jeanna,

I am rather new with the use of fleece, but can tell you that I have found it to be a real asset. It helps wick the urine away from the cavies and onto the bedding below. Keeps my boys dry.

I use CareFresh as my bedding, and I place patches of fleece in the area where the boys like to lay down.

I take my fleece out of the cage each day and shake it outdoors. I wash it twice a week so far.

I purchased some of my fleece at a fabric store, but you also purchase cheap fleece blankets at discount stores, and then cut them up to your desire measurements.

There are many who use fleece that covers their bedding completely, and this seems to really work for them.

I am really *sold* on using fleece.
debbie

 

[Corrine]

Hi! I found cheap fleece here in Cali at Ross. They were about $5.00 each for pretty large blankets. I have a really large cage, so this is definitely cheaper for me. It would cost a whole lot for me to use strictly Carefresh.

I layer fleece over towels. I put Carefresh just in 2 corners where my girls tend to poop and pee. I spot clean these areas twice a day or so. Doing this, I only have to change everything once a week.

It works great for me!

 

[ScottandDebbie]

Hey Corrine,

It was at Ross that I purchased a large fleece blanket for only $8.
Don't you love great deals?
Debbie

 

[Gonzo]

I just purchased about 4 yards at Walmart. They had SO many patterns, colors, and thicknesses to choose from. It ranged from $2.74 to $5.84 per yard, based on thickness. The bolts run about 58-60 inches wide.

I bought some doggie pee pads I'm going to try underneath. I also have a couple of bags of CareFresh that I might experiment with, also. I'm going to rebuild this weekend, as I've had to separate Griffin (the daddy) from Mickey and her babies. In a couple of weeks, I have to divide them up by sex to prevent another mishap, so I'm taking this opportunity to switch to fleece after the renovation.

 

[Corrine]

ScottandDebbie...YES! I love a deal...especially on a teacher's salary

 

[DaCourt]

Sav-on...best deal ever.

I bought 3 blankets that are about 2 1/2 yards. They were 3 for $9.99.

 

[homeschoolmama]

Wal-mart here too... I have a fabric outlet nearby, and they have a 50% off coupon in the newspaper every week. I can find malden-mills fleece (the ultra-plushy, non-pilling kind) for $3 per yard with the coupon. But we've found some super cute prints at Wal-mart for about $4 as well. If you have a Joann Fabrics in the area, they often have a 40% off coupon on any one cut of fabric. That brings just about all of their fleeces down under $4 per yard too!

We use fleece as our main bedding, with garage-sale towels underneath. Yes, they do everything on it. Fleece has a natural wicking property and will pull their pee down & away from the top layer, leaving your piggies drier. (people even use this stuff for cloth diapers... same reason!) We change the towels when they get wet; about every 4-6 days, and turn the fleece inside-out every other day, so it always looks nice. It gets washed about once a week. During nice weather, we pull the fleece up each morning & shake it out into the garden. During the winter, we use a tiny hand-broom & dustpan to sweep it clean.

As for whether or not it's better, I definitely think so! Even with having to replace the fleece about once per year, it comes up to about $12-16 per year (for 2 pieces big enough for a 2x5 cage) rather than the $140 per year we were spending for aspen shavings. And they don't drag little shavings all over the house during floor time, and their feet don't get as irritated since there are no sharp pieces anymore! Yup, definitely worth considering

 

[iLoveDusty]

I saw some fleece at a Target store, in the craft/bedding (for people) area. It looked pretty big.

I'm not sure how much it costed, but I don't think it was very much.

 

[C&K]

FLEECE. Where can you find it? Do you use it in place of bedding? Do you let the pigs urinate and poop on it? How often does it need to be washed? Is it better than bedding? How much is it? Sorry about all the questions, but I kind of need to know. Thanks! -Jenna S.

You can buy it in Fabric stores or this time of year you can find Fleece throws, sometimes in bargin stores. I have a local store that is selling Fleece blankets for $3.99! Also if you look in second hand stores, you can find some great deals on second hand fleece. Just make sure you give it a good wash with some vinigar when you get it home.

Yes, it is used in place of bedding, I did not heed Ly's advice and put a litter pan with wood chips in the cage with it. They dragged out the chips, stuck to the fleece, made a horrific mess. Yup, I am a dumba**, what else can be said? There is a reason she is our Queen Of Plonkerland", she knows all! ;-) That being said, you can put in a litter pan with other material in the cage, such as yesterdays news, carefresh, probably even wood stove pellets, provided they have not sort of chemical on them. The pan is just a tray that you find, with a low lip so they can climb in and out easily.

I wash mine about every three days. Spot vac it at least once a day. Most people have an alternate set to change over with so the pigs are not fleeceless during the wash. If you live in an apartment, you could get a third set so that you can wait to wash two at the same time. How long it lasts depends on the person, I think about three days, others think more. If you can get them to use a litter pan, it may last a little longer. Some pigs won't however.

As for better then bedding, that is just a personal choice. One final thing is that there are two types of fleece, water resistant, and regular. the regular stuff holds in moisture, the other repels it. You need another layer under it. I use newspaper, some use towels.

And don't be sorry for asking questions! No such thing as to many.

 

[ScottandDebbie]

Sav-on...best deal ever. I bought 3 blankets that are about 2 1/2 yards. They were 3 for $9.99.

