Cat Pee and Sleeping Bags :-(

“I was just gone for 3 1/2 days. Sometime on Thursday morning, when I was packing, the cat got himself into my closet. My mom was watching my cat but couldn't find my cat while I was gone so he was stuck in there til Sunday evening. So, needless to say, he had to go potty and, unfortunately, that is the closet in which I store my sleeping bags. Two got really smelly?

Any suggestions???”

“Buy a new one and toss the cat pee ones.”

“DRINK BEER!”

“There'a another thread about this same thing, and God knows it's happened to me too. I use this gear wash stuff from Walmart that's supposed to get all smells out. I use it on all my gear and it seems to work. Add a little baking soda to the wash if it's really strong. The Gear wash stuff is back in the hunting/camping section. I can't find ours to tell you the name though.”

“You can wash it and get the pee smell out. However, your cat will always be able to smell it and will continue to pee on it.”

“EWWWWWWWWWWW...

Go to the laundrymat and wash your bags there in one of the super huge washers-- they also have the huge dryers that can accomodate the bags. (make sure that they allow people to wash sleeping bags before you try it.)

I understand that spraying Smells-Begone might help, too.

You might want to treat the closet with some kind of pet odor remover as well-- don't cats usually pee in their litter box because of odor (to them, not us)? If his pee got on the wall or floor, it might attract him back there again....”

“Put it on Ebay with some creative writing in the description.

"Sleeping bags with chemical cat markings"”

“Take 'em back to REI and tell them that they did not meet your standards, and they smell like a cat pee'd on them!


LOL!



FWIW - I have some mirezine that you can have, if it would work.”

“Take a dump on them. After that, the cat pee won't seem so bad.”

“Put the cat in the washer first- as a test...”

“Geo/Wolfeyes/DX - Very helpful tips. Thanks.

I am not throwing away the bags and buying new ones. Ain't got that kind of money.

One of them is expendable; It's my old one that I mostly use for car-camping and such. But, the other is my new (last year) down 10*F bag. I'm sad.

I'll prolly head to WalMart tonight or tomorrow, treebait, and give that a try.

The closet door is usually shut so I'm not worried that he'll get back in there. And, the smell is mostly contained to the two bags cause they were on the floor.

Q - What's mirezine?”

“Sorry, how about Mirazyme?

It's odor eliminator from REI.”

“Still never heard of it. But, I'll holler if I think I need it.”

“two words:

Dry Cleaning!

Let the cleaner know just why the bag(s) are there, and just what is inside. If you don't they wont be worth anything.”

“Oops...
I don't think you can wash a down bag in a washing machine...”

“Really? You can't wash down in a washing machine? I didn't know that. Bummer.

I'm thinking I might email REI first and get their opinion since the 10*F bag is an REI bag.”

“At least I think you can't....
I seem to recall reading somewhere that the down has to be taken out and sanitized and then "lofted" and fluffed up" (when it comes to down pillows.) But, maybe I'm wrong!”

“Thursday Morning until Sunday Evening and all your cat did was pee on your bag????

Do you still trust your cat?

On a serious note - I thought outdoor/down gear should never go to the dry cleaner?”

“So, I can't wash it, nor can I dry clean it...??? What the heck can I do to it? lol”

“I wouldn't listen to me! At least, on this one. Call the manufacturer perhaps?”

“check the mfg website for cleaning instr. (i realize you might have already) but at least they'd tell you for sure whether you can wash the thing.”

“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.”

“I hate cats get rid of them and upgrade to dogs!!!

U dont have to leave them behind u can take them with u no matter where u go!!!

Plus dogs arent hard to find”

“You can wash down but it's not recommended. Your bag will never be the same again.

If you take it to a dry cleaner, be careful... I know dry cleaners that will walk across the street and throw it in a front loading machine if the care instructions allow.

I would take it to the laundromat and use a front loader. I would add a cup of vinegar to the wash water. If that doesn't work, try something like odor-be-gone. Or call a vets office. Maybe that stuff they use for skunk odor will work on your bag.

I'd try vinegar in your wash water first. Don't put the bag in the dryer. Hang it to dry.

Good luck, Tara!”

“First of all I am sure the cat knew just what it was doing. It figures you locked its a$$ up so time for pay pack. First I would beat the you know what out of the cat and then when it's laying there on the floor I would piss on it and don't forget to show it the sleeping bag while your doing this so that it knows what the hell the beatins for. Or you could kill the little bastard and make it into jerky that way every time your up in the mountain all snuggled up in that stinky sleeping bag you could reach over and take a big old bite off that cat jerky and know to yourself that cat wont be pissin in your bag again.

