Smelly cage?

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Brooke4442

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I spot clean twice a day, I clean their bowls and toys, I replace their fleece every 3-4 days, there's an absorbent layer under the fleece and yet the cage begins to stink after a day! I'm unsure what to do! I also wash the fleece with white vinegar to disinfect, so that couldn't be the issue.
 
What size is the cage?
How many piggies?
One thought could be that Over cleaning can cause piggies to scent mark more which increases the smells.
 
I agree with @Piggies&buns I used to clean my piggies cage every now and then and they used to made them even more smellier no matter how much I changed but now I change their whole set in about 7-9 days and spot cleaning once in 2 days and everything seems fine now
 
Yes they do like to pee more if you clean more, I soaked my hay trays and hay room correx base in white vinegar last week for the first time ever and they are spotlessly clean of wee stains... which must have upset the piggies a lot and removed too much ingrained smell that they are trying very hard to replace, because they stink today and I only did a full cage clean on new year's eve!
 
I use newspaper, wood shavings and hay in my cages and clear the whole lot out and change it every day. It bothers me that my boys are laying in poo and pee. I also bin what I use in their runs on a daily basis .Am I being over cautious ? Would appreciate your comments as it would save me a lot of work and expense
 
Winniepeg- I use shredded cardboard and hay and do a clean out twice a week which is generally fine (4 pigs in a 6x2 C&C with lofts). Personally I think a full daily change is probably excessive as shavings etc are absorbent and the dry poos aren’t on a flat surface so they are not really sitting on them if that makes sense. It must take you hours (and fill a lot of bin bags!) to do a daily change. I think you could probably go to every other day or even every three days quite safely tbh.
 
Winniepeg said:
I use newspaper, wood shavings and hay in my cages and clear the whole lot out and change it every day. It bothers me that my boys are laying in poo and pee. I also bin what I use in their runs on a daily basis .Am I being over cautious ? Would appreciate your comments as it would save me a lot of work and expense
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@Winniepeg - My boys live in a two storey hutch in my shed. In winter, they are bedded on newspaper and hay.
Daily : I use a small scoop to remove the poops that I can see sitting on top of the hay and I also remove the wet areas of hay. I lay the newspaper in such a way that where they pee most, so the paper is wettest, can be lifted out once it is very wet (which is most usually every other day) without disturbing the rest of the unsoiled bedding.
Once a week: the whole thing gets thrown out and refreshed.
I throw a couple of fresh handfuls of meadow hay in twice a day (they do eat it, but it is mostly used as bedding), so their bedding gets thicker as the week goes on
 
LunaPig72 said:
Winniepeg- I use shredded cardboard and hay and do a clean out twice a week which is generally fine (4 pigs in a 6x2 C&C with lofts). Personally I think a full daily change is probably excessive as shavings etc are absorbent and the dry poos aren’t on a flat surface so they are not really sitting on them if that makes sense. It must take you hours (and fill a lot of bin bags!) to do a daily change. I think you could probably go to every other day or even every three days quite safely tbh.
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Thank you. It’s been a habit of mine for six years. I work part time and get up at 4:30 on workdays to make sure my piggies are clean for the day. I have at least 6 bin bags out a week. I will try and leave it a bit longer but old habits die hard.
 
Winniepeg said:
I use newspaper, wood shavings and hay in my cages and clear the whole lot out and change it every day. It bothers me that my boys are laying in poo and pee. I also bin what I use in their runs on a daily basis .Am I being over cautious ? Would appreciate your comments as it would save me a lot of work and expense
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Do you compost what you take out? 🤷🏻‍♀️
 
Winniepeg - my 2 boys live inside and are on wood shavings and hay. I scoop out the 2 areas they pee and poo in daily as the wood shavings are usually very very wet. I also put a thicker layer of shaving in these areas. My boys are long haired, so I too dislike the thought of them sitting in wee and poo.
However, it does produce a lot of waste, a small bin bags worth daily. Maybe I am being overly clean...? It’s interesting to see what others do.

I have thought about changing to fleece but was concerned about it beginning to smell as it seems to be a problem for some people.
 
Piggylove82 said:
Do you compost what you take out? 🤷🏻‍♀️
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No I phoned my local council to check and they don’t recycle hay or poop in their garden refuse. It all goes in black bags which goes against my anti plastic usage. 🙁
 
My local council say the same. But you can compost in a domestic compost bin. That's such a lot of waste to produce for landfill 😔
 
Guinea Newbie said:
Winniepeg - my 2 boys live inside and are on wood shavings and hay. I scoop out the 2 areas they pee and poo in daily as the wood shavings are usually very very wet. I also put a thicker layer of shaving in these areas. My boys are long haired, so I too dislike the thought of them sitting in wee and poo.
However, it does produce a lot of waste, a small bin bags worth daily. Maybe I am being overly clean...? It’s interesting to see what others do.

I have thought about changing to fleece but was concerned about it beginning to smell as it seems to be a problem for some people.
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Me too. One of my boys was diagnosed with possible mites. All four have been treated. I’m not sure about fleeces I’m worried in case of spreading mite or fungal disease. I do have OCD so no disrespect to those who use fleeces
 
Winniepeg said:
Me too. One of my boys was diagnosed with possible mites. All four have been treated. I’m not sure about fleeces I’m worried in case of spreading mite or fungal disease. I do have OCD so no disrespect to those who use fleeces
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Mites and fungal spores can come in on hay so using fleece won’t make them any more likely to get it in that respect. You obviously can’t stop having hay around though, so while I understand you may be anxious about such things, there isn’t a lot you can do to prevent it.
 
Piggylove82 said:
My local council say the same. But you can compost in a domestic compost bin. That's such a lot of waste to produce for landfill 😔
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I know but I live in a flat with no composting facilities and no car
 
Piggies&buns said:
Mites and fungal spores can come in on hay so using fleece won’t make them any more likely to get it in that respect. You obviously can’t stop having hay around though, so while I understand you may be anxious about such things, there isn’t a lot you can do to prevent it.
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Thank you . I will certainly consider fleeces. Albeit I will probably want to change them at least every other day. Environmentally speaking it’s what is the lesser of two evils
 
Winniepeg said:
Thank you . I will certainly consider fleeces. Albeit I will probably want to change them at least every other day. Environmentally speaking it’s what is the lesser of two evils
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As an after thought what would you recommend to wash fleeces in? I’d appreciate your advice
 
I was going to ask the same thing. We get wafts of a strong and very unpleasant smell which we thought must be the cage. I've just taken everything out and sniffed it and nothing explains the pungency of what we smell.

We have two boars in a 2 x 6 C&C cage. We have fleeces on the bottom, custom fit to size that we've been changing every two or three days. We occasionally clean their toys and tunnels.

I've even sniffed the two of them this morning and they smell fine...
 
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