Our Story
Hello! We are Tim and Martha Whiting from Baldwinsville, NY. If you’re like most people, you’re wondering how we came up with the idea of Piggy Bedspreads.
Well, back in 2007, our 3 awesome kiddos convinced us to add 2 guinea pigs to our menagerie of pets. So we marched down to the local family-owned pet shop and brought home 2 adorable piggies, along with 2 of everything a guinea pig needs to be happy, healthy and completely entertained.
Even though we bought the biggest cage the store had to offer, we soon realized, after adding igloos, chew-able bridges and tunnels, they hardly had room to turn around. When they did scoot around in their cage, the pine shavings and droppings became airborne and landed on the carpet outside of their cage. Talk about gross! It wasn’t long before we were saying to each other, “There’s got to be a better way.”
Next we went on the internet and discovered all the benefits of Cube and Coroplast (C&C) cages. They’re spacious, well ventilated, and offer easy access to your guinea pigs. We found the components locally and made one for dear piggies, Sophie and Addie. This solved the problem of limited cage space for our piggies, but we still had the issue of messy and expensive bedding littering our carpet.
So, since necessity is the mother of invention, we set out experimenting with the idea of a washable, absorbent bedding. Our guinea pigs became “guinea pigs” for the concept and we made several prototypes until we settled on a design based on ease of use and functionality. The result was the world’s first washable, reusable cage bedding system, the “Piggy BedSpread”.
After that, we created a full line of piggy products designed to make our piggies’ world more comfy and attractive. As a result, Piggy Bedspreads revolutionized the way guinea pigs are housed and cared for all over the world.
Tim and Martha Whiting, Co-founders
Married for 27 years, Tim and Martha are the parents of three wonderful children, Pat, Abbey and Tom. Over the years they’ve had the pleasure of being the pet parents of a menagerie of pets, which include seven guinea pigs, a Papillion dog named Riley, thirty two chickens, two turkeys, three snakes, two lizards, two cats and two rats. Their years of caring for guinea pigs resulted in the invention of the patent pending, Piggy BedSpread. In response to the ever growing demand for Piggy BedSpreads, Tim and Martha put together a team of people who care deeply about producing products that improve the quality of life for pets and their owners, alike.
Retiring from a Fortune 500 insurance company as a business analyst in 2014, Tim works full time at Piggy BedSpreads and brings his 26 years of expertise to the operation. Tim is responsible for business operations, website management, customer service, and equipment maintenance, all while ensuring that things run smoothly and efficiently.
Retiring from her 23 year career as a Registered Dental Hygienist in 2010, Martha has devoted her time and creativity to producing products that improve the quality of life for small animals, while making life more convenient for pet parents. The skill set she used to give the highest standard of care to her dental patients transferred over to her business in the form of products known all over the world for their premium quality and construction. She brings a warm and professional approach to all that she does at Piggy BedSpreads. Martha spends her day responding to emails, shipping orders, managing logistics for the shop, designing new products and stepping in wherever needed.
