Fleece Fleece & Uhual pad Smell

How do you launder them?

bpatters said:

How do you launder them?

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Yes, I do.

No, she asked HOW.
What is the method you use to launder them? Including what you use in your machines.

Sometimes the detergents you use can have an affect on how well the fleece bedding works. If you use fabric softener or dryer sheets, those also inhibit wicking.

Is your boar walking around his cage dragging his butt? If he is, the smell is from scent marking.

I had the same problem when I had one pig in a 2x3 and she was a very clean, neat pig. I fixed the problem by adding a kitchen with disposable pine pellets in it. Consider adding a small kitchen with a bridge ramp for him to go up and over into the kitchen. That will help with the odor. Now I have 3 pigs in a 2x4 with a kitchen area and an upstairs racetrack and I can go 7 days before I have to change it all out. The pine pellets are the best to deal with odor.

The other option if you don't want to deal with disposable, is to put potty pads in where she pees most and change those daily. Does he pee/hang out in certain areas more than others?

Try washing your fleece with vinegar. Works great to remove stank =P

We recently found that Oxiclean powder works better than anything else we've tried. Really, it completely deodorizes everything. We do put our washer on double rinse to thoroughly rinse it out.

Maybe I'm not reading this right... if you have been using them a while and they smell badly after being washed then they are not getting completely clean. I find if I overload my machine that can contribute to things not getting as clean. Using more water in your wash and spitting into two smaller loads helps. Also, you can definitely add vinegar (1 cup) or oxiclean (check the packaging for amount) to your wash routine. I find doing a pre-rinse/pre-soak cycle helps a lot to get my fleece very clean. Also, I use regular laundry detergent (gain or tide) and not free and clear. So far so good on that, my girls haven't had any problems.

If they are not getting fully clean out of the wash (and fully dry before going back in the cage) then bacteria blooms in the pads causing them to stink up faster. So that might be a part of your problem, but from when I had one pig in a 2x3 I also noticed that it got smelly pretty quickly. Like I mentioned before, adding the potty pads helped, but adding the kitchen helped the most

No, it's not a matter of inadequate washing for us. We double washed in light to normal amounts, in hot water in our new (and old) washer using vinegar, even on the toughest wash settings, in regular and larger water amounts. We had tried adding borax, baking soda, etc. and still rarely got it all nearly odor free until recently trying oxiclean. I have noticed that the three of us have different levels of odor sensitivity, with me being the most sensitive over my son and husband. Maybe it's a mother thing, lol.

Are you using hot water, detergent and bleach? Vinegar won't do much for cleaning fleece. It may help in the final rinse, but otherwise it gets too dilute to do much. And it's not a cleaner, anyway.

try rocking green soap its a baby diaper soap i used for our cloth diapers works AMAZING. it will get any stank out and rinses clean so no detergent build up.

Traysea said:

Maybe I'm not reading this right... if you have been using them a while and they smell badly after being washed then they are not getting completely clean. I find if I overload my machine that can contribute to things not getting as clean. Using more water in your wash and spitting into two smaller loads helps. Also, you can definitely add vinegar (1 cup) or oxiclean (check the packaging for amount) to your wash routine. I find doing a pre-rinse/pre-soak cycle helps a lot to get my fleece very clean. Also, I use regular laundry detergent (gain or tide) and not free and clear. So far so good on that, my girls haven't had any problems.

If they are not getting fully clean out of the wash (and fully dry before going back in the cage) then bacteria blooms in the pads causing them to stink up faster. So that might be a part of your problem, but from when I had one pig in a 2x3 I also noticed that it got smelly pretty quickly. Like I mentioned before, adding the potty pads helped, but adding the kitchen helped the most

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Yes, I did add a little kitchen tray with shavings that I dispose everyday. He pretty much poops and urinates everywhere; anywhere it is. I do put a puppy pad underneath his hut, which is soaked 4 hours later! the smell HAS gone down, but now after I take the already-washed pad out of the washer it smells like urine if you smell it. Is it supposed to be like this? I'm going to soak the pads with vinegar and water. Hopefully that will help!

