How to wash fleece liners?

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Piggiebois

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Hi! So I have two boars, both quite young and I want them to have fleece liners as bedding, they currently just have a small blanket for fabric in their cage and the main of it is carefresh, I have asked my parents for liners because they prefer the blanket than the bedding but they said that it would make the washing machine smelly and the hay and hairs would get stuck and break the washing machine, does anyone have any tips on how to wash it without any of those problems occurring, thank you. ☺
 
Hi, our method has so far not made our washing machine smell nor clog and gets the fleeces clean:

- Shake out and brush off excess hair / hay off the fleece with a rubber brush
- Using a horsewear laundry bag, load the soiled fleece items in making sure its under full and theres still room room in the bag for fleeces to wash through well (eg no more than 2x 2x3 fleeces for our 8kg machine)
- Place the laundry bag in the washing machine and slosh over the fleeces a measure of non-perfumed, as natural as possible detergent with 1/2-1 cup white distilled vinegar (cheap and I order these in 5L so lasts months) then zip up fully
- wash fleeces at 50 degrees (even the guineadad ones)
- hang promptly on a laundry rack to dry (takes around 24 hours)
- empty laundry bag of any excess hair/small bits hay
- weekly I do a vinegar / 60 or 90 degree rinse of the empty machine and clean out the rubber bit behind the door

Works for us :)
 
I just shake the hay and hair off the liners. I havent had any issues with my washing machine.
I use Nellie's Laundry Soda (I'm in Canada, not sure if you have that in the UK ) and a cup of Vinegar on a hot wash.
 
Some people who use fleece don't use an absorbent fabric stitched in underneath... they just have a piece of fleece blanket over absorbent bedding (like carefresh) and the loose fleeces are easier to wash and get dry quicker. This is good because although they don't make the machine smelly they can whiff after a few days and need changing. Some people (I'm one) use different things in different areas of the enclosure! You'll find what works for you and your piggies ☺
My machine has a lot of competition as I'm washing for a family of 4 people so I'm not switching entirely to fleece but mine have some 'snuggle tunnels' like this which they really enjoy:
Snuggles Snuggle Tunnel for Small Pets
They do collapse after a bit (I use plastic pegs to hold them in shape now!) but they are fun!
 
It's an outlay at first, but I got one of these for my pet bedding. I broke our washing machine by putting green-backed vet bed in it, and on the spin cycle it jumped violently, dislodged the kitchen worktop and sheared the drum off inside - my own fault entirely! I'd not used the green-backed before, just the cheaper versions which aren't so stiff/heavy. Of course, you won't have this problem at all with fleece, but having a separate washer is great!
 
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