Another guinea pig question!!

[Lilah2435]

We have a very large indoor cage. One end has hay and in the main part at the moment we use towels, these get changed twice a day, so we have 4 towels a day that get used. What do other people use? My son won't use sawdust because of respiratory issues. I've seen re usable absorbant mats on etsy, are these any good? TIA

I need Guinea pigs, they really do benefit from shavings as a substrate as it encourages natural foraging behaviour. If you really refuse to use it then please at least make them a hay box. Basically a shallow tray with 1-2 inches of shavings in and then a giant pile of hay on top. The benefit of this means that they will naturally poop as they eat and so the rest of the cage will stay cleaner and dryer. But you need to empty it every day. For pads, the pink and blue reusable incontinence pads on Amazon are brilliant. I pay around £14 for two for my hairless dogs and they last around 150 washes.

You can get fleece cage liners from a couple of online Guinea pig shops. They are easily washable. They are fine without shavings as they obvious would have lots of hay to forage in

@Preg19

You can get fleece cage liners from a couple of online Guinea pig shops. They are easily washable. They are fine without shavings as they obvious would have lots of hay to forage in

Yes she has lots of hay down one end. Thank you. Don't suppose you have a link to some good ones?

www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/threads/members-recommended-uk-and-us-sites-for-fleece-cage-liners-and-accessories.165314/

The guinea pig forum have recommended sites that you can look through, they are also brilliant for any other information you need !

I personally use incontinence pads, vet bed on top, then hay. I have 5 piggies (2 cages) and use about 20kg a month as hay is food, bedding, enrichment etc. Lots does go in the bin as they’re cleaned every 48 hours but that’s okay.

The best thing you can give them is a lot of hay. The actual substrate doesn’t matter too much as long as it keeps their feet dry and isn’t dusty. Some choose dust extracted shavings (like the type you’d use for a horse), some choose fleece, some use towels.

I used to use the fleece liners, they were amazing!
They're not cheap but they held the smell really well.
kaveecage.co.uk/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIieeG-dCz9AIVP4BQBh3YwAOIEAAYASAAEgKV3vD_BwE
I used to throw them in a horse bag and put them in the wash once a week.

I use fleeces with cheap bobbly bath mats on top for the non hay areas. Very easy to shake off.

I have fleece cage liners (off eBay) in most of the cage, and a quarter is "sawdust" (but not actual sawdust - either Aubiose or Megazorb, which are horse bedding) and hay. They mostly pee and poo on the horse bedding so fleece only gets washed weekly and the rest will compost.

When mine were indoors I used cardboard on the base ( C&C gris to protect their paws) or some wood based pellets (rodent safe) in the plastic based cage as a soft layer .
Puppy pads , newspaper then a fleece (ikea were good) as a top layer

Hay in a big box to sleep/eat[/play in.

One advantage og the puppy pads (being white) is you can see the colour of their pee , and in the case of one of mine , immediately saw blood - which you might miss in hay

Shake the fleece , wash in a pet bag with scent free detergent and no fabric conditioner . Roll up the paper (and the puppy pads if they're soiled ) replace with new .
Ours were given clean bedding daily , they reallly are messy little pets