And also, I'm considering sewing the pads to the fleece to make a sort-of liner type of thing. Would this be a bad idea? Would it be real hard to wash out the smell then?

No it should smell perfectly clean. What is your washing routine? What detergent do you use, what do you add to the water, do you presoak or rinse extra. How old is your washing machine? What do you put in a normal load, just piggy stuff or piggy stuff and other laundry?

Sounds like you need to strip your bedding. There has been some good reviews for an additive product called A happy green life, I have never used it but I have heard good things.

You can sew pads together, but it will take longer to dry. Probably a couple of days. It will wash and dry faster and cleaner if you use only one layer or uhaul or if you make your pad pillowcase style so one end is open and then you can turn the pad inside out to dry completely. How about hanging a canopy or fleece forest over his kitchen area so that he spends more time in there. If you do a forest cut the fringe so it is high off the ground or it will get dirty quickly. I find that pine pellets are the strongest for odor control. You might want to try using wood pellets in the kitchen.

Another though is maybe he is eating something that is making his urine smell stronger than most.

Would you mind taking some clear photos of your set up so we can take a look and see whats going on with it?

Kavvy said:

Yes, I did add a little kitchen tray with shavings that I dispose everyday. He pretty much poops and urinates everywhere; anywhere it is. I do put a puppy pad underneath his hut, which is soaked 4 hours later! the smell HAS gone down, but now after I take the already-washed pad out of the washer it smells like urine if you smell it. Is it supposed to be like this? I'm going to soak the pads with vinegar and water. Hopefully that will help!

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I don't like fleece because with my boars the marked even with a dirty item left in. I love the wood pellets for the whole cage. The only part that any odor builds up with is the kitchen/hay box. With dumping it every other day and stirring the pellets, there is no odor.

Traysea said:

No it should smell perfectly clean. What is your washing routine? What detergent do you use, what do you add to the water, do you presoak or rinse extra. How old is your washing machine? What do you put in a normal load, just piggy stuff or piggy stuff and other laundry?

Sounds like you need to strip your bedding. There has been some good reviews for an additive product called A happy green life, I have never used it but I have heard good things.

You can sew pads together, but it will take longer to dry. Probably a couple of days. It will wash and dry faster and cleaner if you use only one layer or uhaul or if you make your pad pillowcase style so one end is open and then you can turn the pad inside out to dry completely. How about hanging a canopy or fleece forest over his kitchen area so that he spends more time in there. If you do a forest cut the fringe so it is high off the ground or it will get dirty quickly. I find that pine pellets are the strongest for odor control. You might want to try using wood pellets in the kitchen.

Another though is maybe he is eating something that is making his urine smell stronger than most.

Would you mind taking some clear photos of your set up so we can take a look and see whats going on with it?

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My detergent is Purex for "HE" washing machines. My washing machine is not too old, about 5 years old. I presoak for about a day and I just wash piggy stuff with piggy stuff. I also do not use fabric softener. I don't have a camera or smart phone but i am going to try to make a "pillowcase" liner. perhaps it is the strong poop. when there's a lot of hay, there's a lot of poop!

So true, so true. LOL
Pillow case liners are the absolute easiest to make!! There are several different versions you can do. The simplest being just folding your fleece over so that it is about 30" wide and then cutting to length. Then just adding a layer of uhaul and sewing up the 2 long sides and 1 short side and you are done. Cutting the fleece 6-8" longer than your cage will allow you to fold the fleece over to stop them from getting in the pad (if they are not motivated). If they are diggers then you might want to consider a fold over flap style or envelope style pillowcase. Fold over flaps are nice because then you can use two different patterns of fleece and make your pad reversible.

@Kavvy, try washing in the hottest water possible, and add bleach to the wash cycle. Bleach won't affect the color of the fleece, but it will help sterilize it and kill and odor.