Bedding for my Babies

[jadedbutterflie]

I'm wondering if the bedding I am using could possibly be causing respiratory problems for my babies. It's called "Total Comfort critter friendly bedding" by Kaytee. Now, to me it just seems like glorified dryer lint mixed with recycled newspaper. It doesn't seem to be very comfortable for them. And, as they have both had respiratory infections before, I want to make sure their bedding isn't making them sick. Any suggestions? What do all think is the best bedding?

[coco&chloe]

Hi Jaded,

I've never seen the bedding you're speaking of but I do know that if there is a lot of lint or dust that comes from it when the gp's move or when you're putting it down for them, it can cause upper respiratory infections. I personally use Aspen shavings for my two and they have done wonderfully. I have read that a lot of people on this forum use fleece but someone else will have to tell you about that as it's not what I use.

Good Luck.

Coco & Chloe's Mom

[WHEEK]

Try carefresh. Go to a feed store if you can, it's almost half the price there, for me.

Fleece bedding is great too. Wonderful for gps, pretty, and after the initial purchase of fabric, free. But you do have to do pig laundry often, and vacuum (with a hand-vac) once or twice a day. Not practical for all of us, but lots of people love using fleece.

[jadedbutterflie]

My guineas love fleece, and I have some nice fluffy sheets of it left from a craft project I did last year. I'll give that a try. I was told not to use any kind of wood shavings by my vet.

[WHEEK]

Cedar is bad bad BAD. Aspen is fine! Pine, well the jury is still out on it, probably fine, as long as it's kiln-dried.

[jadedbutterflie]

Well, they seem to be really happy with the fleece. So I figure we'll run with that for a while.

[jadedbutterflie]

I've decided to go back to regular bedding. The fleece just isn't working out. They keep hiding under it at night. So I'm going to look for a better solution, but I'll probably give them a little bit of fleece to keep in their cage just because they like it.

[WHEEK]

Personally, I've settled on half pine and half carefresh. Straight carefresh around the water bottle, and the "kitchen." For sleeping, I have made little fleece blankies: Fleece on top, cotton cloth on the bottom, washcloth in the middle. I put them under the pigloos, and inside of plasic trays, which are actually tupperware-like drawers. I also have a two of cozycavy's cuddle cups (see classifieds), which are marvelous. And a pigloo fits perfectly inside of one.

Despite what your vet told you, aspen is fine for pigs. Carefresh looks like shredded curds of egg carton. Perhaps less dusty than the linty kind you were using? Definitely find a feed store in your area, much cheaper.

[jadedbutterflie]

I've tried the egg crate stuff, and they liked it. I only used the linty stuff as a last resort. I was getting ready to move and I needed to grab some basic supplies for them while they stayed with my mother. I'll try that one again.

[papiggieluverz]

I tried fleece and within minutes my boys destroyed it! lol So we went to pine from the feed store. Kiln dried. The stuff from the pet stores (pine bedding) seemed too dusty. But the stuff from the feed store is great, cheaper and no dust at all!