Soft, easy to clean flooring

[lucyli]

Hi everyone!

I’m having a problem finding good flooring for my dwarf. Currently, his pen is on a low pile, thin, cheap rug, which is overtop of my hardwood floor. Here’s what I’m working with:

1. It cannot be any hard surface, he refuses to walk on anything but rugs/carpet.

2. He was a rescue and must have been kept in a wire bottomed cage, he has sore hocks. His vet recommended he be kept on a softer surface than the rug over hardwood to keep them from getting worse.

3. He digs at and tears up my shag area rug, so any rug with fibers he can pull won’t work.

4. It has to be easy to clean. He is 90% litter trained, but that other 10% does a number on his pen. And as I’m sure everyone here is familiar with, bits of hay get everywhere, so anything that hay will stick to won’t work, and it needs to be easy to vacuum.

I’ve looked all over here and I’m at a loss. I was thinking rubber puzzle mats but he seems to love to chew anything rubber so I’m sure those would get torn up. Any ideas?

[jerseygirl]

I’ve been considering rubber flooring for my rabbits lately. It can be bought off the roll. Or how about the those big gym quality mats? I think can be both rubber or foam. Or anti-fatigue floor mats.

[Timber]

We are using vinyl fabric. It has a fuzzy back, so it isn’t hard and is slightly padded. It was actually fabric meant for table cloths. My bun doesn’t like my hardwood, either. It’s easy to clean so far. We wrapped it around a plywood base and stapled it underneath so that we can vacuum without it being sucked up. Of course, liquid messes are easy to clean, too. So far, so good!

[Betsy]

I layer towels in the pen for my bunbuns, with puppy pads between the layers. It’s been good for them and easy for me.

Thabbit is also 90% litter trained, but his 10% is always right outside the litter box (I sometimes wonder if he’s in the litter box but with tail pointed outwards when he does this… )

So on the flooring of his cage I put a piddle pad in the worst area, then a towel… then another pad, and another towel. I usually stack 3-4 towels this way.
Every few days, when it starts looking too messy, I peel a towel/pad layer off, toss the pad, and put the towel in a special “bunny hamper” I have. Once a week or so I wash all of the towels in hot water and re-layer the cage.

I hadn’t been layering at first and it was a bit of a time consumer to lay down new towels every few nights – this cut down on the work, made for a softer, cushier area (well, until the last towel ) and seems to be working for all of us in the house.

[Author]

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