We guinea pigs are rather high maintenance pets. Readers of our blog have seen the humans' attempts to save money on our hay by buying in bulk from Hayloft (formerly Kleenmana); now they have started searching for deals on our favorite brand of litter. Carefresh is a great choice for guinea pig bedding, but it is quite expensive. Usually pet stores carry it for $18-20 for a 50-50 liter bag, and one bag will last us about two weeks. Therefore, the humans have been paying up to $40/month just for our bedding!
There are cheaper options out there. Some guinea pig owners choose to use fleece to line their cage, and wash it every so often to keep it clean. This is probably the cheapest way to line your guinea pig's cage, but if you live in an apartment without easy access to a washer/dryer like we do, this isn't possible. Even some guinea pig owners who choose fleece sometimes will still use some Carefresh to control odor. Whatever you do, don't use wood shavings- the natural oils and dust can cause serious lung and skin problems for us. Guineapigcages.com has a great comparison sheet with more information on the pros and cons of different types of bedding.
If you're going to buy Carefresh, don't pay $20 per bag like the stupid humans have been doing. Buy it in bulk and save! Using the following method, you can get a 60 liter bag of Carefresh bedding for $14.15 delivered right to your door. And that includes tax and shipping! Here's how:
1. PETCO sells Carefresh Natural in bulk. Three bags cost $44.91 (not including tax), and if you buy three at once, shipping is free.
2. After adding to cart, use the following code for a 10% off discount: GEEK10
3. With the discount code, the free shipping for buying in bulk, and tax, your three bags come to $42.44, making each bag only $14.15!
How cool is that? Readers, if you have additional suggestions for guinea pig discounts, feel free to reply. We'd love to hear them.
Cavy Savvy is a guinea pig blog written from the perspective of three guinea pigs: Lola, Buffy and Broccoli. We review guinea pig products, pet food, toys, bedding, cages and more to provide humans with all they need to know about guinea pigs!
I always use Carefresh. I may be expensive but at tractor supply and walmart, you can buy it very cheap. I highly reccomend this brand and I have found that the Natural Carefresh is wonderful on odor control for not just guinea pigs, but also for the very stinky gerbil cages. It is also not as messy as shavings or dust. And it is just PERFECT for travel as me and my Guinea pig and two gerbils travel a lot and very often do we stay over night at places. I LOVE THIS BRAND!!!!
ReplyDeleteWe have four boys and a large, open L-shaped piggie playpen that is quite expensive to maintain, as you can guess. The way we maintain it is to use the bottom of the original cage plus a 4-inch high aluminum baking pan from Dollar Tree as their sleeping places--thoses places get the good stuff, Carefresh. We put their hutches in these areas and this is where they sleep.
ReplyDeleteThen, the rest of the playpen is covered in unscented Good News kitty litter, which is made from recycled newspaper. It is gentle on their tootsies/lungs and they tolerate it well. It sort of looks like their poop, so aesthetically it's either really nice (it camoflages their poop) or it's not so nice (it looks like a mine field), but it's cheaper than covering the whole thing in Carefresh. It keeps up with the smell as well as Carefresh does, but due to its shape I would not recommend using it for bedding, just because it's not as plush.
I love the Carefresh bedding and all the colors it comes in but it was just so expensive that my husband bought bedding called Eco-(something). It is half the price and barely has any dust. Plus the piggies can burrow in it. I miss the Carefresh but I think it was more for me.
ReplyDeletePetfooddirect.com sells this bedding online for only $9.99 for 60L bag. SO MUCH CHEAPER than any other seller. If you select the "autoship" option, they apply another 15% discount to that. Great deal.
ReplyDeleteits now $13.59 a 60-L bag. but still good price.
DeleteThanks for the tip, Kathryn C.! It looks like the $9.99 bag is actually "Carefresh Basic", which can contain wood shavings. It's probably mostly safe, but we prefer Carefresh Natural. But you're right, even Carefresh Natural is on sale now for only $13.50 a bag! And with the autoship option, that comes out to only $11.48. THANKS!!
ReplyDeletepet360.com has an even better price. (The link doesn't work; just search pet360.com Carefresh). You get a bulk discount if you buy in packages of two 60 liter bags, but they have Carefresh Natural in 60 liter bags for just $14 dollars a bag ($26.99 for two) as their regular price, and free shipping if you buy over $49 dollars worth of stuff. Since Carefresh keeps, and sales better than this are rare, it's worth buying in bulk.
ReplyDeleteI have seen so far in my pet-ownership (I have a hamster) only one sale better than this, in which there was a buy one get one free sale on Carefresh at Petco. I bought six bags for that one. :)
Petfooddirect.com does have a better price, but the shipping cost brings it up over $10 for me. (If you live in a different place it might be worth it for you.) Unless I can get free shipping from them, I'm sticking with places where I can. (Petco is where I normally buy it, and once I'm through the current six bags I have from the last good Petco sale, I'll be buying from pet360).
Carefresh Basic Blends contains harmful types of wood shavings and is unsuitable for use as small animal bedding.
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DeleteOkay, I managed to get free shipping, and it's the same "over $49" thing, so I don't have to order more than from pets360.com, and it comes out at $3 less, which isn't such a big deal when you're buying 6 bags, but still good to save. :)
DeleteThank you Kathryn C for telling me about it!
*And I meant the shipping was over $10, not the product.
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DeleteI found this site, Pet Mountain. http://www.petmountain.com/product/paper-pet-bedding/11442-525537/carefresh-care-fresh-natural-pet-bedding.html?utm_source=googleproductads&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term={keyword}&gclid=CIXUm-yg3boCFe1aMgod3E0ARA
ReplyDeleteThey are selling 6 60 liter bags together for $77 and free shipping. That comes out to $12.85 a bag! I was trying to do U-Haul pads with fleece, but it smells too quickly and is too difficult for the kids to maintain.
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