Fleece Throwing away dirty fleece after only 2 cleans!

How are you cleaning the fleece? I take the fleece outside, shake it out really good to get all the poops off, then just toss it in the washing machine with hot water and unscented detergent. It gets the smell and dirty spots off and leaves it nice and soft! Then you can just run an empty load of a small amount of bleach to disinfect the washing machine afterwards. If hay is stuck to the fleece, a rubber brush (I use a rubber dog brush) will definitely work.

Hope this helped

You brush the poop off before you put it in the washer. The main idea of using fleece is that it can be washed and reused. It's not nearly as bad as washing baby diapers in a washer, and people do that all the time.

When you use fleece you need to sweep up the poops twice daily! Then once every 5 to 7 days you shake it out (or brush it, like bpatters says) before you wash it.

Also, did you wash your fleece in hot water several times before you used it?

What are you using under the fleece? Absorbent layers are important part of using fleece.

along with what everyone else has said, do NOT ever, no matter what, use fabric softener of any kind or the fleece will lose it's wicking ability!
also, I have found putting a 1/2 cup of white distilled vinegar in with the wash helps a lot

How large is your cage and how many guinea pigs are in it?

I'm new to fleece too. My problem is when I try to use a brush and dustpan to spot clean, the brush sticks to the fleece and just bunches it up.

Lagertha said:

along with what everyone else has said, do NOT ever, no matter what, use fabric softener of any kind or the fleece will lose it's wicking ability!
also, I have found putting a 1/2 cup of white distilled vinegar in with the wash helps a lot

Click to expand...

Is the vinegar to clean the fleece? or to help it wick, or both?

mamaduck71 said:

Is the vinegar to clean the fleece? or to help it wick, or both?

Click to expand...

Both!

if you don't like to put it in your laundry machine just hand wash it... I plan to hand wash ours (due to the fact our laundry machine is broken but its a good arm workout too lol! but not as hard as it sounds once you get used to it)

Goodness, don't throw them away. I use a regular broom and dustpan to sweep up the area. Mind you, I have 3 guinea pigs so little poops can accumulate. I sweep about twice a day, sometimes three if I am home all day. I have a trick of swirling the brush lightly on the fabric at least once a day and this keeps the hair down. One of my pigs is a wild looking alpaca and she sheds- I mean really sheds! When I swirl the brush lightly in their high traffic areas, the hair simply swirls into a small ball and I sweep it up.

At the end of about 7 to 8 days, I take out a clean fleece blanket to replace, take the old one outside and shake it out and then brush it with a thicker brush. This brush is the kind with short black bristles. I use a horse brush, the kind you use to brush horses. This really takes out the hair. Then I put it in the laundry with vinegar and detergent.

I know someone else who handwashes her guinea pig fleece. If I absolutely had to, I would, but I don't and prefer not to.

I hope this helps!

oh man is that nice to hear i wont be the only one who hand washes. i have to hand wash 3 peoples laundry every few days so i figure the fleece cant be too bad. mind you the day we get a new washer i wont be doing it by hand

Daydreamer, don't worry you aren't the only one! Many people don't like mixing their personal laundry and the piggy laundry in the same machine even.

I sweep my fleece up 2 to 3 times a day (spot cleaning) then every four days clean the cage. I shake and sweep the fleece outside, then put it in the washing machine, without any human clothes. At the end of the wash, hoover the washing machine to clear hair and hay. Just thought I do a quick overveiw of what I do