Cleaning hay off of fleece

Kyogre386

Kyogre386

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I recently got two guinea pigs, and have been having trouble with cleaning. I have a 2x5 C&C cage from Guinea Pig Cages Store and 2x5 fleece from Guinea Pig Market. I am having a lot of trouble figuring out how to clean the fleece. I can't get the hay off so that I can put it in the washer. I bought a Black and Decker handheld vacuum (Model CHV1410L) just to see if I could make things easier, but it has trouble getting the smaller pieces and sucks up the fleece. I tried using a brush and dustpan, but the brush doesn't seem to do much better and the hay often clings to it instead of just getting swept up. I've heard some people use laundry bags, and I got a Wheeky Pets Laundry Bag 29" x 31", but the problem is that while that can keep the hay out of the washer, it doesn't actually wash it off of the fleece because it's stuck in the bag and doesn't really have anywhere to go, and just sticks back to it. It doesn't help that it has to be folded to fit in the bag as well. So far I've only had success washing without the bag, but I don't want to break my washer. It doesn't help that I don't know how perfect I need to get it before putting it in the washer to prevent breaking the machine. Does anyone have any advice?
 
I brush my fleece off with a stiff brush over the veg patch, I find most of it comes off. My cages are 6x2, 5.5 x 3, and 4x2. I gave up with large fleece liners and now have 3x2s, 2x2s and 1x2s which with a combination of bobble mats in the main hay areas are easier to handle when brushing off and for fitting in the machine. I use a wash bag in the machine to catch any small bits of hay or hair that are left behind after brushing. Bobble mats are brilliant as the hay shakes off very easily.
Some people find rubber brushes good for getting hay and hair off fleece.
 
I use an old wet brush that my daughter didn't want anymore. It works pretty well. You can also buy a silicone glove, but I found that a bit harder.
 
I use a stiff brush and a pet laundry bag.
I then shake the laundry bag outside.
Works best for me
 
I have a silicone brush that I got off Amazon. It doesn't get all the hay off but it does get most of it. I then pop the liner in the laundry bag which then goes in the washing machine. Not all the hay comes off the liner in the wash. When the wash is finished, I take the liner out of the bag, give it a shake, some more hay usually comes off and I shake out the bag. There are always small bits of hay stuck to the liner, my piggies don't mine as long as it's clean that's what really matters.
 
I find the smaller pads easier to clean too.

I also find nit combs handy esp when it comes to getting hay out of the seams of the fleeces.. I think I read that tip on here. I then put them in the wash bags:

4 X Nit Combs Headlice Double Sided Dectection for Kids Pets and Adults White Colour https://amzn.eu/d/gefJ2tw
 
Brush.webp
This is the brush I'm using. It's a handheld brush that came with a dustbin.

I'm also wondering how much I should try the get the hay off during daily cleanings and what I should leave for when I wash the fleece. I figured brushing up the hay along with the poops more frequently might keep it from getting too bad but I'm not sure that it helped.
 
I have never got on with a brush when cleaning fleece. I use a cat scoop to get the bulk off, then go over with a rubber curry comb (meant for horses), which also helps get hair off. I do like to shake the fleece off outside after that to gat any remaining debris off before it gets washed.

I also use a tray for their hay which has wood shavings along the bottom which helps to contain most of the hay, making cleaning much easier.
 
We are all for the rubber curry comb horse brush! Really good for hay and fur removal- they do wear out with the repeated use, need replacing every 3-6 months (or maybe that's just us because we have rather a lot of piggy laundry!) :)
 
Engel said:
I also use a tray for their hay which has wood shavings along the bottom which helps to contain most of the hay, making cleaning much easier.
Click to expand...
I've been trying to use a metal dog bowl but obviously a tray would be better. What kind of material is it and where did you get it?
 
I switched from a dustpan brush to a rubber brush for our fleece and it's made all the difference; I can get most of the bits off now. I wash it in a laundry bag and then shake it off outside before drying.

I also use paper bedding for their hay area and I find it easy to brush off the edge of the fleece - wood shavings are quite 'sticky'.
 
I'm definitely going to have to run over to the horse supplies store and get a curry comb ...
My current "technique" for getting hay and fur off fleeces is to rub the fleece against itself when I'm taking it out of the cage (primarily removes poo and larger/looser hay) and then take the fleece outside and shake, brush, and beat them until they can be thrown in the washer. I hope a curry comb will shorten that whole outside portion ... it's not much fun in 35°C/95°F midsummer or -10°C/15°F midwinter, haha.
 
