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| Author |
Message |
glenda
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Help for grungy winter coats.
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Oct 1 17:15 UTC 2003 |
It is getting to be that time of the year again. It is getting cold and it
is time to pull out the winter coats. Unfortunately our kitties got a little
too friendly with ours. Any and all suggestions for dry cleaners that handle
down coats would be very much appreciated. We asked at the laundrymat that
we use, but they don't do down.
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| 48 responses total. |
tod
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response 1 of 48:
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Oct 1 17:35 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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edina
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response 2 of 48:
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Oct 1 17:59 UTC 2003 |
I'd try one coat to see if it works. I've had cat urine come out of clothees,
but never down. With the way cat urine hangs around, it mystifies me why we
even develop biological weapons.
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tod
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response 3 of 48:
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Oct 1 18:03 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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edina
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response 4 of 48:
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Oct 1 18:11 UTC 2003 |
Of my two cats, only one pees "inappropriately" - and that's when the litter
box wasn't up to snuff and she peed in my laundry basket. Other than that,
it's golden.
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michaela
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response 5 of 48:
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Oct 1 18:59 UTC 2003 |
Gomez hasn't peed anywhere but the litter box ever since I had him fixed back
in '98.
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glenda
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response 6 of 48:
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Oct 1 20:09 UTC 2003 |
I need recommendations for a dry cleaners, not whether cats pee in the litter
box or elsewhere. I didn't even say that the cats peed on the coats, just
that they got friendly with them. Our cats like to sleep on things that smell
like us. This gets cat fur and, sometimes, hairball spit up on things. We
do have a problem with the litter box not getting cleaned often enough (hard
to do with 6 cats and people with busy schedules). As far as I can tell only
one of the 4 coats actually got peed on, the others were put down to close
to an unknown puddle by a human. And the orange fur really shows up on a
black coat! And if there is that much orange fur with one orange cat and one
with only a bit of orange, I don't even want to think how much fur there is
on the coat from the 3.5 black cats that doesn't show up without looking
closely.
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keesan
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response 7 of 48:
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Oct 1 20:42 UTC 2003 |
Down can easily be washed in a washing machine (unlike wool) and dried on a
line indoors (or maybe on a low-heat power dryer setting.) Some people advise
putting in some sneakers in the washing machine to keep the down from balling
up. You can separate the clumps of down by hand after washing (push the down
flat). I have never heard of dry cleaning down.
Wool and silk need hand washing or they will shrink. Feathers won't shrink.
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slynne
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response 8 of 48:
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Oct 1 21:14 UTC 2003 |
I have gotten the smell of cat piss out of a down comforter by washing
it with a gallon of white vineger in the water. I washed it again
without vinegar to get the vineger smell out of it. Wet down is very
stinky all on its own. I dried it for almost an hour at a low setting
and then put it in the sun for several hours.
If you decide to wash these jackets just remember that down is very
light when it is dry and VERY heavy when it is wet. If you are not
careful, the wet down can break through the baffle stiching which will
cause it to clump up when it is dry. Be very careful to support the
weight when moving it from the washer to the dryer.
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mcnally
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response 9 of 48:
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Oct 1 21:54 UTC 2003 |
due to the weight issue it's usually safer to wash down-filled items
in a front-loading machine, rather than in a top-loading agitator-type
washer. consider taking it to the laundromat..
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scott
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response 10 of 48:
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Oct 1 22:29 UTC 2003 |
There's some stuff you can buy (probably at the pet store) which removes piss
stank.
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michaela
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response 11 of 48:
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Oct 1 22:42 UTC 2003 |
And, from now on, it might be wise to store the winter coats in garment bags
so they don't get exposed to cat fur/hairballs/cat yak, etc.
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tod
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response 12 of 48:
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Oct 1 22:46 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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glenda
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response 13 of 48:
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Oct 2 01:09 UTC 2003 |
I wash both wool and silk in the washing machine without any problems
with shrinking or felting. Fabrics are my hobby, would be my livelihood
if there was any real money in it.
I would consider washing the coats if I had my own washing machine and could
use the 'delicate' setting. I don't trust the machines at the laundromat.
They don't seem to have a delicate setting. And the dryers have a low heat
setting that gets almost as hot as the high setting on the last dryer I owned.
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tod
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response 14 of 48:
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Oct 2 15:31 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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keesan
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response 15 of 48:
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Oct 2 15:45 UTC 2003 |
My down jackets are made of very tough nylon and I wash them on the regular
setting and don't use a dryer.
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gull
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response 16 of 48:
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Oct 2 18:14 UTC 2003 |
I had good luck with my sleeping bag by taking it to a laundromat with a
large, front-loading, commercial coin-op washer/extractor and using
that. Front-loading machines are gentler than agitator machines.
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mcnally
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response 17 of 48:
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Oct 2 19:38 UTC 2003 |
Do you just use warm water or do you have a brand of down-safe detergent
you like?
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tod
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response 18 of 48:
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Oct 2 20:17 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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other
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response 19 of 48:
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Oct 3 02:09 UTC 2003 |
Won't most detergents do the same?
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gull
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response 20 of 48:
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Oct 3 12:41 UTC 2003 |
I followed the instructions on the tag attached to the sleeping bag. I
don't remember what they were, right off hand.
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keesan
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response 21 of 48:
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Oct 3 13:28 UTC 2003 |
I use dish detergent for wool and regular laundry detergent for feathers.
The wool would shrink if exposed to an alkali. Feathers don't shrink.
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lynne
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response 22 of 48:
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Oct 6 14:02 UTC 2003 |
re 19: Yes.
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void
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response 23 of 48:
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Nov 14 02:39 UTC 2003 |
In a normal-sized load of laundry, one cup of white vinegar will
get the stink of almost anything out of almost anything else, and
doesn't leave the clothes smelling like vinegar.
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glenda
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response 24 of 48:
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Nov 14 02:57 UTC 2003 |
The coats were taken to Mr. Stadium and washed. Took STeve about 3-4 hours.
Two wash cycles, one with Woolite, one with Fabreze; about 2.5 hours in dryer
on low heat. All nice and clean and fluffy.
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