[Gpdd] MISC- bedding

pat schuett bunzella at yahoo.ca
Wed Nov 18 13:50:47 EST 2009


Hi there,

I use a variation of Penny's bedding system.  The back of each of my NIC piggie cages is lined with "litterboxes" (which are actually old 9x13 inch cake pans retired from active duty) which have a section of newspaper in the bottom, then are filled with timothy hay.  (Olivia is quite good about using the litterboxes for both pee and poop, while Doris & Audrey do about half the time.)  

The remainder of their cage floors are covered with polyester fleece throws, folded to fit.  (I use a little whisk broom and dustpan to sweep up the poos once or twice a day.)  When a throw acquires too many pee spots, I take it out, replace it with a clean one and wash the used one; Doris and Audrey get maybe three days use out of each fleece, while Olivia's often last a week.  (I usually save up a few dirty ones in a garbage bag and pre-wash them by tossing them into the bath water after I finish a bath, then put them through the washing machine with a dash of vinegar added to the wash water.)  Most of the throws I bought for under $5 but I've also bought fleece by the yard and made them up to the right size for about the same price.

The piggies spend lots of time in their "litterboxes" and eat more hay than they would otherwise; like Penny, I get newspapers from friends who would be recycling them anyhow and buy hay by the bale ($10 for a 70-pound bale hereabouts).  The fleeces also have the advantage of allowing me to see if anyone has the dreaded "pink pee" or is getting too much calcium in their diet.  

I must admit this system was originally developed for my bunnies, but so far it's also worked well for my piggies and is MUCH cheaper than the systems I first experimented with for the rabbits (like using Carefresh or Yesterday's News in litterboxes).  Doris loves to shred the newspaper for fun, but none of the piggies ever seems to actually eat it...

                                     Pat S.

                                     (slave to Doris, Audrey & Olivia)


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