Does Anybody Else Use Woodshavings On Here?

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MushiiPeas said:
Hello guys,

I have previously bedded my pigs on Fitch but I'm finding it very costly with the amount of cages i have to clean.

Anyho this month i bought some wood shavings for them but made sure i put a good layer of hay on top so that they are not in contact with them.

I haven't noticed them wheezing or the wood shavings having any affect on them over the last 3 weeks... so can i use them as a long term bedding option?

Do any of you use them and how long have you had your piggies on shavings?

Thanks in advance!

:)
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Yep mine have never known any different but what i do after i put the sawdust in is air the room out for 30 minutes or so to make sure its safe for the pigs and then put them in ! x (hunter is a good quality beading i buy it in bulk at a horse place for 8.99 thats W.1.30m H.1m)
 
katie-elizabeth said:
what is snowflake? Noticed the farm shop near me sells it but was unsure about it, so opted for aubiose. They also had bales of miscanthus bedding but I haven't heard of it, has anyone else?
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Its another brand i go for that if they have run out of hunter x (there all called different names even though to us its sawdust but there are differences in quality eg. dust extracted ) x
 
My recently departed piggie had terrible trouble with shavings made his skin and coat really bad, my other had no problems ,so stopped using it. I still don't use it even tho he's no longer here, didn't want to risk it with the new one he's a texel thought it would get stuck in his hair, puppy mats and hay for me x might try the fitch bedding soon it has got good reviews x
 
I use shavings with hay on top and have used it for years without ever having problems. I have piggies aged 7 and 8 who have been on it their entire lives. I have a lot of piggies and shavings have never caused any of them to have respiritory problems or sneeze. About 8 years ago I met a group of people who said how bad shavings were and put pressure on me to change. I tried various alternatives that were recomended to me one of which was medibed but some of my piggies liked to nibble on it and as a result developed liver disease which proved fatal. My avatar piggy Rose Petal was one of these.
I have tried hemp beddings and megazorb too but still prefer shavings. Due to the number of piggies I have fleece would not be practical. I have also tried snowflake but still prefer normal shavings.
I think the likelihood of shavings harming piggies is far less than 1% but accept that many people prefer not to use them, it is great that we have so many options. Also I understand that people who have found that shavings make they themselves sneeze, worry that they might not be good for their pigs and so of course dont use them. But lot of people suffer from hay fever too though and nobody is ever going to suggest we stop giving piggies hay.
 
Pound Shilling & Pig said:
I use shavings with hay on top and have used it for years without ever having problems. I have piggies aged 7 and 8 who have been on it their entire lives. I have a lot of piggies and shavings have never caused any of them to have respiritory problems or sneeze. About 8 years ago I met a group of people who said how bad shavings were and put pressure on me to change. I tried various alternatives that were recomended to me one of which was medibed but some of my piggies liked to nibble on it and as a result developed liver disease which proved fatal. My avatar piggy Rose Petal was one of these.
I have tried hemp beddings and megazorb too but still prefer shavings. Due to the number of piggies I have fleece would not be practical. I have also tried snowflake but still prefer normal shavings.
I think the likelihood of shavings harming piggies is far less than 1% but accept that many people prefer not to use them, it is great that we have so many options. Also I understand that people who have found that shavings make they themselves sneeze, worry that they might not be good for their pigs and so of course dont use them. But lot of people suffer from hay fever too though and nobody is ever going to suggest we stop giving piggies hay.
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Thank you, I'm a big sufferer from hay fever but i really like the smell and it's not too bad if i remember to take my tablet! LOL

I have been putting hay on top of my shavings too and they like to burrow in it and i haven't noticed any of them wheezing or coughing but if i do notice anything i will switch to something else.

I was getting kinda worried as not many talk about wood shavings anymore.
 
I use shavings with my pigs and rabbits, they are all happy on them, I find cleaning out pretty easy, I spot clean daily and do a full weekly clean out, I've always used shavings and done the same cleaning routine with my other small pets, I've never had any problems
 
I use dust-extracted wood shavings both outdoors and indoors - (except for ill piggies who are on fleece to enable poo and wee monitoring). My shavings are covered with chopped soft barley straw and then the pigs get loads of long meadow hay to burrow in/eat/poop and wee on.. that is topped up every day.

A lot of the bad press for shavings originally came from
a) the Cedar-wood shavings used in the US that contain an irritant oil for piggies lungs and
b) the confusion between sawdust (a definite and dusty no-no) and wood shavings both here and elsewhere.

I do check the source of my wood shavings and some of the cheaper bags from timber mills I wouldn't touch as you don;t know what's in them and they're not dust-extracted. Most wood shavings over here are softwood (ie pine and other conifers) - and it's true all conifers contain terpinoid oils similar to to the damaging one in cedar - that's what gives them their characteristic smell.
You may get the odd piggie that "might" be allergic to pine but so far I've personally never had a problem. All my pigs with chronic respiratory problems have always been finally diagnosed with either heart issues, carrying bordetalla or other respiratory bug that flares up from time to time or lung inpairment due to a past pneumonia in a former life.

Barley straw also gets bad press because most traditional straw is actually oat or wheat and is very spikey/stalky and can cause eye injuries. However barley straw is much softer and if chopped is less likely to cause eye injuries than timothy hay - (which I no longer buy in bulk and only give small quantities to the pigs as a treat - I've had several nasty eye injuries from timothy seeds).

I've tried megasorb - too dusty and not all it;s cracked up to be for my pigs in terms of smell/absorbency. I've not tried fitch because like megasorb, it too is paper-based, and I think "paper" and "guinea pig wee" does not go well together in terms of smell!

I've tried hemp and flax-based beddings (Equisorb/Auboise)and didn't like the needle-fine consistency of them - reminded me of fibreglass and would hate to try and remove a splinter from a piggie's eye!

So shavings and soft chopped barley straw work for me (and the barley straw helps lean piggies put on a bit of extra weight!)

HTH
x
 
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I've been recommended bedmax shavings by a rescue but the lady in the shop said it wasn't absorbent. Anyone used them?
 
Katiedid said:
I've been recommended bedmax shavings by a rescue but the lady in the shop said it wasn't absorbent. Anyone used them?
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i bought one bale of these and they were awful not absorbent and no odour control, also the chunks where very large and rough so i put hay on top. There okay for chickens or farm animals
i got them recommended to me too but i was really disappointed!
 
If your chosen bedding is working for you and your pigs are fine then i dont think you need to worry! I have used dust extracted shavings for decades as thats been the main bedding i usr for my horses and would i continue to do so if i wanted to :) its just the mess that puts me off!
 
I use thoroughbred shavings and have done for years with all my small pets, I've never had any problems :nod:
 
Currently I have the teddy girls who are indoor pigs on fleece, but that's mostly because I got fed up with shavings/aubiose/etc being trekked through the house and ending up stuck to my socks! Boys outdoors are currently on aubiose, because my mum is using that for her horse so I wanted to try it.
 
H
madguinealady said:
i used finacard but trying ecobale as cheaper. I tried hemp based bedding but didnt like the smell and it didnt seem to keep dry very well. Love the finacard but counting the pennies now.Shavings (even dust extracted) had to be changed more and made my nose itch
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hiya. Me again! I've just received my delivery of finacard and it's only their first night on it but just seen you're trying ecobale. How does it compare to finacard?
 
Winifred said:
H

hiya. Me again! I've just received my delivery of finacard and it's only their first night on it but just seen you're trying ecobale. How does it compare to finacard?
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bigger squares.Will be switching back to finacard when this is finished.Not as soft
 
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