"Cat pee" smell on fleece
 

I can't think of any better way to describe it.

I recently bought a couple of long-sleeved fleece athletic shirts, and they smell like cat pee after washing. At first I thought it was literal -- figured the cat might have had a little accident (or a little "on purpose") on them, but I wore one this morning that I took straight from the dryer. Anyone else had a similar experience?

I've only had this experience when one of our cats peed on my stuff. He's kind of neurotic. He loves my wife, tolerates the kids and hates me, (our other cats like me, just fine). When he gets stressed out about anything, like guests in the house or my wife being away for the weekend, he pees on my stuff.
So, I basically keep everything up on shelves where he can't get to it.

Get this stuff and soak your jersey in it for a little while. Then run it through the wash a couple of times. It really does work.

This is a simple formula for solving said problem:

Presence of cat + Presence of new clothing + Presence of cat odeur de urine = Cat Pee

I hope you have kept the soiled items seperate from your other soiled laudry. If not, the miscreant feline may continue to pee on your clothes from now on. I strongly suggest you remove all items from your basket and bleach it thoroughly, using hot water.

Use a non-color fading bleach detergent on all items that the fleece touched, and hope it works. This can be a very tough problem once the cat starts this kind of behavior. If it continues, the kitty may have that feline bladder thing that turns their urine to crystals. Very painful. It drives them nuts trying to pass a drop or two here and there.

first I'd try to box train the cat. If that didn't work I'd get rid of the cat. Depending on how humane you want to be I have some pretty creative ways to eliminate a cat, starting with my dog.

There is stuff on the market sold under the name "Simple Solution" that works well on ammonia smells.
It's carried at PetSmart and such stores.

Wash it with vinegar and/or baking soda.

- i know what you're talking about... i had a funky smell hanging about after washing then lightly drying a few polyester Box-Mart workout shirts... something in the fabric? the smell eventually went away, but took repeated washings...

Maybe it's time to look up a good recipe for cat burgers? :)

kill the cat, that'll make you feel better plus prevent future occurances
then kill the neighbors cat just for good measures

I'm hoping that's all it takes. I'm almost positive it's not the cat that's causing it. The shirt smelled just fine this morning when I put it on, but I noticed the smell when I stopped after riding a few miles, so I'm wondering if there's something about the chemicals used to make the shirt that's reacting with sweat. It's not so much a strong smell on the shirt -- I can hardly smell it when I hold it to my nose -- but more a smell around the shirt.

This is gonna drive you nuts. Just go with natural wool. ...and be nice to your cat - they're good souls.

I know exactly what you're talking about! I have a fleece bathrobe and it really smells like cat pee. And I have no pets at all (I hate pets and animals indoors!), so it isn't cat pee. Just smells like it.
Washing it the normal way doesn't help at all

Cat pee smells like ammonia.

Possibilities:

If you leave your laundry in the washing machine for a couple days before drying them, you can get a mildew-like smell once it's dried.

When one exercises without enough carbohydrate in their system, especially if your diet if very high in protein, an ammonia-like smell can occur.

At one point in time, we had 7 cats, the ONLY thing that will get rid of the smell is Nature's Miracle.
I have tried lots of other stuff, most of it just does not work.
You may have to soak the garment, but you should definitly wash it alone.

When I did not change my cat's litter box weekly he took a leak on my stuff. That and they are wonderful at removing small pests like non cat lovers. I can not remember what I did to rid everything of the smell. I was a smoker at the time. Perhaps I covered the smell with cigarette smoke. ew!

I have a fleece pullover that smells horrible only when wet. First time taking it out of the washing machine, I thought I forgot to put in detergent and washed again. It still smelled bad after the second washing. So threw it in the dryer to see if the smell would go away. Once dry, the stink disappeared.
WIERD!

My husband has just this same problem with alot of synthetic fabrics--he smells like a skunk or cat pee (depends on the fabric) when he sweats in them. He can get pretty fragrant. . . I know our female cat used to love his referee shirts. She would roll in them and knead them with her claws if he left them out and about. She almost ruined a referee shirt of his doing this kneading thing--I dubbed it "the shirt of hot kitty luuuuuuuuv." Husband didn't think it was funny, but everyone else did!

YOu can try this formula: 1 quart medicinal hydrogen peroxide + 1/4 cup baking soda + 1 tablespoon Dawn dishwashing detergent. Mix peroxide with baking soda till soda is dissolved. Stir in diswashing detergent. Soak clothing/article to be cleaned in this solution, making sure to squeeze it all through fabric. Let set a while and then rinse thoroughly. Launder as usual.

Some stuff called "Nature's Miracle" is good too; you can buy it at pet stores. Good for stinky synthetic clothes as well as cat pee and other organic stinky stuff.

This is my vote. With polyester shirts, after a hard ride and some good sweating, they can have a strong ammonia smell and it can actually make it difficult for me to breathe. All my polyester biking/hiking shirts do this after time. All I can think of is there's something in them that reacts with my sweat, making an ammonia smell.

OZONE.

Put stinky items in plastic bag. Continuously pump full of OZONE.

It is the only way to break down all biological odors (not all fabrics are colorfast for bleach!)

You can MAKE an ozone generator from an old neon sign transformer, some mason jars, and some window screen. I made mine this way. It works. Honest.

Put it (ozone generator) in a cardboard box with an aquarium pump. Run aquarium hose with an airstone to bottom of wash machine full of water and cat peed (or mildewed) clothing, and allow to run for 3 to 6 hours. Odor be gone for good (not just until it gets wet again).

BE CAREFUL MAN! Neon sign transformers run at 8000 to 12000 volts, and can ARC to your washing machine, to your leg, or to your cat, if any of these items are too close to the transformer. I found out by frying a cold water solenoid ($15) on my Kenmore. Luckily Kitty wasn't allowed in that particular room.

It could be that fleece and some other synthetic fabrics provide a much larger surface area for the water to spread out over. Intensity of smell coming from a fluid ought to be proportional to the surface area open to the air. Occasionally, I take effervescent iron supplements, and the after half an hour, the bottom of the glass is dry, with a slight residue at the bottom. It has an iron smell, but very faint. However, when I fill the glass with water to rinse it out, and then pour the water out into my sink, the iron smell really jumps up at me. It's extremely strong at that point. Which I take to be due to the very large surface area it can give off smell from.

I have several articles made of Fleece. I also have several cats that well love Fleece so much that...you get the picture, I think. To get rid of the oder, I do this:

1. Use a good detergent and warm water if your fabric can take the tempurature.
2. I like to use a front loading machine for somewhat to badly soiled fabrics.
3. Use 20 Mule brand Boraxo or if not available, Baking Soda in the wash cycle(s) about 1 cup or so.
4. Use Baking Soda in all your rinse cycle(s). about 1 cup each cycle.

I never had a problem with stains or especially smell again-yet the fabric is not damaged in any way. Try it and let me know if it works for you.

:lol: "More Ozone, Igor!"
http://i12.tinypic.com/4br2znt.jpg

It's fun to play with electricity. ;-)