To ask for laundry help! Fox pee on clothes!

[Schweden]

Teenage son left a hoodie on the lawn a couple of nights ago. We didn't notice, and quite frankly he is old enough to pick his own clothes up. Anyway, our local fox peed on it. Son then chucked it into the washing machine with a load of our clothes. It has all be washed twice but I can still detect the lingering aroma of eau de fox piss.

Not really an AIBU as such, but wise women of MN, how do get rid of the smell?

I would try something like this.

Tomato ketchup. It works like a charm.

Napisan powder.

I use normal white vinegar from Tesco for wee smells( disabled son) but also got pet pee spray also from Tesco for the mattress.

Lots of biological powder. Keep washing and dry in the fresh air.

I'd air the washing on the line. Once dry I'd rewash it on a hot wash. Probably with a slug of brown dettol.

You can try splitting into quarter loads for the best possible rinse, and add extra rinse cycles. But really the issue is that your washing machine isn't doing the rinse properly. We had this with a brand new Bosch (it was also useless with fabric conditioner). After a few failed "repairs", we sent it back and got an old model Samsung. Instantly fantastic results.

My dog adores rolling in fox mess. The smell is really difficult to remove. Ketchup does work well, but that's not viable on pale clothing. There is a dog shampoo called Animology Fox Poo specifically designed to remove the smell of fox mess, so hopefully it would also work on fox urine. This is what I use on my dog, also to soak harness and bedding etc before a wash. It's the only thing I've found that works. They also do a pre wash spray. I would try that, or another type of enzymatic cleaner designed for pets.

I do have some fox poo shampoo from our sadly no longer with us dog, but not sure I want to risk that in the washing machine. It is only about half full, machine has a 10kg capacity and is already a Samsung, which adjusts how much water, how many rinses etc by itself based on dirt levels.

Normally I use non-bio, so have dug around in the cupboard. For the second wash, it had some sort of sport wash. Dug even further back and eventually found some bio liquid and have put it on again with an additional load of vanish powder because I have that too...

Adding white vinegar, dettol, napisan etc to tomorrow's shopping order.

Sorry, I meant you can soak in the fox poo shampoo or enzymatic cleaner before you put it in the washing machine. I wouldn't put it in the washer either, just use as a pre soak to get the smell out.

That’s recommended for poo. The smell is going to linger unless you do a pretty hot wash. I had the same with one of the dogs peeing on their bed last week, washed and still stank. Hot wash and the smell is gone. Trouble is, of course, you risk ruining the item.

Isn’t this the perfect time for teen DS to learn that (in)actions have consequences? Make it his problem.

Ordinarily, I would agree. But other than making him buy replacement clothes for me and husband, there is no specific consequence I can give him.
He isn't going to know how to get the smell out, if I don't. Making him do it, will only worsen my problem

Ah, it seems this is beyond my knowledge, sorry. Except to say that can't you add rinse cycles? We can adjust ours to do say pre- wash plus 4 rinses. The hygiene steam with white vinegar worked for something smelling damp... but that might have worked anyway as it was a first wash, and damp isn't as persistent a smell. Vinegar is worth a try as an alternative to detergent though.

White vinegar always worked for cat pee

We had this with a pair of gloves, the only thing that worked was biological washing liquid. Soaking in vinegar and all the other things I googled and tried did nothing!!

I challenge this. Have you ever tried to get rid of this specific smell, @GRex? Nothing beats fox pee and tomcat pee for pungency and staying power. It's why civet cat secretions were used as fixatives in perfume. I very much doubt there's anything at all wrong with your washing machine, @Schweden. I have no advice though, I'm sorry. A tomcat peed on a low hanging bath towel on my washing line once but it was 50 years ago and I can't remember what I tried but it stank. I know it was soon put in the bin though. Obviously you can't do that in your case.

It will also stain like a charm! It's vinegar that is the active ingredients here. I've never understood this piece of advice. It's bonkers.

Yeah not going to be dousing my laundry in tomato! I still have flashbacks of trying to get those stains out of small child clothing and have ruined plenty of my own splashing bolognaise or similar down my front while cooking.

Have just hung it all up to dry. And the only thing that I think I can still detect the scent on is the original hoodie that got peed on, after 3 washes. Will see how it all airs and then decide what next. Luckily, apart from one dress of mine, most of the rest of the load is pants/socks and older clothes.

@Schweden soaking things in cheap vodka works for tough smells such as BO I have had to this to my sons school blazer a few times. I don’t know if it will work on this but the alcohol kills the bacteria so might be worth a try. Tesco do a cheap own brand version for about £5 which is cheaper than a new dress and hoodie.

Bicarb is the other option. Once dry put the hoodie in the bath and cover it in bicarb. After a few hours, fill the bath woth hotnwater and let it soak in the bicarb water. You could also add that slug of brown dettol. Another hot wash and and air dry. If that doesn't work the hoodie is a gonner.

It's the acetic acid (vinegar) in ketchup that does the trick. I keep white vinegar in the house for fox poo rolling incidents with the dog - saves dying her pink with tomato sauce 😂