Cat Pee and Sleeping Bags :-(

“i soaked it with some nature's miracle and it's out drying now...it still smells a little but the bottle said to soak it real good and let it dry for it to work best...after a closer inspection he only got a few spots”

“- put tent in large washer, on gentle cycle
- dump in 1 cup vinegar
- dump in 1/2 cup baking soda
- it will fizz up like your old volcano science project; start the washer

The smell will be gone.”

“The enzyme treatments and the vinegar/ baking soda treatments both work well to get the smell out. If you do the baking soda/ vinegar wash, don't add too much or you'll have one hell of a mess to clean from under and around the washing machine. If I have to wsh gear that way, I do it in the bathtub any more. One overflow was more than enough.”

“if what i'm doing doesn't work i might give the bath tub method a try...i'm a little leery of putting my tent in the washing machine...it was a factory reject because some of the seams were irregular, i only found two places were they looked bad and repaired them but i'm still a little leery to put it into a machine for that reason

also, he only hit the rain fly...the fly on my tent isn't detachable...another thing i might do if nothing else works is just make a new fly with some sylnylon(sp)”

“Maybe your cat mistook your tent for a tee-pee.



Get it?... tee-PEE...”

“Maybe your cat mistook your tent for a tee-pee.

man, it took almost 24 hours for this joke to materialize...you guys are slippin”

“IT WORKED!!!...i'm not sure if it was one or all the chemicals i used but it doesn't smell anymore...i soaked it in a solution of nature's miracle, fabreez and vinegar...thanks for everyone's help...even yours bit and nigal”

“This stuff works too!

http://www.vegsource.com/animal/cats/messages/22629.html”

“i'd heard about that one too a few years ago but back then it was hard to find...now it looks like pet stores are carrying it”

“It Couldn't Hurt To Try
“Tarabull...get the MiraZyme crap and go to yer local laundrymat with lots of quarters and some beer.

The stuff is full of microscopic odor-eating critters that literally munches the odor away. It's made for sports gear and scuba stuff that really work up a funk.

You may want to consult the bag manufacturer on it's use and also McNett (they make the stuff) regarding use on down bags.

Good luck! And I mean it.”
Buddur

my bag got cat peed just minutes ago.. I am so sad!”

“vinegar sometimes will take out the odor”

“"Honey, what's for dinner?"

"I decided to make Chineese tonight dear. Kitty on a stick."
LOL!

Sorry, I wish I had a good answer for you. I don't know.”

“Mirazyme works well. So does adding real lemon juice, not from a bottle, to the wash.


Also, trying soaking it in a baking soda and natural detergent (7th generation, Method brand, etc.) solution in the laundry. I tried that recently when one of the outdoor cats snuck in and my part siamese dominant female literally scared it all out of him, all over the breakfast nook area.”

“just another good reason not to have cats”

“I have not had to deal with cat whizz but a capful of pine oil added to the front-loader with the normal down-cleaner will get the mildew stank out of a down bag.
last edited: 2/04/07 6:33:33 PM”

“vinegar neutralizes ALL smells! white vinegar. i use it on my towels and washclothes, my kids socks, etc.”

“is it ok to put it on down?”

“Why wouldn't it be? I put anywhere from 1 to 4 cups of it into the wash load when it FULL of water and agitating. NOT the rinse cycle, the WASH cycle. This way, it all rinses out in the rinse. It leaves the clothes smelling very sweet and clean, there is never a vinegar smell ever.

It's got to be a better idea than oil! I've used it on any load of clothing that smelled extra funky.
last edited: 2/05/07 2:53:42 AM”

“Ha, pine oil cleaner is usually 5% pine oil and it is like soap and rinses out without leaving the bag smelling like anything much at all.

Hey lady, its not like I'm usin' motor oil.”

“Never had a problem using Pine Sol in the washer , on clothes or gear.

Vinegar can be used on washable down bags with no problems.”

“We're both right!”

“Meow! ;-)”

“That's right, Mr. Hyde. ;)”

“hey MrHyde - you ever do it?”

““hey MrHyde - you ever do it?”

....with something not of your species?”

“not sure about a sleeping bag but my cat hit my tent...i soaked it in my tub in a solution of vinegar and nature's miracle and it worked great”

“Equal parts white vinegar and baking soda, dump it right in when you start the wash.”

“both right, how cool is that?!”

“I always thought it was bad to get down wet..

Is it ok to put the sleeping bag in the drier?”

“cat pee is the worst.”

“it sucks!!! I now have joined the club that has so many unfortunate members.

I never knew how truly sucky it is until, I saw it unfold before my eyes.

I was at my Dad's house in Reading, PA. I was excited because it was my 30th birthday and I was getting ready to go out and partay!

I saw the cat go into the sleeping bag and I watched in wonderment as the lump moved slowly to the rear of the bag. I thought to myself, how cute.

How cute in deed. When she emmerged back to the surface, I noticed she was wet. I then noticed my bag was wet.

