Fleece advice

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SarahxCavia

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I am expanding my cage from 4 x 2 to 4 x 4. I was wondering if anyone has bought fleece fabric and put it on top of a towel. Their experience of smell, ease of cleaning and how absorbent it is compared to a fleece liner bought off easy.
 
It’s absolutely fine to just put a fleece blanket over something absorbent (it’s what I do when my boys come inside. they live in my shed so can’t use fleece out there but do when they come in during bad weather) but towels aren’t always the right choice. Some people use them without problems but towels don’t always dry quickly enough which can mean the fleece might stay damp and consequently smell more quickly. Puppy pads under fleece work well and you can get washable/reusable incontinence pads to save on waste
 
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Piggies&buns said:
Piggies&buns said:
Owh the incontinence pads are a great idea I think I'll do that and buy some fleece will be so much cheaper than getting one off etsy for 60£ thank you
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It’s absolutely fine to just put a fleece blanket over something absorbent (it’s what I do when my boys come inside. they live in my shed so can’t use fleece out there but do when they come in during bad weather) but towels aren’t always the right choice. Some people use them without problems but towels don’t always dry quickly enough which can mean the fleece might stay damp and consequently smell more quickly. Puppy pads under fleece work well and you can get washable/reusable incontinence pads to save on waste
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Etsy*
Betsy said:
I use these incontinence pads under the fleece in the hutch. I've cut mine to fit the hutch and it does effect the absorbancy.

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Inconti-Pet-Washable-Training-Leakproof-Controlling/dp/B08WBVVC2G/ref=sr_1_5?crid=111SNBV5QCRP3&keywords=Inconti-pet+washable+pads&qid=1663257032&sprefix=inconti-pet+washable+pads,aps,60&sr=8-5

These aren't the size of mine. Mine are 120 x 90.
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Whe you say it effects the absorbency do you mean it's less effective than a liner or when you cut it it effects the absorbency
 
I use old towels as bottom layer, then a super absorbent fleece a bit like Guinea Dad but cheaper, then an Ikea bath rug on top, then a small absorbent fleece under their houses. I clean the small fleeces often, the Ikea bath rugs once a week and the other ones as needed but not often at all. I also line dry fleece that is a bit damp but not that dirty. I have three boys and changing all the bedding at once will end in the boss pig going super territorial. I also have two big trays with sawdust at the bottom and hay on the tops. They are growing lads, super messy, and they eat a tons.
 
I use fleece liners with a layer of fleece, a layer of zorb and another layer of fleece all sewn together. I put smaller liners made the same way in high traffic areas such as under their ikea beds.
 
SarahxCavia said:
Etsy*

Whe you say it effects the absorbency do you mean it's less effective than a liner or when you cut it it effects the absorbency
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:oops: Sorry, I meant to say it doesn't effect the absorbancy. Thanks autocorrect! I really should check what I've put before I press the big "Go" button! They are a very absorbent liner. When I had 5 piggies, I had a herd of 3 and a herd of 2. The liners went 7 days with the fleece on the top with the 3 piggies.
 
Betsy said:
:oops: Sorry, I meant to say it doesn't effect the absorbancy. Thanks autocorrect! I really should check what I've put before I press the big "Go" button! They are a very absorbent liner. When I had 5 piggies, I had a herd of 3 and a herd of 2. The liners went 7 days with the fleece on the top with the 3 piggies.
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Huh that's not bad I change the liner every 3 days I have 2 in a 2 x 4. I don't like the food everywhere I like it spotless haha
 
My girls have fleece over towels; ours are sized to fit their cages. They work quite well. We change and wash them every few days. They have two full sets of liners each, and then we have some extra towels and a small pile of fleece waiting to be turned into liners; laundry goes through often enough to make the two sets work, though.

Make sure you wash your fleece thoroughly to get any sizing out, or liquid will bead on top instead of wicking through. Once you've done that, it works great ... the fleece will stay nice and dry on top and fluids will go through to the towel(s).

We use unprinted newsprint as our bottom layer, so:
newsprint -> towel -> fleece -> guinea pig!
When we change the cage, we shake the debris on top of the liners onto the newsprint or into a bag, rubbing the liner against itself helps get a lot of the hair and hay off ... make sure to knock off all the poos. The liners then get set aide to be washed; the (dry) fleece gets shaken outside before going into the washer to release remaining hay bits (and poos); the towel gets rechecked for poos ... especially Latte's, since she'll flip up the fleece, poo underneath and then put the fleece back, 🤣. The newsprint (which is often missing pieces that have been ripped up by piggies ...) gets scooped up with the debris and tossed, then the cage can be wiped down (and/or scraped for those piggies that like to poo/piddle under the corners of the liner ... Latte, I'm looking at you) and reset.
Pretty simple ... simpler than litter, just about twice as frequent. Fleece we change every few days; Carefresh lasted about a week.
 
For me, I use old towels underneath fleece and it works great. I usually put 2-3 layers of towels and that seems to be super absorbent, of course if you know *the* spot they like to pee in, 4 towels would be better. My cage is super big, though so the pee and poo is spread out and doesn't smell easily, however when I had a 4x2 it definitely smelled. I'm not sure about puppy pads, ive heard if the guinea pigs get to that and chew on it, it can be toxic to them. But, towels and fleece are definitely a cost efficient bedding as you wouldn't need to buy more shavings every week or so, and it looks nicer :) You can also always buy an air purifier, i have one of those and you can hardly smell a thing
 
Thank you to everyone for their answers. I've ordered some lovely purple lavender fleece to go over some towels :)
 
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