I'm new to fleece - have been using for a couple of weeks and I must confess I absolutley love it
The secret to it is to prepare it properly before you first use it. I washed mine three times (air drying in between washes) in non-bio washing powder - make sure you don't use any fabric conditioner as this will put back the barrier that you are trying to remove to allow the fleece to wick the 'wee wee' through to the towels beneath.
I have a layer of two towels and then one layer of fleece in my cages. I also have a litter tray in each cage which has shavings and hay on top. This is where their hay racks are and their pellets. As you know piggies tend to go to the toilet when they eat so this helps with the clean up.
On a daily basis I sweep up any pooh's from the fleece and empty/wash out the litter trays - although sometimes if I'm not feeling too sharp they get done every other day, with no nasty smells
Then once a week I sweep the fleece down (much easier then it sounds) and throw the whole lot, towels and all in the wash. I don't find any nasty smell leading up to clean out time - and my four piggies live in our kitchen/family room, where I spend a alot of time, so I would notice.
I used to use shavings like you, but I was always sweeping up the shavings from the floor after their pop corn sessions - despite the fact that to throughly clean out my two cages every week would have cost me £30 a month in shavings alone.
The initial outlay of Fleece 'can be' pricey but if you shop around you can get it at a good price. I got four 120x150 cm fleece's from ebay for £19.00 inc postage. Luckily I had quite a few old towels so they cost me nothing. So already the Fleece has paid for its self.
Sorry for the essay :red - if I can be of any more help, you know where I am
