I don’t have personal experience with this; I don’t even have any rodents! But I stumbled across enough evidence that I knew I’d need to add it here because I would definitely want to reference it if I encountered someone with a guinea pig 🐹
These moving blankets from U-Haul are apparently perfect: made from recycled denim, they’re 100% cotton. They don’t unravel or need hemming, and apparently they are both very absorbent and wash up beautifully.
You can get them directly from U-Haul for <$10 each or from 3rd parties for <$20 but free shipping. (The negative reviews I found were basically all wrt people ordering them for a move and not getting them in time or not ordering them but being charged and sent them anyway—all rodent-related purchasers were absolutely delighted ☺️)
I don’t quite understand the method, but it sounds like instead of using pine shavings to absorb pee and poo, people are lining the guinea pig cages with soft fleece and then vacuuming or shaking out the poops and using this absorbent material as a layer underneath the fleece to ensure the cage surface stays dry for the guinea pig’s feet. The absorbent pads get run through the washing machine once a week and are ready to start again.
A number of DIYers seemed to be sewing guinea pig fleece cage liners themselves where this pad is maybe inserted into a fleece pillowcase of sorts?
Not sure, but it does seem like a pretty solid system and a good alternative to the bedding setups I remember back in the 90s that were kinda dusty/messy and not as cozy for the animal. I remember a classroom guinea pig cage that seemed to constantly be incubating maggots 😬 some folks use puppy pads in their cages, so maybe this would also be a good sub for new dog owners?
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P.S. In case you’re curious, I discovered these blankets while looking for something to protect the finish of a resin fountain while being stored underneath a cover all winter—I’d heard horror stories of the covers adhering to the object they were trying to protect or covers that leaked a bit and caused mildew or damage to the object. So having a soft absorbent layer between my fountain and its winter cover lowered the bar for the quality of cover I could select from. ⛲️ ❄️ 🛡️