It took me a couple seconds to do the math.

uggggh.

happy birthday!
last edited: 2/05/07 6:01:59 PM”

“after i washed my down bag gently by hand in the bathtub. i gently squeezed out as much water as i could. i rolled it between towels and squeezed out some more. i layed it out on the hot summer sidewalk for a few days in a row until it was almost completely dry. then i put it into a dryer with two small kids sneakers.

you're gonnna have a problem with that hot sidewalk thing tho. anyone else have drying suggestions? i wouldn't hang it, i think wet down is pretty heavy and you might pull on the seams to much.”

“do a search for "cat pee" threads”

“For the record, Mr. Hyde has never done that to any of my sleeping bags. Really, the only time he peed somewhere other than the box was when I got the bright idea to put one of these fake grass mats under the box - they're intended to help get the grains of kitty litter off of their feet before they spread it all around your house. He took one look at it, sniffed it, then peed on the floor next to it. At least the pet store took the mat back for a full refund....”

“donnorton.. thanks for the suggestion.. you might take a look at the source of the thread :) 2004... I know the search function well.

much”

“donnorton.. thanks for the suggestion.. you might take a look at the source of the thread :) 2004... I know the search function well.

much appreciated though.”

“ENS, you poor bastard!!

Get some down cleaner from REI, etc.

Use a front loader washing machine at a laudromat.

Warm Wash and Rinse, not Hot.

Add a capful of Pine Sol type stuff along with the down cleaner.

Never use a top loader, the agitator arm WILL TEAR THE BAFFLES.

A front loader will safely spin the water out of the bag and then be prepared to wait one or two hours at LOW HEAT for the dryer to fully dry the bag.
Tennis balls(much worse than tennis elbow) in the dryer will help break up the clumps of down.
Laudromats have nice BIG dryers.

I have washed them in bath tubs...........pain in the tuchus.

Oh, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
last edited: 2/06/07 8:26:00 AM”

“All that repetitive action and suddenly you have tennis balls, huh Marko?”

“And don't forget to shoot the cat!”

“Hisssssss!!!!!!”

“Tennis balls can actually tear the bag up too. Several stores around here carry these little rubber thingies that bounce around in the dryer without damaging whatever it is you're trying to dry. Look for them in the laundry sections of stores around you.”

“Tennis balls are light, no?
I wouldn't use baseballs.

OK Hyde baby, just as long as you don't go, "Pisssssssssssssssss!!" we're gonna get along just fine!”

“I always thought it was bad to get down wet..
EarthNsky

LOL, i understand your concern but for some reason this question just stikes me funny

down comes from where??...ducks”

“yes, but ducks are able to use their oil glands and preen with it and whatnot. thus the saying, "like water off a ducks back". so we need to get our down bags dried, pronto.”

“I have three down bags from the '70s and they have all been washed several times and are still OK or better.

Back at the dawn of time I was on the road and in San Francisco.
My '73 model bag was gettin' funky so I washed it in a bathtub with Ivory Snow.
After a whole lotta sqeezing and rinsing I put it in a basket and carried it on the tank of my motorcycle to a laundromat.
I hung out at the laundromat for quite a while waiting for the dryer and ended up sharing a pint of scotch with an older gentleman of the streets(kinda wino).
He was lookin' for a drink and I enjoyed the company.
I gotta write a book one of these days....”

“love a good story, especially from those of my generation. go for it.”

“Marko is right about the tennis ball thing...I have used that a number of times with a commercial dryer on low or NO heat. takes a while to dry but works great.”

“Hmmmm, further back up the road near Grand Forks, British Columbia we visited a Doukhobor commune.
We heard about it from someone on the road and just had to check it out.

The Doukhobors were a Russian Christian movement founded in the 18th century, many of whom migrated to Canada in the 1890s to escape persecution for their views, which included rejection of ecclesiastical and state authority.

The locals told us about how around 1900 the Doukhobors marched naked into Grand Forks to protest something or other.

The place was just about dead except for a young woman who called herself Mud Baby and kept a goat on a 100 foot rope.
Mud Baby was a real funky chick, and I mean FUNKY, who lived(squatted) in an old cabin.
There was also a young man(squatter) living there who made cedar shakes with some old hand tools.
I don't think he had anything to do with Mud Baby, and neither did we.
If there was any "free love" goin' on there, we wanted no part of it.
We camped for a few days while we had money wired to the bank there.
Some of our time was spent hopping off a thirty-foot cliff into a good-sized river.
Of course we were naked. Why get your shorts wet if you don't have to?
The river has a fast current and we would swim like mad to get back to the cliff a ways down stream and climb back up and jump again.

Hey Pam, are you the one who has the SIGG Tourist and SVEA stove combo?
There were three of us living on food cooked with that rig for some months......on the road.
Its interesting that the only foreign-made gear we had in those days was the stove and cook kit.
last edited: 2/07/07 8:22:28 AM”

“Well, our cats got out tent and my sleeping bag. Soaked the tent in a tub with Nature's Miracle then let it air dry. That worked. I don't smell anything.

Still haven't decided what to do about my down bag. Looking for someone who has actually cleaned cat scent from their down bag...not untried suggestions.”

“Classic Thread here.

That Nature's Miracle is amazing stuff ---- good luck with the SB.”