Non bio washing

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Charllou

New Born Pup
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My Guinea pigs have went from wood shavings to a fleece liner. Been on the liner for a week just swapped to a clean one the other day. However they have started to itch not much though, could it be the washing powder? I used a non bio fairy pod. I have checked them for anything in their fur and nothing.
 
Mine have never reacted to Fairy non bio powder used in washing their fleeces. Do you rinse with vinegar to ensure removal of all suds ?
Could they possibly have mites?
 
VickiA said:
Mine have never reacted to Fairy non bio powder used in washing their fleeces. Do you rinse with vinegar to ensure removal of all suds ?
Could they possibly have mites?
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No I didn’t know you needed to rinse with vinegar, is this something that needs doing? How do you do it? They haven’t been anywhere to catch mites but they seem to have calmed down if it gets worse I’ll take them the vets, Thankyou
 
Charllou said:
No I didn’t know you needed to rinse with vinegar, is this something that needs doing? How do you do it? They haven’t been anywhere to catch mites but they seem to have calmed down if it gets worse I’ll take them the vets, Thankyou
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Just put some white vinegar in where the detergent goes in the washing machine and run it on a normal cycle.

They can get mites from hay.
Most piggies also have low levels already on their skin which is kept under control by a functioning immune system. Anything that causes the immune system to weaken (stress, any other illness) can allow mites to take hold.
So they don’t need to actually go anywhere to get mites
 
Charllou said:
No I didn’t know you needed to rinse with vinegar, is this something that needs doing? How do you do it? They haven’t been anywhere to catch mites but they seem to have calmed down if it gets worse I’ll take them the vets, Thankyou
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You don’t need to rinse with vinegar. I do very occasionally. Be conservative with the amount of powder you use though, I don’t measure but I probably use a third to a half of what is suggested (for everything, not just pig stuff)
 
If the pods are based on a 4-5kg wash load like most are then it’s probably too much detergent. You need very little :)
 
I didn’t know they could catch mites that easily! They have calmed down with the itching once I changed their bedding, I’ll use a smaller amount of detergent see if that keeps it away better. Thankyou everyone for the advice. It’s my first time with Guinea pigs so I’m clueless 😅
 
I was going to say, not so much in terms of guinea pig liners but certainly in terms of cloth nappies, it's not recommended to use pods because you can't control the dosage at all and some people say it tends to leave a bit of a film on items. I haven't used them personally so can't comment how accurate I feel that is
 
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