[Gpdd] [CARE] Palace flooring (no grid)

[Dr Kay Dudman]

Dear Diana

Of course it is lovely for all piggies to have a palace all of their very
own, but I think you need to remove the grid for her ladyship's comfort.
Sandy is right, little nails and toes could get caught in the grid and
that could really hurt, particularly if Miss Lucy is taking on a sudden
turn of speed when playing or getting ready for her food.  I have
Marchioro and Ferplast homes for my piggies (we call them "cabins"), and I
always put newspaper on the bottom.  I put kitchen paper underneath at
either end to help soak up the wee, I also give them hay on the floor and
in a manger and "safe bed" (like strips of tissue, but it's made from
vegetable stuff).  When one of my piggies had sore feet, I put bubble wrap
in the very bottom of the cabin, then kitchen paper, then newspaper; this
made it nice and soft and the feet got completely better.  You could try
putting bubble wrap to fit the bottom of the palace exactly (so there is
nothing showing for her ladyship to even think about nibbling) and see if
that helps the leakage problem.  Bubble side down, so the wee doesn't
collect between the bubbles.

As Miss Lucy Sophie has trained her slave so well, she will probably
suggesting Santa brings her a cocoon this festive season.  These are
little plastic "bedrooms" with ventilation slots for fresh air, but no
draughts, and plenty of room for majestic piggies to laze, lounge and
generally oversee their domain.  My piggies *love* them - one each.  They
are called cocoons in Europe, made in Belgium by Savic, I don't know if
they are called something else in the US.

What I do with the newspaper is make sure that there is no coloured ink
that would come in contact with piggies (particularly not red, as this
could hide any problems in the wee department).  Try to make sure the bit
they walk on has as little printing as possible.  I have a friend who
gives me all her newspapers every so often...but I have yet to catch a
piggy doing the crossword or the sudoku puzzles :-)

You can't go wrong if you give your piggy nothing but the best; the only
trouble is sometimes knowing what is the best...and it's not grids,
honestly.  Otherwise, the palace sounds great, and Miss Lucy Sophie has
chosen her mistress well.  You can always pop a bit of plastic sheeting on
top of the carpet if you need to protect it.

Sorry this has turned out to be rather long,
best wishes

Kay