Cleaning blankets

[deadneonflies]

My girls’ pen is hard flooring, so we lay in fleece blankets on half of their pen for traction and overall comfort.  However, they get pretty messy, and furry.  I shake them out as much as possible before washing them, but of course, not all the fur is able to come off.  A lot of buildup happens in the dryer, and we live in an apartment complex and have to share the laundry facilities.  We’ve gotten in trouble a few times from management from leaving too much fur in the washer and dryers.  So we stopped washing them and moved to using an area rug.  But my girls love chewing on the rug, so now we are back to using blankets.  

How do you clean your furry blankets?  I thought about using those sticky rollers on them before washing, but that is super wasteful. I also thought about using those paperless fur and lint brushes, but they don’t seem to work very well, and it is a very tedious job.  What do you recommend or what works for you?

Thanks!

[longhairmike]

instead of one giant fleece,, get a couple snoozzy pet mats,, they grab all the released fur but it is SOOO easy to remove it,, just wet your hand and move in the smooth direction of the surface (one direction brushes smooth and the other is like trying to comb a pet backwards) and it picks up easily.

the 48″ ones are perfect for xpen width,, and the 42’s are perfect for 2×3 grid area of a condo.

 

[jerseygirl]

Those mats do clean up well and are not abrasive for bunny hocks. Ive seen quite large ones also. I’d like to use them more but my buns tend to chew anything with foam or rubber. Might be time I try them again, now that the buns are older.

The furry blanket thing is a PITA. I end up with quite a few unwashed and just resort to buying new when they are on sale.

I am lucky in the fact that I have an old top loader outside that I use for pet washing. Recently, I started just putting stuff through without cleaning off the fur first.  I take out a lot of fur from the filter several times during the wash. Finishing with tumble dry at the laundro-mat and they come up pretty well. I take wet wipes to wipe out the dryer after, just in case.

Could you see if there is a laudromat in your area that has a dedicated machine for washing pets items??

I do remember a tip about putting stuff in the dryer first on a cool cycle. Apparently it helps remove some pet hair. Also loosens the fabric fibres pre-washing some more hair comes away in the wash. 

So we stopped washing them and moved to using an area rug. But my girls love chewing on the rug, so now we are back to using blankets.

Is it the edges of the area rug they are chewing? Or anywhere at random? Could you try covering the entire rug with a cotton bedsheet?

[Azerane]

I brush all of mine off first. It is quite a tedious task, I usually put it off and then regret putting it off when I have to brush 5 or 6 off at once when I put them in the wash, rather than just 1 or 2 at a time, lol. I take them outside, shake them off then use a lint brush to remove as much fur as possible. Another shake then into the washing machine. There’s always fur left on them even after a wash but that’s just how it is. I always make sure to wash something unimportant in the machine after washing the bunny blankets, just in case there’s leftover fur in the machine. I’m told top loaders are better at removing fur than front loaders.

[Bam]

I use the cool tumble dry tips that Pinkn’wuffy once gave us. I tumble  the hairy mats/blankets on cold setting for 10 minutes before I put them in the washing machine.Lots of hair comes off and get caught in the filter. Sometimes the result is so great I dont even have to wash the mats that week.

Another great thing for cleaning hair off of short-haired mats and carpets with is a window-cleaning tool, the rubber blade thingy (a squeegee it seems to be called?). Member Q8 gave me that tip and it has made my life a lot easier because I have a dog that sheds too.

[jerseygirl]

deadneonflies, if you tried the dryer trick pre-wash, could you take a vacuum cleaner down to the apartment laundry? Or even a small, cordless one? You could clean out the barrel.

Are you able access the lint compartment (to remove evidence) or is that locked?

[jerseygirl]

Actually.. vacuum is a terrible idea. What am I thinking?!

[Bam]

Sticky paper is the best for removing hair from washing machine drums and tumble dryers. A lint roll isn’t very good because of its shape, but the paper is great. Where I live the laundry room is shared so I must be really careful not to leave any hair.

[deadneonflies]

Thanks everyone for all of your suggestions, but I found my solution! I pinched the blankets under my coffee table, and VACUUMED the blankets on both sides, THEN I threw them into the washer and dryer. I used a lysol wipe to wipe out the washer when I was done with it in case there were any stray furs inside, then to the dryer. I wiped out the lint trap halfway through the dry cycle, and again after it was done. The fur was cut down by 75% just by vacuuming the blankets before washing them. It was a bit of work, but not nearly as tedious as using a brush on them, and not nearly as wasteful as sticky roller too.

Thanks again. I hope my solution helps others if needed.

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