Smell control!

[Asha]

I have multiple chins and need some advice on controlling how smelly things can get. Right now, I have been using aspen bedding. Before that, I used kiln dried pine but have been unable to find it in my area lately. The cages they are in have a pull out pan which makes cleaning soooo easy as you all probably know. I do a full clean out once a week and tidy up their cages each day (and sweep up all the hay they like to throw outside their cages!).

I did a forum search and saw that many of you guys use fleece liners. I really prefer not to go that route, but was wondering what other alternatives are out there. Since my chins are not in direct contact with their bedding (wired bottom floor with pan underneath), is it safe to sprinkle a bit of baking soda in there when I clean their cages out each week? Or maybe add a thin layer of cat litter in with the bedding for extra odor control? Some of my chins are messier than others and like to pee basically anywhere. They don't seem to pick out "their spot" in the cage to pee in like some of my others do. I've heard of the whole potty training thing, but I'm fairly confident that one of my chins in particular will not take well to such training (he came from a bad situation, its taken a long time to modify his behavior already and he also used to be rather aggressive).

Anyway, so what solutions do you guys suggest? I only have six chins, I could not imagine being a big breeder where you have several hundred to manage and keep any smells under control! I'm pretty OCD about keeping things clean which is why I don't understand why this has become an issue.

 

[perabalaofmystery]

im not an expert but i think baking soda would be safe to sprinkle in the litter. or in the cage. hopefully sombody else will weigh in as well.

 

[Stormcrow]

First of all, I am still a newbie around here, so if I say something wrong my apologies up front!

First of all, how are they doing on the wired bottom floor? Aren't they having feetproblems? How long do you hold em in a cage with such a bottom? From what I have read this is not a good thing for your chins.

About the potty training: maybe it depends a bit on their behaviour right now... Do they have a place they like to use the most to pee in? mostly they have one particular corner and it can be enough to put a potty there and there is a good chance they will use it. Ofc i only have 2 chins, so no experience with 6.
It even goes this far that, when I remove the glass bowl with aubiosis (hennep shavings) to clean it, my youngest one will pee in the corner if I aint fast enough to put it back in... Just to state that: he doesn't care if the bowl is there or not, thats his spot

EDIT: nvm this, missed that part in your post where you tell they don't have a spot
I think however that, since they are used to the shavings, if you would go to fleece and put a bowl with shavings in, they might go on with the habbit of peeing in there?

About the fleece, I understand you don't want to go for that option, everyone has their own opinion, but if I may...
I used it since day one, and since they used the bowl for peeing very fast, the fleece doesn't give me any problems with smell. To clean it i simply vacuum. The hardest thing to remove is the dust from their bath; they are too young for playtime so they get it inside their cage. The fleece looks white afterwards but it ain't that bad.
I just tuck it under the bottom panels and they never even try to pull it out.

So, since I am quite unexperienced in all this I can't give you advice about alternatives, I leave that to others

 

[AZChins]

Since they can't get to it, you could put baking soda in without worrying about it. I used to use Feline Pine in pans under wire floors and that worked pretty well with odor control...I'd put some shavings over the Feline Pine.

What I do now to keep odor down I scrub out my cage pans more often and pull out the pans twice a week to change out the pine shavings. Sometimes keeping odors down means cleaning a little more often and the pull out pans make it so much easier to clean.

 

[Asha]

First of all, how are they doing on the wired bottom floor? Aren't they having feetproblems? How long do you hold em in a cage with such a bottom? From what I have read this is not a good thing for your chins.
D

They have been doing fine with the wired bottom floor because I have installed lots of things for them to stand on other than that. I have some wood shelves and at least one chin-chiller block for each chin at all times. Most of the time, they like to rest on their ledges or in their hidey houses. They really don't spend too much time on the bottom floor since each of them seems to prefer the highest level of elevation they can get to on the shelves.

Perhaps I will reconsider the fleece....A couple different times, I tried putting some in their cages since it is soft and I thought they might like to rest on it. Then however I learned how "sticky" fleece could be and how chin poops would stick to it! So that's why I was kinda hesitant to make a liner.

AZChins- Thanks for the info about the cat litter....wasn't sure if it was considered a safe thing or not. I will give that a try. Is Feline Pine a brand that you can get most anywhere? (I don't have cats and really don't know much about their care). Also, what do you recommend scrubbing the pans with? I have tried various things and their pee always leaves behind those calcium type stains no matter how hard I scrub! I'll look at it and think "well, it doesn't look clean per se, but I know I scrubbed the crap out of it!!". It doesn't seem to smell after scrubbing, but then my nose gets saturated with bedding smells when I pour in fresh bedding and then I can't tell for sure.

 

[jess32247]

I think changing the shavings twice a week will help a lot with smell, even though you'll use more of it faster. When I was using pine with my chin, it get very smelly towards the end of the week so I started cleaning the spoiled area twice a week or changing it all out twice a week.

Imo, fleece is more work then bedding is. I have to change mine every three days, not to mention change all her other fleece (tube, hammock, ect) the same day because it has to match lol. Then do a big load of laundry when I run out of fleece, adds up to a lot even with one chin. My girly likes it though and I have to much time on my hands anyway, so I'm cool with it

 

[AZChins]

Get some white vinegar to clean the pans, that will get the white gunk off of the them completely - you may need to scrub a little to help get it all clean.

