How to reduce the smell of indoor guinea pig cages?

Beth-Joy

Beth-Joy

New Born Pup
Joined
Apr 14, 2020
Messages
22
Reaction score
16
Points
155
I have 2 guinea pigs which I keep in a large indoor cage in the living room. I use a waterproof picnic blanket and towels as a cage liner. They tend to pee on the towels, so I put fresh ones down every day, while I replace the picnic blanket once a week as they only tend to eat off that and not do mess on it. I spot clean 2-3 times a day. However, they still smell very bad and the odour fills the whole living room.

Can you recommend any cage liners which reduce smell? Maybe anti-bacterial material or ones which just absorb the smell better, and can be washed over and over without losing their waterproof and anti-odour properties?

Thanks!
 
I'm not sure it'd be bacteria causing a smell - it might just be the pong of pee? But I've seen a lot of people talk about using 'puppy pads' under their fleece so maybe look into those? I use bedding rather than fleece but mine are kept by the back door so when I come down in the morning and do a spot-clean I have the door open 15 minutes or so just to air everything off. You don't have to leave windows open all day - just a quick blow through to freshen the place up!
 
I think it might be your towels holding the smell as towels dont wick away moisture, I used fleece liners and smaller pee pads with a puppy pad underneath and don’t notice a pee smell, I change the pee pads out every 2 days ish as they are in the heavy areas and the full liner comes out every 5 days. We get out liners from here: HOME | THE PIG STY CO. and there is also a member thread of recommendations of other places to get them from. I think the only place that offers a little more “technologically advanced” liner would be guinea dad however they are expensive!
 
Like the post above, it might be the towels that is causing the smell. I used old towels in the past in some parts of the cage and I usually have to replaced it 2x a day because it gets too wet.
 
rp1993 said:
I think it might be your towels holding the smell as towels dont wick away moisture, I used fleece liners and smaller pee pads with a puppy pad underneath and don’t notice a pee smell, I change the pee pads out every 2 days ish as they are in the heavy areas and the full liner comes out every 5 days. We get out liners from here: HOME | THE PIG STY CO. and there is also a member thread of recommendations of other places to get them from. I think the only place that offers a little more “technologically advanced” liner would be guinea dad however they are expensive!
Click to expand...
Interesting - so you use disposable puppy pads, then a liner, then pee pads? Which pee pads/puppy pads do you use? Thank you!
 
Beth-Joy said:
Interesting - so you use disposable puppy pads, then a liner, then pee pads? Which pee pads/puppy pads do you use? Thank you!
Click to expand...
We have pee pads from the place I linked (Pringle is actually modelling them on the website!) we also have guinea dad ones but they are not worth the extra in my opinion!
We buy out puppy pads from pound stretchers I think they are £4.99 for 36!
 
You can just put puppy pads down on the base of the cage and then a fleece blanket on top. That’s it! You can then use smaller fleece pee pads in higher traffic areas as you can change them out.
I do agree it’s likely the towels causing the problem though.

also, you haven’t said what sex your piggies are, but with boars, the more you clean, the more they smell as it can cause them to scent mark more to make the cage smell like them again
 
We like the Inconti-Pet washable puppy mats from Vetfleece under our fleecy flooring, you can buy then from Amazon or eBay- incredibly absorbent and odour free and they wash very well, soak up 3 or 4 days of wee (or today when our water bottle broke, almost 600mls of water!) no problem :)
They also work well just under hay I think, I believe @Betsy has them in her outdoor hutch too?
 
PigglePuggle said:
We like the Inconti-Pet washable puppy mats from Vetfleece under our fleecy flooring, you can buy then from Amazon or eBay- incredibly absorbent and odour free and they wash very well, soak up 3 or 4 days of wee (or today when our water bottle broke, almost 600mls of water!) no problem :)
They also work well just under hay I think, I believe @Betsy has them in her outdoor hutch too?
Click to expand...
I'm a bit confused about why people use both puppy pads and fleece flooring. Surely if the puppy pads need changing daily, so does the fleece flooring, because all the pee would have to travel through the fleece to get to the pads?
 
