i house my guinea pig in a c & c cage in my room. with two guinea pigs., i use fleece and towels up under. i cleaned the cage saturday and today (monday) it smells. how do you house your guinea pigs to reduce smell. please help: (
Do you wash the fleece? There is no point in cleaning out the cage if you don't wash the fleece as the urine will smell if it soaks in and is left. Also try cleaning them out every day.
I use fleece, and I use a coroploast tray filled with Carefresh beneath their hay rack. The tray catches things like hay dust, which is hard to sweep up, and, because they like to hang out under the rack, it catches urine and droppings.
Cleaning schedule:
-Twice a day, I sweep out the cage with a handbrush and a dust pan. This just gets up the droppings.
-3 Times a week: Take out the tray, discard the carrefresh, wipe down with a 50/50 water/vinegar solution (very good for kiling the scent), refill with carefresh, and replace.
-Once a week: Take out the pigges for some floor time, toss the towels and fleece through the washer and drier, wipe down the coroplast with the water/vinegar solution. After everything's dry, set it all back up.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com This keeps the cage smell more-or-less manageable.
I clean my piggies cage daily and use a pet disinfectant spray 2-3 times a week. They are out all day in their indoor playpen so this lets the cage air thoroughly so its nice and fresh for them at "bedtime".
I have 5 fleecy blankets so they always get clean ones every other day and their beds are washed weekly - avoid fabric conditioners as this reduces absorbency.
There is zero smell and this is just a daily routine I follow religiously every morning before I go to work.
Make kitchen and bed "areas" with cat litter boxes or something similar and put bedding (aspen, pine, care- fresh, etc) in to absorb the urine and reduce smells.
My cage
http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy68/...
The towels are why your cage stinks, I kid you not. I used towels for about 2 months and after 2 days ugh it was unbearable! Now I have mattress pads sewn to fleece and just stick it in the cage, and sweep once a day. I do a full cleaning every 6 days or so. You can make them yourself or you can buy them here, they are pricey but they work!
http://www.jenscustomcrafts.com/ourshop/... You can get them on Etsy.com occasionally too. and possibly ebay .
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com I use Eco Pet bedding in the hay and food area of the cage and it works well. I change it completely every 3 or 4 days or so since its a small area.
I think your problem could be the towels. I ' m guessing they are getting damp so you are losing the advantage of the fleece. I use newspapers under the fleece and clean out the cage daily, removing poops and any damp or dirty hay. I also have a double layer of fleece (one large bit folded) which I turn mid week and then the whole thing is replaced weekly. We have 2 pigs in a 2x5 C & C cage.
my vet said that pine bedding is fine to use, unless the guinea pig's skin gets red and irritated. Or Carefresh bedding, but that is really dusty. My friend uses Carefresh and it's smelly. so don't use Carefresh. Pine absorbs the most smell. Do not use sawdust or cedar for bedding bedding. Only PINE is OK as far as wood.
Well how about a simple pet friendly motion spray, or nice smelling woodshavings
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Canddy
DO NOT USE ANY Cat litter in guinea pig cages ... it will get into the body openings .... word of caution.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com
DO NOT USE CAT LITTER IN GUINEA PIG CAGES - IT CAN CAUSE INFECTIONS IF IT GOUES ONTO BODY OPENINGS
you can try powdered lime or pdz pellets. You can get them at horse feed stores. They don't sell them at reg pet stores like petco
http://www.sweetpdz.com/
febreeze