They have Feline Pine at Walmart and probably other stores that sell cat litter.

 

[Essentia]

I hated using Aspen. I used it for a short time and the smell was horrendous. I much prefer pine. Have you checked with your local feed stores? Most carry a huge bale/bag of pine for under $7.

 

[Spoof]

In the beginning I had a few runs with wire bottoms, those always stank way more than regular pans because nothing gets mixed in. The de-facto on wire bottoms is to use newspaper and remove daily or every other day. Or hose it out, which is what a few of the big ranchers did.

If I were you I'd just use strait Sweet PDZ. Since they are on wire bottoms that would kill the smell entirely without them rolling in it and it is a cheap alternative.

I tried a couple cages with cat litter in them - you have to use the plain stuff, a.k.a fuller's earth. It helps with those who insist on sitting in pee... Unfortunately it does add a "wet cat litter" smell to the barn. It also weighs a ton and is messy/muddy and I don't recommend it.

I mostly control it using the pelleted pine bedding and PDZ. You can also use baking soda but it is more expensive. 40lbs of the pellets runs $4.99 on sale at Tractor Supply. The PDZ runs $7-$11 for a 40lb bag.

Good luck!

 

[Lillybabe]

I switched to fleece with the girls and it does get a little smelly at times. I also noticed that different brands of aspen smell more than others. Do not ask me how that works, but I swear it's true. The current bag I have I got for free but I am considering letting my sister have the remainder for her rats. I only use it for the little litter pans in the cage and it is stinking to high heaven. By day two my room is smelling like a barn and I do not appreciate it.

When I had Raisin, I used just aspen bedding for him. I found if I spot scooped out the most soiled spots every day to every other day and then dumped and scrubbed the whole thing weekly it kept the odor to a minimum. I really like fleece for how clean it keeps everything looking however, fleece especially if it's not enough layers will stink within a few days. I typically change my fleece every three to four days. One liner is thicker than the other and I do not think they pee on it as much. The newer one is thinner and they pee on it more for some reason. I have not been able to pinpoint if this is for sure or if it simply smells quicker because it is thinner. At any rate, if you go with fleece in the future I recommend three layers sewn together. Poops don't really stick to the fleece that much. The poops can be scooped, sweeped, vacuumed or shaken off them fairly easily. Bedding and wood pieces (from chew toys) are the only things I ever have trouble getting off them. Fleece just looks so pretty in the cage and doesn't end up all over the floor.

 

[becky12883]

I used to use bedding in the pan under the wire mesh bottom, we used the Carefresh ultra and it hardly ever smelled. I learned that it's not great for chins and we switched to fleece liners. I still use the Carefresh, but only in the pee pan now. Actually right now it's just shredded newspaper, and it doesn't smell at all. The boys figured out to only pee in the dish and not on the fleece fairly quick. I may have been very lucky. I just use a single layer of fleece over the wire bottom and newspaper under it to catch any accidents. I originally just cut one sheet of fleece to see if the boys would tolerate it and I now have 3 that I alternate in. I change it about every 3 or 4 days and just rinse it and then soak in diluted vinegar and then wash it with laundry soap and hang them to dry. My boys seem to love the fleece too. They have stopped peeing on the hay and it seems like they try to throw the poo at the dish more than at my bf now too! Our house either never smells anymore or I just don't notice it anymore.

 

[Godofgods]

I cant smell most things, but i never realized that chins smelled at all 0.o

 

[Essentia]

I cant smell most things, but i never realized that chins smelled at all 0.o

Most of the time they don't. I have my main room with usually at least 8 chins in it, and I get told all the time, "I can't believe there is no smell?!"

 

[mistywaterwoman]

I personally think a week is too long to go with multiple chins. You probably just need to change the shavings more often, and don't forget to deoderize the pan each time.

I have a single chin in an FN and I can go a whole week with her fleece liners and never smell a thing. She gets changed every three days just because it's easier to do all the cages at once.

I have a pair of girls in an FN, and they need changing every 3 days like clockwork or it starts to get gross in there, even with taking all the poops out every night.

I also have a divided FN with a girl in each compartment, and either they are just much messier/nastier girls or the lack of cage space makes a huge difference, because they require much more frequent cleaning and changing of litter pans than either of the other two cages.

Hoping to introduce those two successfully soon, and see if having the run of the whole cage might make a difference as to how much they trash the cage every night, lol...

 

[Sue]

A really good bedding for a wire bottom cage is Yesterday's News or Crown Bedding. Both are recycled newspaper in pellet form and control the smell for two weeks. It's good to disinfect the pan after that to kill all the bacteria and just add new bedding. I wash our cages once a month to totally sanitize them in a mild bleach solution and rinse and let the sun dry them. That kills everything, including fungus. Been doing that for 17 years!!

 

[ticklechin]

Some chin feeds have yucca shidigera plant extract added to help urine odor control, you might check and see if it is in your feed ingrediant list.

 

[Asha]

Thanks for all the great input everyone! I went out and bought some kitty litter to put in the pan underneath the shavings. I cleaned out their cages today, and so far it seems to be making a difference. Of course its only the first day, but the kitty litter has a much fresher smell to it than the aspen bedding. I still put a small layer of aspen over the litter, but so far I'm glad to report that my chin room doesn't smell like a pet shop!