My goal? Learn more bout the piggies!

[ecopanda3]

U see. I'm not quite a piggie owner yet but I plan to be. (very soon I hope) so my goal til then is to learn as much as I can bout guinea pigs. One thing I sorta (or my parents sorta) have a problem with is the fleece washing. They believe that if u wash it in the machine, small bits of the piggie urine may float around the washer and stuff and make us sick. Or so he thinks. I kno he won't change his mind but I would LOVE some tips about hand-washing! Does anybody do that?

[MrWhistles]

Tell him buying the fleece, uhual pads, and towels will save him money. They'll pay for themselves within the 1st month.
Over here, me n hubby have only seen a $2-$4 monthly electric bill increase.

We haven't seen any piggy hair or hay on our clothes. We also haven't noticed any "off" smells on our clothes. The only thing I've noticed if I have to keep the dry door open for an hour-ish to let the "hot piggy" smell air out. I'm sure putting in a dryer sheet with the drying fleece would help. But I'm not a dryer sheet kinda person.

[Piggypogs]

Tell him buying the fleece, uhual pads, and towels will save him money. They'll pay for themselves within the 1st month.
Over here, me n hubby have only seen a $2-$4 monthly electric bill increase.

We haven't seen any piggy hair or hay on our clothes. We also haven't noticed any "off" smells on our clothes. The only thing I've noticed if I have to keep the dry door open for an hour-ish to let the "hot piggy" smell air out. I'm sure putting in a dryer sheet with the drying fleece would help. But I'm not a dryer sheet kinda person.

How do you keep the Washer from getting fur every where?!!!???

[monkeynthechimp]

If I have been really lazy and not shaken off their hair before washing I find that I need to pop the machine on a quick rinse cycle with nothing in there to get rid of any hair stuck to the bowl... By as long as you give it all a really good shake I really don't have any problems... I wash my clothes right after... And I wear black for work... No probs also I have heard on here that dryer sheets May affect the wicking ability of the fleece by leaving a layer of softener on it... Not sure if this is correct or not... Just what I have read...

[MrWhistles]

How do you keep the Washer from getting fur every where?!!!???

Nothing
It does it's own work. We haven't seen a single piggy hair on freshly cleaned clothes.

[ThePigAlchemist]

After doing my load of pig wash, occasionally I'll find hair along the sides of the washer. I just wet a paper towel and wipe it down. That's all I need to do to control the hair. I haven't had any trouble with the urine either. If you're really concerned, you can run the washer while empty after your pig laundry, but it's not really necessary.

[mufasa]

Don't forget, there are other bedding options besides fleece if you're really, really against it. I use Carefresh and Kaytee Clean & Cozy for my girls. They're both paper beddings, but the big drawback is that they're expensive. Of course, that might convince your parents to give fleece a try when they see the big savings.

[iamsnape]

I shake out my fleece before washing and it's all comes out clean, and so do our clothes. No hay, no hair, and no wee! (I don't put clothes and pig stuff in in the same wash, so if you do that too, the urine thing won't be a problem).

I've hand washed a couple of times but I'm lazy so just put it in the washer most of the time. When I did hand wash, I rinsed it through, put in detergent, scrubbed, rinsed out, put vinegar on it, rinse and put it out to dry naturally. But it's easier to just put it in the washer, and then you know it's properly clean.

[ecopanda3]

Yea. It would get pricey but the thing is this. The ONLY thing thing they're paying for are the piggies itself. I buy the rest on my own savings....

[ecopanda3]

I be sure to tell him. But I doubt he'll change his mind.