Fleece smells soon after changing

S

Shoogboog222

New Born Pup
Joined
Mar 2, 2020
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Points
20
My two "girls" have a 5ft C&C pen, with a 2nd half level as well. As soon as I change the fleece and clean their pen, within hours it smells just like it did before it was cleaned. I've had them over a year and can't pinpoint the cause of the odor. It literally smells no better clean than not clean! It's ventilated, and nothing under or beside it to cause odor to accumulate. The fleece is thick and well-wicked. What's the deal?! They haven't even been in there long enough for it to be saturated with urine.
 
Welcome to the forum :)

How long have you had the fleece (I'm not sure if you've had the fleece or the piggies over a year)? What are you using to absorb the urine? How are you washing the fleece between uses?
 
Tangle said:
Welcome to the forum :)

How long have you had the fleece (I'm not sure if you've had the fleece or the piggies over a year)? What are you using to absorb the urine? How are you washing the fleece between uses?
Click to expand...
I've had both my girls and the fleece a year. I wash the fleece in hot water and dry in the dryer once a week at least. I don't use anything besides the fleece, should I be? The cage has a hard plastic (coroplast) liner. I vacuum the droppings every day and the fleece always feels dry to the touch (they seem to use only one corner as their unofficial pee area).
 
At the end of the day, its whatever works for you and your pigs! That said, a lot of people will use something absorbent under the fleece - be it towels, newspaper, purpose-made liners. It might be worth trying putting something under the fleece where they pee and seeing if it makes a difference.

How do you wash them? Do you use any detergent? If so, what type? How hot is the water you wash them in?
 
Hello there. If you are only washing your fleece in hot water, then you may be getting a residual smell. Using a good detergent and laundry cleanser should leave your items smelling much fresher 😊.
 
The detergent you use should be a non-bio. I use non-bio from Lidl when I wash my fleece items and put white vinegar in the conditioner drawer so it goes in the last rinse. I also wash it on a 60 degree program.
 
Many of us use washable mattress protectors or puppy mats under the fleece, and also small washable fleece pee pads on top of the fleece in the area that get most pee- the puppy mats or mattress protectors lock away a lot of the pee smell in the absorbent layer, and small pee pads can be changed daily if needed, I recently bought a nice pack of 7 small pee pads to put in the hidey houses so I can change them daily without a full cage clean!
I like the Vetfleece Inconti-pet washable puppy mats under my fleece, and many places on ebay sell small washable fleecy pee pads- the set I bought recently were from Atalas and are just big enough to pop in a hidey house or pee corner then swap daily! I just ordered some more actually as they wash and dry very fast and come in some very pretty fleece designs :)
 
I have jumped on here instead of starting a similar thread, hope that’s OK.

I have noticed that my piggies can smell of urine really soon after cleaning out now. They are on fleece which was initially washed three times and checked for wicking, under which are liners I made out of incontinence bed pads. I used to get a couple of fresher days before the smell started pervading our lives again.

They are washed in a hay bag with non-bio and a splash of vinegar, at 40’C. Is the fleece needing replacement? Or is it something else? Maybe boys at 7 months are getting smellier?
 
I always found towels then a layer of fleece (not the fuzzy kind) I use ikea £3 ones or they have £1.50 ones aswell but they need a good few washes. I change every three days, I have one to wash one to wear. Non bio or Dettol liquid (laundry kind) as it kills the bugs and on a good 60 degree helps or warmer. Then tumble dry. You don't have to change every three days it's just my preference. And I clean out old hay and poop once a day. I'm using wood chips at the minute in main cage and it gets cleaned every three days and it smells worse to me. One more thing clean your washing machine regularly. I clean mine once a week and put on a 90. I use Dettol and then a dishwasher tablet. X
 
I’ll give the washing machine a go on 90 and maybe do the fleeces at 60 one time too. I know the incontinence pads said no hotter than 40 when I got them but am wondering whether to risk it once on hot in case it’s them.
I had wondered if the boys were feeling the need to mark the clean cage, but I always put back one or two of their fleece tunnels or mats so it should still smell of them in there.
 
I put puppy pads, then a towel underneath the fleece & that seems to help with smell. Of course, spot cleaning helps too!
 
I put pee pads in the corners where they wet and change them every other day I find that helps keep the urine smell down.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top