Keeping piggies on fleece - talk to me!

[EverettUlyssesMcGill]

I've kept the pigs on fleece before, last summer, and it was wonderful, HOWEVER when I washed the towels and blankets there was hay on them which went into the washing machine draining tube and stuffed it up.

I had to take the back off and it wasn't a fun repair, though it has recovered now.

I would love to go back to using fleece, but obviously need to avoid the hay getting on the fabrics - so what do you do?

I was putting hay in the sleeping compartment to keep them warm at night, also because they love eating it. Could we use something different for bedding?

How do you feed them hay without it getting in the fleece?

Any advice much appreciated, thankyou

ive never done this tell me more - are they in an inside cageor hutch? do you just take it out and shake all the poo of then re put in? i use newspaper outside to line my hutch atm and just hay in there beddign and on a hangy ball thingy.

We keep our on fleece but put it inside an old duvet cover to wash to stop the hay getting all over the machine. I give it a good shake before putting it in the duvet cover. I have added a drawstring to the top of the duvet to keep it tightly closed during the wash. My machine is ok so far and we've had the pigs on fleece for about eighteen months.

BRILLIANT! Thankyou very much. That sounds like an excellent plan. Why didn't I think of it!?!

We have them in an outdoor hutch, well covered at night. You're meant to put a layer of absorbent stuff like old towels or whatever, on the floor of the hutch, then cover it over with fleece so that the wee sinks through the fleeces and into the towels.

That way their little feet stay dry. It works really well. Much less mess than hay and shavings etc.

Oh and it needs to be washed around once a week or so...I forgot to say, our best tip is lining the hutch floor with an offcut of vinyl flooring, so it can be wiped over with a dampl cloth and dries very quickly.

I find this invaluable in the winter when the wood doesn't dry out at all, once it's got wet.

We bring ours in for the coldest bit of Winter - when it's snowing and frosty.

When you say 'fleece' in this context what do you mean?

Like the stuff human tops are made out of or something more like what I would call 'vetbed' but no idea of its official name.

Sounds like a very intriguing concept. I have 4 piggies!

I desperately need to know more details. It sounds a fantastic idea. I am sick of clearing up shavings EVERYDAY from when they push them out of the bars.

So let me check this is right?
First a layer of plastic flooring (to sto the wood getting wet), then newspaper (to soak up the wee), then fleece.

Can I do the same for the rabbits?

Done some googling!

Loads of info here

Ah just written a long post and it's disappeared!

We have 4 pigs on fleece, they live in the living room.

With the hay I pick as much up as I can by hand, then hoover, then shake outside, then hoover again, before chucking it in the machine. We've had them on fleece for 2 years or so and no problems yet.

We have a layer of linoleum on the bottom of the cage, and our absorbent layer is DS1's old cloth nappies. Then the fleece cut to size and velcroed on around the edge of the cage.

We hoover every other day, and they also have their hay in a cat litter tray, which is also emptied and cleaned every other day, which helps with the hay problem a lot. The whole thing is emptied and washed once a week.

Our pigs seem to love being on their stripey fleece, much nicer than shavings, and means I don't need to sweep the floor around the cage every day!

I wouldn't keep rabbits on it though Wombling, they're likely to chew through the fleece and it can get stuck inside, not nice obviously. That's if they don't dig it to bits first! Our 2 (also inside) are on sisal carpet, they're both litter trained, have a covered cat litter tray in the corner of their cage which is emptied and cleaned every other day, the whole cage is hoovered once a week to remove hair and any poos, nice and easy!

Oh meant to add, it's fleece blankets we use, washed at 60 3 times and then cut to size. Cost about £10 to do the whole cage, have had to change it once it 2 years.