Fleece Odor after washing?

KittyKrochet · May 4, 2013

I switched to fleece recently, and I've noticed that after a thorough wash with free and clear detergent and vinegar, my fleece and mattress pads STILL smell like guinea pigs. I thought it might just be crappy uni washer/dryer units, but after having washed and dried at home with my mother's units, they STILL have a nasty lingering odor. She currently freaking out that her "dryer will smell like guinea pig forever". -.-

Is this a "thing" that just comes with fleece? The bedding is clean, it just smells a bit gross (although it smells fine when folded up in the cage 0.0). Is there anything I can do to cut down on the smell of the fabric, or to keep the smell from sticking to the washer/dryer?

Thanks!

Rhyue · May 4, 2013

If I find my fleece is starting to get kinda "perpetually unfresh" I put it through the wash with an extra large dose of vinegar and put it on a soak cycle (or you can just pause your wash once its filled and smooshed about a bit and let it sit) so that it lets the vinegar have time to work on any build up stuff. If need be you can throw it through a second time in a quicker wash and then its normally pretty fresh again. They also smell more if you grab them as soon as they finish drying, let them cool a bit and the scent goes down.

KittyKrochet · May 4, 2013

My mother just went on a crying jag about "they're soaked through with urine, that's why they smell, trust me I washed diapers". Oi... Looks like that's the end of fleece for me.

When I move out in two weeks, I'll try the extra vinegar. Normally i put around quarter of a cup to half a cup of vinegar with the detergent, maybe I'll just suck it up and go with a full cup... I always make sure to pre-rinse them out so that I get excess urine and whatnot out of the fleece. I mean, I clean it every week, spot clean at least once a day... I know the fleece is clean. Arg.

Rhyue · May 4, 2013

I think most of the urine actually ends up in the under layer. If your piggy is having calcium issues some powder might stay on the fleece (or other... less pleasant... substances if you have males...) but most of the urine is wicked through. This is generally most evident by the fact that I often add some vinegar right onto the fleece or uhaul pads and on the uhaul pads you can actually hear the vinegar reacting with the ammonia in the urine, but you don't really hear much with the fleece. Its more the poop that gets ground into the fleece if they walk on it and it comes out fine in the wash. If she washed diapers she should know you can get them clean too.

KittyKrochet · May 4, 2013

I do a rinse through by hand first before I put it in the wash, so i get rid of most of the urine, all of the fur and hay and such, so there shouldn't be much going on with that... I agree through, the underlayers are nastier than the fleece itself. I smelled the bedding this morning, and it smells fine now. A bit "horsey" according to mum, but not like it smelled last night. I think it's just the heat making it smelly....

Razzle · May 4, 2013

I wash the towels two times and always add at least a cup of vinegar. It they still smelled I would wash them again before putting them in the dryer. You may be putting too many items in the wash and they are not getting clean.

Megaredize · May 4, 2013

I find i dont have any smell afterwards the only difference i have is i also mix in borax with the vinegar and free and clear detergent. and borax is a deodorizer so maybe that can help? it also helps get stains out. Sometimes i do an extra rinse cycle with nothing in the washer but some bleach just to make sure the washer is clean

SuperGilbert · May 4, 2013

I dont even attempt to put my pigs fleece in my washer and dryer, just find it really gross...... I just throw it out and roll out the new ones, get em dirt cheap at big lots and 5 Below

pinky · May 4, 2013

The new HE washers don't clean as thoroughly as the old agitator ones. I run a second rinse cycle and never have an odor problem. I don't over stuff the washer, either. I have three cages with fleece pads and a layer of uhaul pads underneath. I split it into two loads. I change my bedding before it gets smelly. Changing the fleece more often might be part of your solution.

CookiesMom · May 4, 2013

I use biokleen "Bac Out" in the washer, and it seems to do the job.

Iklepink · May 4, 2013

I have 3 cages and I split it into 2 towel loads and a fleece load. When I went away my partner washed each cage as its own load - 2 towels 1 fleece and the smell was awful like a farm. I wash my towels on 90C with powder and vinegar and my fleece on 60C with a little powder and vinegar. Towel are line dried if the weather is good. Fleece I throw in the dryer for a few mins they hang it outside as its pretty windy here and it gets rid of any bits still left on it.

KittyKrochet · May 4, 2013

I don't have any of those fancyschmancy HE dryers...just the old agitator ones... I clean them out once a week, and they're not smelly by then. I dunno. -.-

I rewashed the bedding today with another 1/2 cup of vinegar and they seem fine. I'm gonna try the borax when I do the next round of fleeces, to see if that helps with the smell.

lunarminx · May 4, 2013

SuperGilbert said:
I dont even attempt to put my pigs fleece in my washer and dryer, just find it really gross...... I just throw it out and roll out the new ones, get em dirt cheap at big lots and 5 Below

LOL...I take it you never washed diapers!

lunarminx · May 4, 2013

pinky said:
The new HE washers don't clean as thoroughly as the old agitator ones. I run a second rinse cycle and never have an odor problem. I don't over stuff the washer, either. I have three cages with fleece pads and a layer of uhaul pads underneath. I split it into two loads. I change my bedding before it gets smelly. Changing the fleece more often might be part of your solution.

I have to agree that front loaders do not work as well.

lunarminx · May 4, 2013

I am wondering if the smell is really smelly or did we just get use to fabric softener smell on everything?

KittyKrochet · May 4, 2013

Haha, I think we are just used to fabric softener. The smell isn't DISGUSTING, it just smells like it has been used.

I really wanted to point out to mum that her towels smell similar, probably from being stored in the garage while wet, but I thought that might be a poor life choice on my part....

SuperGilbert · May 5, 2013

lunarminx said:
LOL...I take it you never washed diapers!

lol, right in the trash

pinky · May 5, 2013

KittyKrochet said:
I don't have any of those fancyschmancy HE dryers...just the old agitator ones... I clean them out once a week, and they're not smelly by then. I dunno. -.-

I rewashed the bedding today with another 1/2 cup of vinegar and they seem fine. I'm gonna try the borax when I do the next round of fleeces, to see if that helps with the smell.

The HE ones aren't as good as the agitator ones, although they'd like you to think so. They had to make these energy efficient ones to satisfy government regulations to cut down on water consumption. What the sales people suggest is that you always do an extra rinse so you don't have soap residue on your clothes. I'd buy an agitator one instead of an HE one if they were still making them.

pinky · May 5, 2013

lunarminx said:
LOL...I take it you never washed diapers!

I remember when my I had my first baby and my sister (who is a nurse) said that she was concerned about disposable diapers coming into contact with their skin due to the dangers of byproducts of the paper industry. I didn't know if there was a health risk or she was just concerned that they were never tested for cancer causing chemicals but I panicked and switched to cloth diapers. That lasted all of about a few weeks and I was back to disposables. Gag city.....

aeiou · May 5, 2013

Something I've found that helps AMAZINGLY with smell (big problem for me since I'm 14 and my parents are smell nazis when it comes to guinea pigs) is if you let them air dry outside!

ETA: I've done research on disposable diapers and yes they do contain cancer causing chemicals, but they can only affect boys...weird

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