Piggies&buns said:
You can just put puppy pads down on the base of the cage and then a fleece blanket on top. That’s it! You can then use smaller fleece pee pads in higher traffic areas as you can change them out.
I do agree it’s likely the towels causing the problem though.

also, you haven’t said what sex your piggies are, but with boars, the more you clean, the more they smell as it can cause them to scent mark more to make the cage smell like them again
Click to expand...
Would you not then need to wash the fleece blanket every day?
 
Beth-Joy said:
I'm a bit confused about why people use both puppy pads and fleece flooring. Surely if the puppy pads need changing daily, so does the fleece flooring, because all the pee would have to travel through the fleece to get to the pads?
Click to expand...
Beth-Joy said:
Would you not then need to wash the fleece blanket every day?
Click to expand...


because the puppy pads aren't a nice bedding. fleece is bedding, it wicks the urine through it into the puppy pads and then keeps the fleece nice and dry.

No. Fleece, when wicking properly, only needs changing twice a week. you wouldn't need to change the puppy pads daily either.

A Detailed Guide For Fleece Bedding
 
I am just cleaning out the boys cage, this is what the fleece looks like in a heavy area after 5 days we don’t change our puppy pads every day either! Although it’s stained it’s bone dry and it doesn’t really smell either! image.webp
 
The fleece is what keeps them dry (if prepared correctly), the puppy pad soaks the urine. Also, piggie can nibble on puppy pad, you don't want to leave it exposed...
You scoop poop at least twice a day. And high traffic areas get extra pee pads that are changed more often. In theory, you'll not need to do full cage clean daily because you're changing the pee pads from high traffic areas,so there shouldn't be that much urine elsewhere.
That's the theory, it doesn't work for all. I used to have two boys that would just smell constantly, not from marking.
Once I also made mistake by falling behind with washing cage liners and did shorter cycle and tumble dryer! What a mistake!
 
Mine live in a hutch in my shed and I use aubiose with hay on top as their hutch bedding (year round). Their shed bedding in summer is puppy pads with fleece laid on top. I poop pick/remove wet hay definitely once a day, usually twice a day, but only do a full clean out once a week.
 
As I am cleaning the cage I thought I could show what we use ! I also gave all the dirty bedding a sniff and it’s not particularly smell!
Puppy pads in high traffic area - this is where their hidey lives
1017E182-ADBD-4E54-A845-8A582A82D2EF.webp
Then the fleece liner on top
image.webp
And the we also have these little “beds” that are cat litter trays with bathmat/ fleece and then a proper pee pad on top they go in a EAF9715F-C035-4A9C-B0C4-1264C29D5D1C.webpvery high traffic area so we take the pee pads out every two days.
 
I don't use fleece but I do have fleecy snuggle tunnels. It's the pee that makes them smell not the poop. I find back-2-nature (under hay) very absorbent for the bedroom area but it's pricey and not for every pig. It's a bit knobbly in texture and one old girl with tender feet used to get a bumble if she was kept on it, but generally speaking it's what we choose. You can get little bags to try before committing to a sack. You might even be able to wangle a free sample from a supplier occasionally!
 
rp1993 said:
As I am cleaning the cage I thought I could show what we use ! I also gave all the dirty bedding a sniff and it’s not particularly smell!
Puppy pads in high traffic area - this is where their hidey lives
View attachment 157629
Then the fleece liner on top
View attachment 157630
And the we also have these little “beds” that are cat litter trays with bathmat/ fleece and then a proper pee pad on top they go in a View attachment 157631very high traffic area so we take the pee pads out every two days.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for taking the time to take photos and explain the process! So generous of you. We've decided to go with the cage liners, puppy pads and pee pads to combat the smell once and for all! We ordered them from the Pig Sty as it seems like a lovely business.
 
