My guineas smell so bad I'm actually scared. ..

[lborgia]

Two males in cages next to each other. .in the process of getting them used to each other. On Sunday I cleaned out their cages and re laid my complicated/needs to be refined bedding. Newspaper liner, small pet litter stuff made from newspapers into pellets, fleece, then straw for hiding and jumping in. Two thing were different.

The litter pellets included a new kind that was much cheaper at the supermarket, made from rice husks. Also, same oat hay as before, supplier and labeling, but the straw itself looks a bit different.one of the pigs dug up the edge of the fleece and chewed on a bit of the newspaper sticking up but maybe some of the new husk litter.

Since then the pigs have smelt disgusting. I can hardly go in the room, neither seems to be ailing but I'm completely freaked out.i don't even know where to start. I've a strong stomach but makes me want to throw.

Any ideas? Ever had a pig eat different season straw/type of straw/should i be worried.

I'm completely knackered, and the thought of trying to make their beds again from scratch. ...

Anyone?

Is it the bedding or are they over doing the pee to 'mark' the new things?
They might not like the smell of the new bedding. Is there more pee than normal? One might be the more dominant and the other is in competition.
Are you giving them hay? Straw has minimal nutritional value for guineas.

I use a wood based litter from The Range (huge yellow bag) and I've tried a Burgess one but my pigs didn't like it (they refused to pee on it, went elsewhere) so I'm loathe to change what works . (This is used in their winter cage indoors. Outside they have newspaper and Ecobale at the moment)

'Fraid you're going to have to Bite The Bullet and change them, if you feel

Ooh and make sure they have enough water and juicy veg (cucumber,peppers) they might be dehydrated so their pee will be stronger.

And once I picked up a bag of litter (wrong one) the smell of it even in the bag made me gag.
I didn't know what the stench was, kept glaring at the person in front of me till they moved......and i wondered if I stepped in something
It was the flipping litter.
God knows what it would smell like in the house

I get hemp bedding from zoo plus. It's the best bedding I've found for my 2 pigs.

It could well be the bedding OP.

I once tried megazorb on the recommendation of a friend and oh my God the entire family were retching every time we went near the hutch. We switched to finacard and that has been fine. But loads of pig owners use megazorb no problem at all, I think it's just that some types of smells are more offensive to some people than others!

Thanks people, I played the "I'm working ridiculous hours and always do the cleaning out, and made dh and ds10yr do it at 6.30 this morning! They've had a day of just hay and they're eating lucerne hay (don't know if it's called that in the UK), which is very high in nutrition. .so much so that you're only supposed to use it for the first year. And their normal pellet food, and they have been on just green leaves, parsley, I just find out that ds1 was giving them grapes. Just one or two a day as a treat, but they're not used to sugar!

Anyway, I think it must've been the new cat litter. It was SO much cheaper. Will have to investigate hemp.

Thanks all. 🐹

Just seen your comment diet, it doesn't help that I have the nose of a blood hound. Tbf though, this even made dh heave, and he has had a blocked noise since 1989....

It's probably the litter. A slight change can cause issues. I mistakenly got the 'wrong' kind once and poor Current Bun refused to use his litter tray until I went and refilled it with the normal kind. He didn't make a huge fuss, just did his ablutions next to the litter tray instead.

I've found litters react in different ways to urine and some can be quite smelly. Usually the cheaper it is, the less offensive as there's no chemicals in there. We use the cheapest wood pellets for our bun. The pigs just have newspaper.

You sure they don't have an abcess? Worth checking them over.