Fleece and smells.

Shambles

Shambles

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi all.
I have my girls in the living room and I made my own fleece liners to cut down costs. I used fleece for the top layer, a 'cooling and supposedly absorbant' mattress protector for the middle and a water proof mattress protector for the bottom. I put puppy pads underneath.
I've hand sown these so not the best but I'm finding they get quite smelly.

I poop scoop 1-2 times a day and every evening whilst they are in their play pen I hoover in there and change hay ect.
I've put in a hay box and I have pee pads that I change out every couple of days and I change the liners twice weekly.

They are wicking and I wash with no softener and use white vinegar in the machine.
They start to smell quite quickly. I'm going to make some more. What would you all recommend is the best (and easiest way) to use fleece without it getting smelly and being easy to wash. The waterproof backing makes the liners hard to dry.

I've brought a good few bath mats to use as pee pads I just need to cut and sort the edges out. Anyone have any tips please. I would massively appreciate it.
 
I think its fairly common to see that waterproof backed liners do smell more quickly. I don’t use fleece often (mine live outside in a shed so I only use it in summer and only occasionally - when I do use it, I tend to just lay a fleece blanket on top of puppy pads) but it was certainly my understanding that waterproof backing can be a problem, the guide below also says that.

A Detailed Guide For Fleece Bedding
 
Ooooh okay. It's the waterproof backing then. I'll have a go without and see of that helps. Thanks!
 
I don't have a waterproof backing on mine, but they are on a corex base.
If there is any leakage the corex is easy enough to wipe down.
What is the base of your cage?
 
Swissgreys said:
I don't have a waterproof backing on mine, but they are on a corex base.
If there is any leakage the corex is easy enough to wipe down.
What is the base of your cage?
Click to expand...
The base of mine is plastic
 
Swissgreys said:
Then you don't really need a waterproof layer at all.
As long as you have a hard surface you can wipe down it should be fine.

I find using fleece on the top and bottom with the absorbent layer in the middle works fine.
Click to expand...
Oh okay. Thank you. For now until I have more material do you think it will be okay with just one layer of fleece and one absorbant layer. Just for one liner?
 
It will be fine.
They tend to pee small amounts in multiple places, so it really shouldn't be a problem as you have a hard base you can wipe clean.

In an emergency I have used an old fleece blanket with a bath towel underneath to make a temporary cage liner.
 
Swissgreys said:
It will be fine.
They tend to pee small amounts in multiple places, so it really shouldn't be a problem as you have a hard base you can wipe clean.

In an emergency I have used an old fleece blanket with a bath towel underneath to make a temporary cage liner.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much. Just realised I don't have enough absorbant layer anyway so I'll get some and just use the ones I have for now and wash every couple of days.
 
I brought a matress protector on click and collect. It's 100% cotton but not a padded one. So more like a sheet. Will this work?
 
Shambles said:
Oh okay. Thank you. For now until I have more material do you think it will be okay with just one layer of fleece and one absorbant layer. Just for one liner?
Click to expand...
All of mine are like that and are just fine. I put the absorbent layer directly onto the correx and throw the fleece on top.

I don’t sew together pads, I have burrowers and so my fleece needs pulling and pinning all round the sides. Total headache!
 
Tigermoth said:
All of mine are like that and are just fine. I put the absorbent layer directly onto the correx and throw the fleece on top.

I don’t sew together pads, I have burrowers and so my fleece needs pulling and pinning all round the sides. Total headache!
Click to expand...
Thank you! I'm going to sew (by hand 😑) as I don't have burrowers. I did by a cheap sewing machine off amazon but it can't hack the layers and stresses me out more than I can say 🤣
 
Tigermoth said:
All of mine are like that and are just fine. I put the absorbent layer directly onto the correx and throw the fleece on top.

I don’t sew together pads, I have burrowers and so my fleece needs pulling and pinning all round the sides. Total headache!
Click to expand...
Do you use a double layer of the cotton sheet or is a single okay?
 
It's literally like a sheet. It was called a matress protector in dunelm and 100% cotton but literally is like a bedsheet
 
Shambles said:
It's literally like a sheet. It was called a matress protector in dunelm and 100% cotton but literally is like a bedsheet
Click to expand...
I think I'd be inclined to look for something else to be honest. You can't take it back to Dunelm once out of the packet either, can you. Grr.
 
Tigermoth said:
I think I'd be inclined to look for something else to be honest. You can't take it back to Dunelm once out of the packet either, can you. Grr.
Click to expand...
So annoying. I can't afford to buy another either. I think I'm going to have to try it with a double layer of the cotton and fleece on both sides.
 
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