What an *amazing* deal!
Look out Sav-On here we come. <grin>

 

[suzilovespiggie]

I use fleece. I have 2 C&C cages. One for my boars, one for my sows.
I have a shower curtain base, newspaper, pine (dried kind), newspaper and the a big fleece plush throw. I have a litter pan in each of the cages. The boars use it the sows don't. The hay does stick to the fleece but I just shake it out really good. I have 2 sets of fleece for each cage so while one set is in the wash the other can be used.
I belong to a mail order catalog that sells plush fleece blankets for $4.95 to $5.95. They sell with seasonal themes so my piggies can be in the season. Christmas is coming so they will have snowman blankets or Santa Claus. I haven't made up my mind yet.
Anyway, I love fleece.

 

[Herbie Girl]

When I go to pet shops after petting guinea pig, my eyes start itching..I don't know if thats their bedding causing that or the actual pig... If its the bedding I could always just go fleece but I don't know yet. I hate when you don't know if the allergy is from bedding or the pig..





Becky

 

[Sweetywheety]

Thanks everyone! All of you are SO great!

 

[ScottandDebbie]

When I go to pet shops after petting guinea pig, my eyes start itching..I don't know if thats their bedding causing that or the actual pig... If its the bedding I could always just go fleece but I don't know yet. I hate when you don't know if the allergy is from bedding or the pig..
Becky

Lots of people are allergic to their *Hay*.

The piggies come in contact with the hay. The hay allergens get on the piggies. You pick up a piggy and have an allergic reaction.

You might want to try the fleece in a type of elimination experiment.

 

[C&K]

Problem is, if it is a hay allergy, changing to fleece won't fix it, as they need to eat hay, and it will still get all over the bedding.

I am not sure what to recommend. I have a feeling though that if just being near a pig for a few minutes is causing this kind of reaction, it does not bode well for you. Some members here take Benadryl and other drugs to keep allergies at bay, but a lot of people don't want to live that way or can't afford to indefinately.

Do you know if you suffer from Hay fever? Do you have allergies to grass or pollen?

 

[homeschoolmama]

I have severe allergies to many kinds of hay, pollen, animal dander... you name it, and I probably have an allergy related to it. When we first considered getting a pig, we actually bought the smallest bag of each kind of hay we could find to see if I would react to them. It turns out that I do not react to orchard at all... and I discovered last winter that I can also tolerate bluegrass! Try different types of hay, one at a time. With any luck, you'll find one that you can be around too

 

[ScottandDebbie]

You might want to try the fleece in a type of elimination experiment.

Since you are concerned that a type of bedding might be causing your allergy.... that was why I recommended trying other opinions for bedding ie fleece.

If you continue to have reactions.... you pretty much can eliminate the bedding aspect.

Sorry, if I didn't make that clear.
(Hay, certainly *cannot* eliminate.)

 

[Ly&Pigs]

I did not heed Ly's advice and put a litter pan with wood chips in the cage with it. They dragged out the chips, stuck to the fleece, made a horrific mess. Yup, I am a dumba**, what else can be said? There is a reason she is our Queen Of Plonkerland", she knows all! ;-)

Thanks for the compliments. I know about fleece because I have used it for almost a year now. I have experimented with it so much and tried so many ways of using it in combination with other beddings. I did that so I could let others know what works well and what doesn't work well. I use Critter Care (generic carefresh)in my litter pan normally. The girls drag a little out onto the fleece, but it doesn't stick to fleece like shavings do.

I am still doing more experiments. I am trying plain newspaper and poos in the litter pan now. Will let you know how that is going when I finish the experiment. I can also say from experience that bits of hay will stick to fleece. The solution to keeping as much hay as possible off the fleece is to build a hayloft just for hay or to build a coroplast box to put on the main floor with a door cut into it just for hay. I used to have a box the size of a 1x2 for hay. They had to jump over a 3-4" barrier to get in the box but they still drug a tiny bit of hay out but that is easily cleaned up during spot cleaning. Now I have a loft devoted to just hay, it is a third level loft and is a 1x3. They drag a small amount of hay onto the ramp when coming out of the loft, but that too is easily cleaned up. It is much better than having hay all over the fleece. When I first started, I gave mountains of hay on the fleece, but it quickly became a mess and led to me starting to experiment with trying different things in the first place.

 

[aqh88]

I did not heed Ly's advice and put a litter pan with wood chips in the cage with it. They dragged out the chips, stuck to the fleece, made a horrific mess.

It worked fine for me until Toffee decided sitting with her butt in the litterbox and her feet on the outer edge was a good vantage point. She'd eventually lean forward too far and flip the whole thing over her head. Everything dumped out on the fleece. Apparently she's not smart enough to learn from her mistakes and did it 2 more times before I removed the litterbox.

For hay allergies use something like bluegrass or orchardgrass and if necessary put it in a hay bin so they have to pull out a couple pieces at a time instead of digging into it and coating their fur in hay dust. Some people are allergic to guinea pig urine instead of bedding or hay. Fleece is useful for that because it has no dust to carry the urine into the air and nearly all the urine soaks down through the fleece away from the people. The only problem I had originally was using a small hand vac without a filter on it. It threw the hair and dust from the fleece up into my face and me sneeze for several hours.