Piggies&buns said:
You can just put puppy pads down on the base of the cage and then a fleece blanket on top. That’s it! You can then use smaller fleece pee pads in higher traffic areas as you can change them out.
I do agree it’s likely the towels causing the problem though.

also, you haven’t said what sex your piggies are, but with boars, the more you clean, the more they smell as it can cause them to scent mark more to make the cage smell like them again
Click to expand...
Interesting, thank you. Yes they are boars, and they often pee in each other's face when they're irritated with eachother haha. We've decided to buy some fleece liners and pee pads :)
 
Beth-Joy said:
Thank you so much for taking the time to take photos and explain the process! So generous of you. We've decided to go with the cage liners, puppy pads and pee pads to combat the smell once and for all! We ordered them from the Pig Sty as it seems like a lovely business.
Click to expand...
That’s okay it can all sound a bit confusing at times pee pads.. puppy pads 😂 ahh that’s great! It is a lovely business we have two liners, pee pads and a fleece forest from her, the liners are lovely and thick the piggies love them! You may need to invest in a pet wash bag from Amazon to save your washing machine from getting clogged with hay!
 
Beth-Joy said:
Interesting, thank you. Yes they are boars, and they often pee in each other's face when they're irritated with eachother haha. We've decided to buy some fleece liners and pee pads :)
Click to expand...

as I said then with boars, the more you clean the more they will scent mark. cleaning too often with boars usually backfires. It can also help to keep some soiled bedding in their cage as it can stop them feeling the need to scent mark quite so much

peeing in each other face is a sign of irritation, if they are doing it often, is their bond ok?
 
rp1993 said:
I am just cleaning out the boys cage, this is what the fleece looks like in a heavy area after 5 days we don’t change our puppy pads every day either! Although it’s stained it’s bone dry and it doesn’t really smell either! View attachment 157628
Click to expand...
Thanks so much!
Hath said:
ryer! What a mis
Click to expand...
Piggies&buns said:
as I said then with boars, the more you clean the more they will scent mark. cleaning too often with boars usually backfires. It can also help to keep some soiled bedding in their cage as it can stop them feeling the need to scent mark quite so much

peeing in each other face is a sign of irritation, if they are doing it often, is their bond ok?
Click to expand...
Yes they only do it when they're irritated with each other, which is rare. They're brothers and they get on very well :)
 
Beth-Joy said:
I have 2 guinea pigs which I keep in a large indoor cage in the living room. I use a waterproof picnic blanket and towels as a cage liner. They tend to pee on the towels, so I put fresh ones down every day, while I replace the picnic blanket once a week as they only tend to eat off that and not do mess on it. I spot clean 2-3 times a day. However, they still smell very bad and the odour fills the whole living room.

Can you recommend any cage liners which reduce smell? Maybe anti-bacterial material or ones which just absorb the smell better, and can be washed over and over without losing their waterproof and anti-odour properties?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Fleece is known to smell very easily so i suggest either lining your cage with puppy pads and then putting fleece ontop. The pee will not sit at the bottom of the cage but will get absorbed into the puppy pads. Or the Guinea Dad fleece liners (although expensive) are meant to be great!
 
cagre.webpcage.webp

We bought some lovely cage liners from the Pig Sty Co. and I think they look really snazzy! You're all right, they don't smell at all and don't need changing daily, unlike towels. Schnitzel and Rhubarb love how squishy they are.
 
guineapiggies123 said:
Fleece is known to smell very easily so i suggest either lining your cage with puppy pads and then putting fleece ontop. The pee will not sit at the bottom of the cage but will get absorbed into the puppy pads. Or the Guinea Dad fleece liners (although expensive) are meant to be great!
Click to expand...
It doesn’t smell very easily. It does however need something underneath to absorb the urine
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top