Sorry, I was just funnin, I would get a new bag because even if you think you got the smell out every time you are all snuggled up in it I bet you will be sniffing at it and be wandering to yourself, is that cat piss I smell. And what if your around the campfire some night and somebody says I smell cat piss, Bet then you will be wishin you had some of that jerky.

well, just a thought anyway. don't want to offend anyone, I loves cats theys just gotta have their teachins once or twice and hell they gots nine lifes anyway”

“we have special down cleaning soap bought from REI use it in your washer (preferably a front loader, we use our top loader). It works well. We've used it on bags and coats with great success. When our old cats peed on our bags we dry cleaned em, no prob.”

“Birch, so THAT'S why your cats are always so fluffy and smell so fresh???”

“Is it me, or do I hear a country song with this title?”

“Some cat peed on my tent once when I left it outside to air out. No, it was NOT Mr. Hyde. Someone on TT recommended spraying some stuff that people use to get rid of dog and cat pee smells from "accidents." It's called Nature's somthing or other. Worked great.”

“I have an American flag that a cat gave birth on back in the early 70s (a couple months before I discovered it abandoned by the previous tenant in the closet of the room I lived in my senior year in college) -- it sorta cleaned up, but then I never had to spend a night in the wilderness wrapped up in it. Good luck, tarabull. The modern wonder cleaners suggested will likely do the trick.”

“Be very careful hanging a wet down bag to dry. I have heard that the weight of the wet down can rip the baffles. It seems to me that the big commercial front load driers with a couple tennis balls is the most appropriate way of drying a wet down bag.”

“A woman's sleeping bag smelling like a cat?

Doesn't surprise me much!”

“totally agree with hounddog i would piss on the cat and show it the slleping bag as u piss on it this will let it know that it did something wrong”

“Tarabull, our down bags say that they can be washed in a front loader. We've used the down wash from REI and had no problems. I dry them on low forever with a whole bunch of nice clean tennis balls (dry them at home, laundramat guys don't like balls in the dryer). Have washed my Big Agnes bag and my REI bag and I don't think anyone would be able to tell the difference. We have to wash our bags everytime we get poison ivy, SIGH.”

“Hounddog's response is just to funny! Must be the dog in him... LOL”

“oops, that's "too", not "to"”

“Yes you can wash it yourself. TRy doing it in the bathtub using a mild cleaner like 'Woolite.'

Add some baking soda to the water if needed. Put the bag in and kneed lightly. Let it soak for about an hour, and kneed occasionaly during that hour.

Drain soapy water from tub and let your bag lie flat on the bottom while you gently squeeze the water out. They do a couple cycles of 'fill and drain' to rinse it out. When done, roll it up slowly to remove the excess water, then take to a laundermat to dry (takes a while). When its just about done, throw in a tennis ball to help fluff it up.”

“All this stuff has been in other threads. Search for "washing down bags." I've done it. I've had baffles break. I just had to wash my best down bag that had its own wilderness adventure for three days without me (that one included repair, too).

Lotsa stuff on here about washing and drying down bags.

Hounddog, I'll never forget you walking from that weird Florida foliage with just your headlamp on. I mean, you head your headlamp on. Very funny solution for the problem here!! LOL!”

“Looks like lots of advice on how to accomplish it. I had a cat pee on a couch once, tried everything I could think of, professionals also. Never did work entierly, when it got humid, the thing stunk. For a bag, I'd toss it, good excuse to upgrade.”

“Thanks everyone. It may rain today so I may just spend the afternoon at the laundromat to give it a few good washes.

Yes, lizs, I'm familiar w/ the search feature. And, used it. Found some info on washing and drying bags. But, I was looking for info specific to cat urine.”

“ahhh... I had bags that were in an area where raccoons got into them. Nasty coon crap, pee, etc. But the bags came clean and don't smell.

I used the Sport Wash stuff from WalMart.”

“You're not talking unneutered, male tom's pee, I hope? That stuff is especially nasty. EWW!”

“If they still smell after washing try that enzyme stuff you can get at the pet store. Good luck!”

“Vinegar breaks down uric acid, and baking soda naturally eliminates odors. Add 1 cup vinegar and 1/2 cup baking soda to a front-loader, without any soap. Your down bag will be good as new. I used this method once on an old wool army blanket that had a serious mold funk (it was in my car's trunk and the trunk got wet). After trying everything else - and nothing worked - one wash with the vinegar/baking soda and it was odor-free.”

“are these down bags or sythetic?”

“So many suggestions. So many decisions.


Wonder if anyone is having a sale on bags soon?”

“Probably it's about that time of year.. I already got my capaline cheap...ready for other new gear!”

“rox1 - one of each.

Thanks techntrek. Maybe I'll give that a try before I buy any cleaners from the store. And, I rememberd my parents have a front loader I can use which will save me a trip to the laundromat.”