Cleaning Dried Pee Stuck To Fleece (Even After Washing)

[CC Cookie Dough]

(Note: I have anti-pill fleece from Jo-Ann Fabric. I wash my fleece using distilled white vinegar and unscented Arm & Hammer detergent. I wash the fleece on the hottest temperature setting possible, which varies depending on the machine I'm using.)

Every week I wash the fleece in my guinea pig's cage. I have two sets of fleece, so each set only gets used for a week and then isn't used until a week after it is cleaned. My guinea pig has a particular spot that she likes to pee (by her water bottle on the second level of her cage). After washing my fleece, I notice that there is still a dried spot of pee in her favorite spot. I pour white vinegar directly on this spot before washing the fleece, and try to put detergent directly on this spot too, but no matter how many times I wash her fleece this spot doesn't seem to go away. Oftentimes the spot is a bit caked on and is white, but this problem is seen on the bottom side of the fleece (the side that she is not in direct contact with). The other side just tends to be hard and stiff.

I have heard that this type of caked on pee can suggest that she has too much calcium in her diet. If that is the case, what can I do to reduce her calcium intake?

Also, what can I do to get rid of these pee spots on my fleece? Is there a way that I can scrub this off before putting the fleece in the washing machine? Or is this something that will just be a natural problem and will force me to buy new fleece every six months or so?

 

[bpatters]

Are you sure you've got a female? Because anything that sticks like you're describing sounds like boar glue.

Caked urine deposits do indicate too much calcium in the diet, but I'm not sure that's what you've got.

Can you post a picture of the spots? And of the underside of your pig?

 

[CC Cookie Dough]

Here is the underside of my guinea pig.

 

[bpatters]

The picture is too small and fuzzy to see. Please take another with the light shining on his bottom, not with your camera pointed at the pig AND the light

 

[CC Cookie Dough]

Also, this time the fleece didn't present the problem in the same way. Like I said before, normally the fleece is hard, dried, and white and chalky looking. Today when I washed her fleece I saw that the pee spot was stained brown instead (but it is still hard and dried). So this picture doesn't really represent what my problem normally looks like. I don't know if this shows a different problem or not.

Now that I think about it, though, it might be her black and rainbow-colored fleece that shows the spot as white, while her green and white fleece normally makes the spots look brown. I think I remember there being a color difference in the spots for the different colored fleece, but now I'm not sure.

This first picture shows the fleece on the top side (the side that she walks on).



This second picture shows the bottom side of the fleece (the side that she doesn't touch).

 

[bpatters]

You need to wash the fleece with something stronger than Arm & Hammer, and you need to use bleach and hot water. Try that and see if the fleece doesn't come clean.

 

[foggycreekcavy]

I've had luck with soaking the area with full strength vinegar before washing.

 

[CC Cookie Dough]

I've had luck with soaking the area with full strength vinegar before washing.

What do you mean by full strength vinegar? Is that different from distilled white vinegar (as in, is it not distilled?)? How do you soak just that area without soaking the entire fleece?

 

[bpatters]

Full strength vinegar is just vinegar poured straight out of the bottle, not diluted with water.

And you put the spot down in a bucket and pour vinegar over it. No need to soak the whole fleece.

 

[CC Cookie Dough]

The picture is too small and fuzzy to see. Please take another with the light shining on his bottom, not with your camera pointed at the pig AND the light

Here are better pictures of the underside of my guinea pig. I'm pretty positive that she's female, but it doesn't hurt to check (especially since I'm in the process of trying to get her a female cage mate).

 

[foggycreekcavy]

Yes she's a girl. A very clean one!