Hand-washing Fleece?

pigpaws

pigpaws

Junior Guinea Pig
Joined
Mar 31, 2018
Messages
15
Reaction score
8
Points
75
Location
South West England
I'm definitely thinking of switching to fleece bedding for when I get my 2×5, the disposal bedding would cost a fortune otherwise :eek:.
However when approaching my Mother, and the owner of our £400 washing machine, she seemed horrified at the fact that her spotless machine would be dealing with our guinea pigs' poops 'n' pees. She suggested I should hose it off in the bath. Is it actually possible to successfully hand wash fleece (after wicking)? If not what could I say in an attempt to change her mind? :hmm:
 
Sometimes I find it hard to hand clean fleeces. As my parents are very 'paranoid ' about guinea pig mess going all over place. So I have to hand wash the fleeces. It doesn't get super clean and not all the time pee comes off. But I have started to buy more fleeces and once everyday or two I take out the dirty fleece and put in the clean one.
I do find it easier to clean the fleeces more often, and they don't get dirty as much if I clean them once everyday.
When I wash my fleeces, I fill up the sink (or in your case a bath) with hot water. I then get some white vinegar and add it to the fleece (I do this only if the stains and smell are super bad). I add some washing detergent (don't use softener) and I scrub it in. After doing that, I then get a sponge and scrub the fleece.
I do find cleaning the fleeces more often works way better.
 
Well you could hand wash I suppose but it would be a lot of work. How about using a duvet cover or pillow case cover that closes properly or you could use a horse bag to capture all the poo's and debris etc. You could then do a quick hot wash to remove any bits leftover or disinfect it. A lot of members here do this.
 
Mother Hubbard said:
Well you could hand wash I suppose but it would be a lot of work. How about using a duvet cover or pillow case cover that closes properly or you could use a horse bag to capture all the poo's and debris etc. You could then do a quick hot wash to remove any bits leftover or disinfect it. A lot of members here do this.
Click to expand...
I've heard about that, my horsey friends uses an old pillow case to clean her saddle cloth. Thanks! I'll ask if this is okay.
 
SqueakyDreamsxx said:
Sometimes I find it hard to hand clean fleeces. As my parents are very 'paranoid ' about guinea pig mess going all over place. So I have to hand wash the fleeces. It doesn't get super clean and not all the time pee comes off. But I have started to buy more fleeces and once everyday or two I take out the dirty fleece and put in the clean one.
I do find it easier to clean the fleeces more often, and they don't get dirty as much if I clean them once everyday.
When I wash my fleeces, I fill up the sink (or in your case a bath) with hot water. I then get some white vinegar and add it to the fleece (I do this only if the stains and smell are super bad). I add some washing detergent (don't use softener) and I scrub it in. After doing that, I then get a sponge and scrub the fleece.
I do find cleaning the fleeces more often works way better.
Click to expand...
Thank you, it seems as handwashing is pretty difficult, but nice to know it's possible! I think my options are either this or sticking with shavings, which seem to trail all round the house and drive my mum equally as mad. I think I'll try hand washing.
 
As my guinea pigs are outside, all the bedding stays outside and little mess comes in the house. However when my whole family is out, I sometimes tend yo bring my guinea pigs in.
I put shavings in the area where they are when I bring them in, however I put newspaper under the shavings and I add hay on top. I then roll the newspaper up and most of the shavings stay in the newspaper.
 
Before I wash my fleeces I sweep off all the poo and as much of the hay as I can, and bin it (or put it in the garden as it's really good for plants). I then give them a good shake outside and brush them hard over my arm, which gets out a lot of the remaining hay and hairs. Then I machine wash. I've just ordered a horse wash bag too, as I was getting concerned that there were still some bits, but that's only small bits of hay and hair, there shouldn't be any poop.
 
I have also planned to switch over to fleece over the summer but I am not aloud to use the washing machine! I have hand washed hideys and it's lots of work!
 
I have been working with this and found a bit of a solution for us after building the c&c. My vacuum has a small hose that works really well so this is used twice a day over the fleece. I have the first 2x4 area with a top floor to give them some privacy and the only place I set chloroplast for that size that I found at a hardware store. This is the area I use soft bedding and hay for their kitchen area. I have a tarp that has been tied tightly to the bottom of the full cage over the sides, large puppy pads for the other 2x4 part of the cage and the fleece over that. That leaves the area for the kitchen completely separate-it keeps the large parts of the mess here so when the fleece is changed every week, I can vacuum it and put in a bag to shake the rest out in one spot in our basement.

It's still got a bit of debris but nothing like it used to have before separating the kitchen area. I got fleece blankets that are perfect from a local dollar store after christmas on sale for $2 each but I think I can find on ebay for about $5. Not sure about ebay.uk but they had a lot similar I used when we lived in Europe for pets so it's possible to find under pet blankets. They are easy to cover what I need in the cage and tuck perfectly under the grid round attachments over the tarp.

I'm still working with it and adding as my babies grow and their personalities are more pronounced. I'm thinking to put the kitchen on the top part as they do use the ramp to separate the kitchen area completely. One more thing that may help you-I am starting to try, putting small fleece squares in the corners where the use the bathroom most and having several made up to change more frequently without the added large wash to wash simply by hand. I'm never certain which is perfect but you may give it a try.
 
fanniephina said:
I have been working with this and found a bit of a solution for us after building the c&c. My vacuum has a small hose that works really well so this is used twice a day over the fleece. I have the first 2x4 area with a top floor to give them some privacy and the only place I set chloroplast for that size that I found at a hardware store. This is the area I use soft bedding and hay for their kitchen area. I have a tarp that has been tied tightly to the bottom of the full cage over the sides, large puppy pads for the other 2x4 part of the cage and the fleece over that. That leaves the area for the kitchen completely separate-it keeps the large parts of the mess here so when the fleece is changed every week, I can vacuum it and put in a bag to shake the rest out in one spot in our basement.

It's still got a bit of debris but nothing like it used to have before separating the kitchen area. I got fleece blankets that are perfect from a local dollar store after christmas on sale for $2 each but I think I can find on ebay for about $5. Not sure about ebay.uk but they had a lot similar I used when we lived in Europe for pets so it's possible to find under pet blankets. They are easy to cover what I need in the cage and tuck perfectly under the grid round attachments over the tarp.

I'm still working with it and adding as my babies grow and their personalities are more pronounced. I'm thinking to put the kitchen on the top part as they do use the ramp to separate the kitchen area completely. One more thing that may help you-I am starting to try, putting small fleece squares in the corners where the use the bathroom most and having several made up to change more frequently without the added large wash to wash simply by hand. I'm never certain which is perfect but you may give it a try.
Click to expand...
Thank you, the vacuum is really good idea. My piggie at the moment goes to the toilet wherever she pleases, but she might go back to going in the corner like before when I introduce two new piggies, so the small squares would be useful, and much easier to hand wash.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top