Fleece Got My Fleece Today!

You should be able to test if they are wicking or not.

Just lay them down on a table, get a glass of water and slowly pour a small amount of water onto one spot, if the water pools and sits on top of the fleece then it isn't wicking, if it is quickly absorbed into the fleece and the top layer feels dry to the touch after a minute or so then it is wicking. If it isn't wicking you may need to start washing now as it could take a few full washes for it to start wicking. Just make sure not to use any fabric softener or dryer sheets when you wash.

Testing it won't hurt, if I am you I will definitely follow Soecara's suggestion.

Thanks for the responses! I will test it out soon, when I have the time to do so and then promptly wash it afterwards. I'll let you know how it goes!

Ok, so I put a bit of water on one of the liners, and it definitely didn't wick. I'm going to assume that both of the liners need to be wick-ed in the washer. I looked up the process. So, someone correct me if I'm wrong, but is prepping it just washing it in warm water with non-scented detergent and bleach until the water goes through it? Or is it different if the U-Haul pads are sewn into the liner? Just want to make sure I do it correctly!

The washer doesn't wick anything, and neither do you. Wicking is the process of a fabric "sucking" a liquid through to an absorbent layer underneath while remaining (relatively) dry itself.

Wash the fleece several times in hot water with strong detergent and bleach. That should strip enough of the waterproofing off of it to allow it to wick the urine through. It needs to wick properly before you sew it to a liner.

As I said, the fleece is already attached to the liner. It's basically fleece, U-Haul pad in the center, and then a bottom layer. That's how I bought it. Does that change anything?

I find that really odd how the liners aren't already pre-wicked. One of the pros of buying liners online is that the fleece is already wicked by the individual/supplier. Where did you purchase them?

I bought them from Krate and Kage. My local guinea pig rescue has used their liners for a while and highly recommended them.

So I messaged the company about wicking their liners. They say to wash it a few times with powdered detergent (which I don't have) and add either some borax or baking soda. I'm thinking of using just the detergent I already have and then adding some borax. Do you think that would do anything?

I'd say that liquid detergent would work just as well. Make sure it is unscented, you don't want to bother your guinea pigs with any strong smells. It takes me about 3 complete washes and drys with detergent to wick my fleece. I've noticed that patterned fleece takes much longer to wick for some reason. I feel like it should have been the company's job to wick the fleece before sewing it into a liner though.

Snugglybutt said:

I'd say that liquid detergent would work just as well. Make sure it is unscented, you don't want to bother your guinea pigs with any strong smells. It takes me about 3 complete washes and drys with detergent to wick my fleece. I've noticed that patterned fleece takes much longer to wick for some reason. I feel like it should have been the company's job to wick the fleece before sewing it into a liner though.

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Yeah, I expected them to have wicked it for me beforehand as well. Bit of a disappointment there.

thistlewriter said:

I'm thinking of using just the detergent I already have and then adding some borax.

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We are a scent-free household and I often use Borax or All-Free-And-Clear Oxy-Clean to boost the sudsing power of my detergent. I would wash in hot water and perhaps add some vinegar in the rinse cycle. After the liners are well used, using vinegar also is very effective for getting out residual odors. Just don't add it to the wash cycle or it will reduce the sudsing power of the detergent.