Peeing on Fleece

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TnkTaingTal

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Nov 24, 2010
Messages
182
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pa
I have four beautiful 7 year old girls. About a year ago i moved them to two Ferret Nation cages. I have been having issues with messy butts ever since =/ As you know, the shelves are plastic and must be covered in fleece. I have heard of many people allowing their chins to pee on fleece and have no issue. For whatever reason, my girls get very dirty bottoms when they pee on fleece. Its mostly just my two bigger girls that have the issue. I cover most of the fleece with bedding so that they can pee on that instead, but they often times prefer to pee on the fleece. I am worried about their hygiene. Sometimes their butts become very wet. I use a layer of fleece, two layers of towels topped off by another layer of fleece. Am i missing something? Is there any way to deter them from peeing on the fleece?
 
How are you washing them? Also how often are you changing the fleece? You don't want to use any fabric softener, it will make the liners not as absorbent, and it's best to just use vinegar no detergent to wash them with since most detergents have softener in it. With fleece, if they pee on it you may need to change it every couple days depending on how much they pee. Some chins for some reason will sit in a puddle of their own pee. The way people get the chins to normally not pee on the fleece is to litter train them to pee on shavings in a pan, but if they prefer to pee on the fleece I'm not sure. I think you'd normally train them before going to fleece, so they are use to peeing on shavings.

The only other thing I can think of if you don't like the fleece is to replace the shelves with wood or metal, and the floor pans with a metal ones. Bass Equipment sells replacement metal pans.
 
I wash with white vinegar and change it Wednesdays and Saturday/Sundays. The first 6yrs of their lives they peed on bedding which was only on one level of their old cage. It was only when i got the Ferret Nation cages that they began using fleece instead of the bedding. I didnt thnk i would have to train them since they had been peeing on bedding all their lives =/. I have the first level of the cage filled with bedding and about half of the top level covered in bedding. I did look at getting the metal pan, but i was concerned about the noise. I feel like metal on metal would be very loud when they jump down onto it. I also don't care for the raised edge around the hole on the top level and the half shelf. It seems like it would be awkward for them to jump over 2.5in edges. Does anyone have experience with them?
 
How I've read about litter training is if they pee everywhere normally you start by having shavings everywhere and then slowly over weeks have less and less shavings covered floor until they are only peeing where you want them to be. Since chins aren't likely to want to pee on bare floor they will follow the shavings. So for example, full coverage, then 3/4 then half then just the corners, then in a dish. Basically you need to train them to pee in a specific spot. Some chins naturally pick a pee spot, which makes it super easy, you just put the litter pan where they pee and you're done. Once they are peeing in one spot then you can put down fleece to cover the floor, with the shavings just in a pan.

I don't have metal pans yet, but I know some people just put a piece of fleece down under the pan to prevent the metal on metal clanging. I don't think jumping over the edges would be a problem, unless the chin is handicapped.
 
I wash with white vinegar and change it Wednesdays and Saturday/Sundays. The first 6yrs of their lives they peed on bedding which was only on one level of their old cage. It was only when i got the Ferret Nation cages that they began using fleece instead of the bedding. I didnt thnk i would have to train them since they had been peeing on bedding all their lives =/. I have the first level of the cage filled with bedding and about half of the top level covered in bedding. I did look at getting the metal pan, but i was concerned about the noise. I feel like metal on metal would be very loud when they jump down onto it. I also don't care for the raised edge around the hole on the top level and the half shelf. It seems like it would be awkward for them to jump over 2.5in edges. Does anyone have experience with them?

About the noise: I have the bass metal pans in my FN 142 cage and fleece liners (two layers with a layer of ZORB in the middle so kinda cushy) inside those pans. It doesn't make a lot of noise (but then again my chins aren't huge ledge leapers :) and they have no problem jumping over that cut-out edge you are referring to.

About the peeing: Set up with a different cage before, I used to use veterinary grade fleece with no pans. You can throw it in the wash just like the fleece. Since my chins were used to peeing all over the place on that, i cut them into small "pee pads" for the new cage set up, placed them on top of the fleece liners, and it kind of litter trained, at least one of them. Maybe you could try a piece of that in your cage? It's a thicker material so maybe will help lift their little bums off the urine since it can't pool on the surface.

https://www.usaknit.us.com/category-s/75.htm

Good luck
 
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