My guineas stink of wee

[Alwaysworthchecking]

I have two boy guinea pigs. They are dear little things, if a bit dim (bless them). They live happily together and are much-loved family pets. I've kept many guineas over the years, all girls prior to these two.

The problem I have with these two is that they STINK of wee. They live indoors during the winter/early spring. They have a roomy cage, which I clean every few days. I cleaned them out yesterday and this evening my house smells strongly of wee. I have to say, they do drink a lot, but then you'd think that would dilute the smell? If only!

Is there anything I can do, or will I just have to clean them out on a daily basis?

The base of their cage is plastic. I spray it with hutch cleaner when I clean them out. I then put down a layer of woodshavings and they have hay in their wooden house. The house has no base, so it sits on the woodshavings. I bought them a corner pan, but they treat it like a sofa and relax there, prefering to wee in their bed. (They are starting to sound like Frank from 'Shameless'.)

I did let them have a cardboard tunnel to play in at one time, but they just sat in the middle and weed and pooed there until it was like a midden. I'm not sure of their exact age as we got them as rescue piggies, but I think about 3.5 years.

Aha! Thanks to samjones I have just read this about using fleece. I think I might have my answer! Not only that, but it's got to be better, allergy-wise for me, than woodshavings and the amount of hay they use at the moment. Gotta be worth a go!

Now, where did I recently see fleece blankets at a bargain price...?

with it being St Patricks Day I thought you were alluding to your alcoholic beverage smelling of urine, but had done a mad typo

and then some! Mavis, you were no help whatsoever but you did make me laugh!

I use a horse bedding called Megazorb instead of shavings. It's more absorbent, so more of the wee wicks down to the newspaper below.

Thanks Pterosaur. I will look out for that. Not sure where to get it but there are a couple of places I can think of. How often do you clean the whole cage?

I get it from here, but there might be places you can get it locally.

Thanks! The prices and delivery look good. I think I might try Megazorb and then maybe fleece if that doesn't work out. I suddenly remembered why we opted for a nappy laundry service when the dc were small, rather than washing nappies ourselves.

Do they have plenty of hay? Enough to burrow in?

They do, although they eat it as fast as I replenish it. I keep it always topped up in their little wooden house.

I'm now using woodshavings (as before) but at the bedroom end I'm using newspaper, covered by wooden cat pellets, covered by woodshavings, on top of which is their wooden house, stuffed with hay. It is working so much better and it is much easier to clean out the bed-end in between main clean-outs.