Fleece Liners, the good/bad and the ugly!!

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cintistatern2005

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Independence, Ky
So I just recently switched to fleece liners and I have to say they are much more appealing to the eye and you dont have bedding allover the floor every day. Although I have to change them out everyother day and sweep up all the poops or the cage starts to smell bad. Before when I used pine shavings I only had to clean the cage out once a week. I have 2 chins in one cage and the other 2 boys are by themselves. I guess my question is has anyone switched from liners back to shavings for this reason? Or do my chins just drink and pee alot, lol!!
 
I definitely love fleece, way better than shavings. Maybe yours are just more messy, washing it every other day should make it smell fine.
 
have you tried litter boxes with the shavings in it? i bought little cake pans at the dollar store and put the shavings in that inside the fleece lined cage. its not as much of a mess and as the days go on more and more of my chins are using them.
one boys only pees in the litter box and his cage doesnt smell at all.
 
Yes I have a 9x9 pan with shavings in it in each cage. They use it sometimes my boys use it more than the girls do. I just see it as more of a hassle having to clean the cage out everyother day vs once a week.
 
That's why I don't use fleece. I've tried it in the past, and used it once when my one girl had a bite wound that I didn't want to get infected so I was keeping the cage clean, but it just makes the cage stink more if you don't change it out every other day. Even with a pan of litter in there, she wouldn't exclusively pee in it.

My one girl, Chibi, exclusively pees in her pan, so I know I could use liners for her, but to me it isn't worth washing the liners every other day.

I get a huge bag of shavings for $5 and that lasts my 3 cages a long time, so for me I don't mind spending the money on shavings.
 
I had my boys potty trained and they were doing fine until I put the fleece in the FN.. Then they decided they like to pee on the fleece too. I agree that the smell is horrible if you leave the fleece in for more than a day. Ick!
 
Wow this scares me. Does the smell really get that bad if your chin isn't trained to use the pan? I just ordered two liners for my one chin, I don't know if I can keep up with changing them every day that's a bit much.
 
With 3 cages, some with multiple chins, I don't even notice a bad smell. The only time they start to smell is if I skip a day of fleece changes and they go 4 days without being switched. Otherwise I switch them every 2 days and don't have any problem with smell.
 
I switched back to shavings because of the smell and the worry of clogging my washing machine with shavings (from the litter pan) and hay, hay was everywhere LOL. It was just painful for me. I prefer the shavings. It is really personal preference and whether you are willing to be diligent about swapping them out and washing them really.
 
Do female Chin owners have this problem with smelly cage liners? Or is this a male Chin problem?

I have to admit I agree with ParkersPetChins, I am finding it easier to use pans and shavings than liners. They require a good amount of vinegar or ammonia to get the pee smell out before drying.

Then again if you have an angry, horny, adolescent male, who likes to stomp on the pans. FLEECE LINERS ARE GREAT!
 
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I have fleece liners in my 3 cages and although they are a lot nicer to look at then shavings I do notice my chins stink more.. I change out their liners everyday.. I have my chins in my dinning room and can't stand when my house has even the slightest bad odor.. I even vacuum out their cages everyday. Even though I switch out there liners every morning I still notice the next morning that they smell... I don't really smell it until i get up right next to their cage but I have it in my head that if I can't stand to smell them then they can't stand to smell their selves.. LOL I have 3 liners for each cage.. So every other day I wash them...
 
Hmm, I dunno but I SWEAR to you that I don't (neither the rest of my family) smell any bad odor coming from the cages. I change out liners every 3-5 days. I shake out the liners outside so that there is very minimal slivers of shavings (from the pee pan) left on the liners before I wash them in hot water, vinegar and a tiny capful of detergent, I also do an extra cold water rinse on them and they do not smell at all coming out of the washer. I would never go back to just shavings!

ETA: We too have our cages in the dining room and we get quite a few people in and out of the area that our chins are in due to my girls' play dates or scout meetings and the moms and dads that come and pick up their kids get surprised that there is no smell coming from the 2 FN's that house the chins.
 
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I have a very sensitive nose and smell everything... But I know if you live with an animal you get use to their smell and and don't notice it like other people who don't come to your house very often...

(ie: My stepdaughters crazy grandmother has 6 cats and only has one litter box for them, Gross I know, but anyways, you just walk up to her front door with it being closed and you can smell the ammonia from the cats pee (it's horrible) but she swears up and down that she doesn't smell anything... But everyone who has ever gone up to her door says it's gross and really strong... But she lives in it and smells it everyday, there for she is use to it and doesn't smell it..)

Not saying your chins smell bad and the people coming in and out of your house are just being polite, but I know it happens.. My dad comes to my house and walks into my dinning room and says he can still smell the chins even though I clean their cage and change their liners everyday... and I only have 4 chins too... I do notice that one of my females smells more then the other 3 chins though.
 
:hair: I just bought a whole load of fleece. True it was on sale at Joanne's but still...now I'm wondering if I am going to just end up back with shavings alone. Every other day is alot when you got to feed the machine quarters. (LOL the little icon is alot more dramatic than me!)
 
I hate shavings...plus they aggravate my allergies. I love the fleece liners because they eliminate all of that. They are awesome looking in the cage (personalized for the owners/chins). They make it easy to monitor poop counts and pee color/amount (if you get a white or light background fleece). You can make as many as you can afford and change them as much as you would like (like when someone is coming over). I don't notice a smell unless I sniff the liners themselves. I change them every other day, which is a small pain but not compared to shoveling shavings and keeping bags of bedding. The hay is messy enough, and yes you have to pick up, shake out, or vacuum the hay/poop preferably daily. If very little sits on the floor of your cage it is even easier to switch them. Also, I like the padding for their little feet...they hop down so hard and they are often on hard shelves as it is. It makes bass pans nice and quite, too! So, give the liners a try and if you hate them, perhaps you can resell them or repurpose them (doll or dog blankets?)
 
My girls cage does smell more than the boys, mainly I think because they are housed together and the boys are by themselves. But I think washing the liners everyday I am going to spend more in water than just buying a big bag of pine for 5.00 at my local feed store that last like 2 months. I can really only smell it when I get right next to the cage but I dont want my house smelling like urine, I know if I can smell it then visitors can definately. They dont smell when they come out of the washer, I wash them with a small bit of detergent and vinegar. I just thought I would give the fleece a try and I think I am going to switch back. If my chins would exclusively pee in the pan with shavings this wouldnt be an issue. :hair:
Thanks for everyones input!!
 
I used to use shavings when I only had 2, than i switched everyone over to fleece and use litter pans. i do notice more of an odor with the liners, but then again i am not as diligent as washing them every other day.
I just had my fiance' make me some custom pans, so I am going to put the fleece in there and see if it cuts down on the odor. Then I am going to do a test and try just shavings and see what is easier to maintain. Having 7 takes a lot more time than 2. Especially since every night i try and remove all the poop and hay by hand and change their litter pans every night.
I think the fleece is going to end up easier but my fiance' thinks the shavings will. I love a little competiton!
 
I prefer to use newspaper because my chins don't want to use their litter box. I was using aspen bedding before that, but they'd always knock it out of their cage.
 
Don't they eat the newspaper? If my chin gets out the first thing he does is chew any paper in sight. I wouldn't want him eating newspaper ink.
 
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