Kyogre386 said:
I've been trying to use a metal dog bowl but obviously a tray would be better. What kind of material is it and where did you get it?
Click to expand...
I just use a shallow plastic storage box. I followed squeak dreams' video
 
Just so I can get an idea, how long do you guys usually spend cleaning the fleece daily and before washing? Just so I can get an idea if I just need to spend more time on it.
 
Daily I usually spend a few minutes to get hay and poop off the fleece.

Before washing I spend about 10-15 minutes getting as much stuff as possible off the fleece and other pieces. Then I shake them off outside again after washing before putting them to dry.
 
I hand wash fleece with soap, soak in vinegar, dry then shake it vigorously.
 
I spend about 15 minutes a day cleaning the cage of poo and hay. I have noodle mats so shake those and the hay comes of easily, but need to hoover the bits of the cage that aren't covered with mats and hoover the living room to pick up stray hay/mess. I do a full cage clean once a week which takes longer.
 
I poop pick and pull out the wet hay and bedding from the bedroom area and replace with fresh - it takes about 10-15 minutes. But I don't 'tidy' the hay that spreads round on the fleece. The whole thing gets increasingly untidy in human terms but probably increasingly more like home in piggy terms! I have a rubber brush and dustpan that I got of amazon for 6 or 7 quid. The hay doesn't stick to the rubber and after the weekly cage blitz the brush is just washed in soapy water. If a fleece is wet it gets switched out but I use back-2-nature topped with hay in the bedroom areas which get wettest.

I wash once a week to manage the loads - washing day is 2 lots of fleeces and then I put the machine on a rinse to blow the bits through. Then I do bath towels or something cotton which cleans the last out of the drum pretty effectively! And it doesn't stick to the towelling. Then the machine is OK for normal washing again. All this has to be timed so we don't have to wash school uniform just after the piggy wash - nobody wants hairy tights!
 
We never managed to get a solution to this that we were happy with, so we've gone over to using hay trays. We use 12" square plastic saucers (for going under big plant pots), which is great because they take up exactly one square of floor space, and they're sturdy and non-chewable. Inside they have a couple of sheets of newspaper, a layer of wood-based pellet cat litter, and then the hay on top. The newspaper is there largely because the guinea pigs love to tear it up and chew it! We top up the hay as it's eaten. When the litter is all expanded (once or twice a week), we just tip the tray out into the compost bin.

This has been great, as the pigs pee and poop almost exclusively into the trays. They sometimes pee over the edge, so we put a towel under the trays to catch it. Towel doesn't grab hay the way that fleece does.
 
One of mine hangs her a*se out of the hay cube sometimes and leaves a pile of poop right next to it. I thought at first that she was a clever girl to keep her cube tidy but lets just say she's not famed for her intellect... it's actually more likely that she's just a bit too fat to fit in it! 🤣
toothies2.webp Yes Louise, you're a lovely girl x
 
I've found I can get most of the hay out by shaking the fleece outside, though I'm not as much a fan of that since I live in an apartment. I'm not sure how big of pieces of hay it takes to actually damage a washer/dryer and I've kind of just been hoping for the best.

I think I probably need to get a different brush though, it takes me a lot longer than other people to clean it seems. That or I'm doing something really inefficiently.

I haven't had any luck at all with the laundry bags. It keeps the hay out of the machine but also prevents it from coming off of the fleece, and since you can't use it in the dryer it doesn't really solve the issue. Anybody else have better luck?
 
I don't use laundry bags - I just try and get as much off as I can with a rubber bristle brush and pan (amazon):
rubber brush and pan.webpThe rubber bristles mean no static cling!
Even if you have to do it all indoors it's still worth trying to find a space you can give the fleeces a hard shake before washing to get the last of the dust off - it's easier sweeping the floor than unblocking the washer. Our UK machines are generally front-loaders and have a sort of removable 'plug' somewhere at the bottom which collects the fluff from the wash. Keeping this clear goes a long way towards sharing a machine with piggies. And washing cotton towels or something after the fleece wash so the bits don't cling - that clears the drum for more delicate stuff!
 
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