Are wood shavings ok for long haired pigs?

[Claire5012]

Hi everyone. I currently use carefresh bedding which I think is great. It doesn't smell and it doesn't get in my long haired pigs coat. The only thing is, is that it's so expensive! I was thinking of switching to wood shavings but I don't want a matted piggy. I do trim Dexter but I don't want to give him a full cut so if the wood shavings are going to get matted in his coat I'll stick to the carefresh. Any advice would be great thank you.

 

[Besspigever]

Hello! The oils in some types of wood chips can hurt guinea pigs' respiratory systems. I think it just depends on the type of wood.
Also I don't have a long haired guinea pig (I have short haired), but I do have a long haired dog. I used wood shavings in his bed and it made quite a big mess! it stuck to him and everything else. I understand about wanting to switch from carefresh, it is quite expensive!

 

[PigglePuggle]

Jezebel floofy pants says woodshavings stick to her bottom, especially as she likes to sleep in her own wee and woodshavings arent very absorbant. We have half the cage with vetfleece and half the cage with kaytee clean and cosy paper bedding. The kaytee bedding is shockingly expensive and the vetfleece is a pain to wash but Jezebel says she's worth it
Human piggy daddy says he hates picking the kaytee paper bits off the fleece but human piggy mummy (me) says the vetfleece and washable puppy pad need an extra spin cycle that makes the washing machine sound like its in pain, so we are sticking with half fleece half paper...

 

[Eriathwen]

I have always used woodshavings with a good layer of hay over the top, with hair trimmed to floor length ive never had issues with them if you're not putting hay over the top you might find a problem, I put kaytee clean and cosy in Brambles beds where there are no hay in order to stop them getting stuck to her legs but it's nothing daily grooming doesnt fix, I find.

 

[Merab]

I never have problems with wood shavings but I have only had a long haired piggy for less than a month

 

[Piggies&buns]

I’m using a mixture of bedding for my two. They have a c&c cage in the shed as an indoor run but the wooden hutch stands in the middle of it, because of this, I use a variety of bedding - fleece and hay in the run and The hutch has a layer of newspaper, a piece of vetfleece and then hay on top of the vet fleece for burrowing into. Vetfleece is expensive, a pain to wash and dry, hay sticks to it, but it is good! One of my pigs (also called dexter!) is long haired and I have no worries of anything being caught in his flowing locks!

 

[Claire5012]

Thank you all. You have all been a great help. This is such a good sight to get some good help from more experienced piggy owners that have tried and tested different things