The wife and I have three rats - they're great pets and overall pretty inexpensive to keep. Fabric bedding is a popular choice for rodents like rats and guinea pigs, and our girls seem to love their fleece-lined house. Overall it's saved us loads on bedding - we bought a few fleece blankets from the thrift store to turn into their hammocks, then just do a small load of laundry each week. For the first year this worked perfectly, we just changed the blankets every 3 days or so, when they started to get smelly. Overtime though, the scent seems to have caught in the fabric. They come out freshly laundered but then within one day have a strong smell. Any advice for getting the scent out? We tried soaking in vinegar and then washing with a bit of baking soda, but that didn't change anything (and we have to use a scent-free powder detergent so as not to cause them breathing issues). It's just a small cost, but I would rather not spend another $10 on new blankets if we can refresh the old ones.
I think air drying is very important for smell. When you put something in the dryer, the heat will set any stains and smells. I would first throw the blankets in a bag with a lot of baking soda and let it sit for a while.. let it soak as much up as possible. Maybe even spray with vinegar first (I use vinegar or an enzyme cleaner.. the enzyme cleaner is usually enough, but if not, the baking soda is the next step and then air dry after laundering). I haven't had anything continue to smell after using these items in various ways. I would try enzymes first though. If they work for you, you can also make them yourself
Never thought about rodent sensory levels. Two things that may be worth considering are PineSol or ammonia. The scents are strong but are effective in many cases.
We have a blanket specifically for the use of the dogs when they ride in the car. Naturally the blanket would smell after several uses and it is expensive if that blanket would be washed all the time. What we do is to bask the blanket under the sun. As per the tradition here, the odor will go away when the heat of the sun penetrates the blanket. And true enough, the blanket smells as good as new after sunning.
When we had rats we also used fleece bedding in the cage. We had enough bedding that each set stayed in the cage for 2 days and was not needed again for 6 days. Our system was when we put in fresh bedding, the old bedding went in a trash bag with baking soda for a day. Then we wet it down with vinegar and let it air dry outside. The goal was to remove as much odor before washing as possible. The third day, it was washed with unscented detergent. Then, once dry again, it was stored in a rubbermaid tub with an odor eater (the type people use for their gross gym sneakers) until it was time to use it again.
