Fleece: Why is there an odor with my fleece?!?!?!?

[aquaflyingfox]

I use fleece and I love how comfy it is for my 2 female piggies.
But the smell! I have to take the fleece off everday and replace it with a new one because by the second day it will stink! I thought it was supposed to wick the urine through!

I have a 2x4 c and c cage. The smell is definitly coming from the fleece becuase when I take it from the cage and walk outside with it, just that little thing smells like the entire petting zoo! And the polyester quilt batting (my underbedding) barely smells at all! (Once I wipe some spots with vinegar, the smell is completly one from the batting!)

I've dealt with this for about a month, but every says they change their fleece every 5 days. That would be nice too!
Its also not great when I do laundry.

Is there a certain kind of fleece I need? I don't know what kind I have but I will go out and buy some of that today! I wash the fleece correctly and do not use fabric softner. I washed all of my flecces before I used them. I only washed them once though. Do I need to wash the new ones more times?


Thanks for your help!

[lissie]

New fleece needs to be washed and dried at least 3 times. Types of fleece also matter. You need anti-pill, blizzard, or polar fleece. I have found that microplush or plush fleece do not work.

You also need something to absorb under your fleece. Polyester batting will not absorb anything. You can use puppy pads, towels, or cotton mattress pads for under layer.

Try to test everything before putting into the cage. Put the under layer down, then fleece. Pour some water on and see if it puddles. Sometimes it takes 5-10 minutes to wick. If it still puddles after 10 minutes, you may have wrong type of fleece. I usually do this test on kitchen counter.

[aquaflyingfox]

Ok thanks. I only washed it once before using. I bought two new fleeces today and I'll try that out.
Is drying neccessary?

[lissie]

I think drying is necessary. So the cycle should by wash-dry-wash-dry-wash-dry. Not wash-wash-wash-dry-dry-dry. Don't use any fabric softener and dryer sheet.

To remove smell from your old fleece, add vinegar to the wash.

[aquaflyingfox]

Okie dokie.
I never dry my fleece because when I take it out of the washer it is practically dry already. I guess I'll just throw them in the dryer for 10 minutes or so.
Thanks again!

[lissie]

Your welcome. Don't forget to add absorbent under layer.

[Fudgenrolo]

Hello. You should be able to find all the information on fleece as a bedding in the thread on the Fleece Project . I'm going to be using fleece for my Guinea Pigs and I found the information very helpful.

[blackarrow]

I wonder if it's smelling because your underbedding is polyester, which is NOT absorbent. Try cotton toweling and see if your situation changes.

[aquaflyingfox]

I haven't tried out the new fleeces yet (I will do that today), but I have two othe fleeces with patterns that are sooo cute! I don't think they sell them anymore and I really like them. But they are the stinky-after-one-day ones. Have I ruined those by only washing them once the first time? Or can I wash and dry them 3 times today and they'll be fine?

[princesspoppy]

No you haven't ruined them. As lissie said,add a little vinegar to the washing machine to remove the smell. Wash all your fleece,dry them. With the new fleece,wash and dry several times. No softerer.
Don't forget the layer of towel and news paper.

[Wodentoad]

Originally Posted by blackarrow

I wonder if it's smelling because your underbedding is polyester, which is NOT absorbent. Try cotton toweling and see if your situation changes.

I'm going to second this. We use two to three layers of towels directly under the fleece which makes it really soft, and pulls the wet straight through. The towels smell a little barn-y after a few days, but the fleece is fine.

But at least it's herbivore smell. If guinea pigs were meat eaters, !

I know a lot of member recommend newspaper, I have not found it necessary, as simply the towels and fleece do the job. What can I say, I'm a minimalist.

[Laura_Leigh]

What I do to get rid of the odor from my fleece for all of my pets is I add about a half a cup of bleach (usually clorox or whatever kind of bleach that is) to the running water in the washer before I add the bedding... I also add white vinegar to the rinse cycle via the fabric softener dispenser... I have never had any issues with any of my fleece smelling.

[Wodentoad]

Originally Posted by Laura_Leigh

What I do to get rid of the odor from my fleece for all of my pets is I add about a half a cup of bleach (usually clorox or whatever kind of bleach that is) to the running water in the washer before I add the bedding... I also add white vinegar to the rinse cycle via the fabric softener dispenser... I have never had any issues with any of my fleece smelling.

Bleach will NOT remove the smell, and unless you are using Clorox 2 or an oxygen (color safe) bleach, you could be doing more harm than good. Vinegar added to the wash, and I have been known to use oxyclean spray treatment, does the trick. Urine is a base, and vinegar is an acid. It turns into a harmless salt and water when combined, and the salt washes out. I buy the big ol' thing o'vinegar and pour it directly into the water as it fills before I add the cloth which dispenses it better, I've found than the fabric softener thing. You're supposed to add the detergent to the water before the clothes anyway.

Here's how I feel, and please don't read this as anger more than frustration : I know that the bleach companies are trying to scare everyone about germs, but I would no more use it around my pigs than i would my son. I don't even keep it in the house. Just like running to the doc for antibiotics for a cold, if you wash everything down in bleach and anti-bacterial stuff all the time, sure you kill 99.999% of bacteria, but take that out of trillions. Now, those .001% that survive have proven a resistance to bleach. They breed. So next time, you weed out the weaker of the new germs. What you have created is a SUPERbug.

Vinegar is the way to go, 100%.

[fieryone]

Originally Posted by aquaflyingfox

Is there a certain kind of fleece I need?

Your problem is probably the polyester mattress pad, but what kind of fleece do you have? The anti-pill fleece works the best. I also have some blizzard fleece from JoAnn that works well, too. Some of the fuzzier fleece for blankets and such wouldn't work as well

[aquaflyingfox]

Ok. So I will wash my messed up fleeces (the once I only washed once when they were new before using) 3 times today and see if they wick better. I'm sticking with the quilt batting for now, but I will probably have to change to towels.
I got the idea for quilt batting from here:http://www.guinealynx.info/forums/vi...018210#1018210
It seemed like it would work. Oh well I am new to this.
But if towels are necessary I will change to them. Quilt batting seems to be working for now. The fleece was my only issue.
Thank you everyone!

[lissie]

When I started using fleece, I followed the advice from that thread too. It hasn't work for me. It does keep the pigs dry, but the bottom of the cage is soaking wet. I added puppy pads underneath and now it works fine. I don't use towels because it's more expensive to wash than to use puppy pads. (I use coin laundry.)

[Annab7]

I use a polyester batting layer between two towels and a waterproof crib pad underneath. I've never had a problem with it. The pee goes through the batting because it's so porous. It's more for extra padding than absorbency but it hasn't proven to cause extra smell at all.