How do you clean a stuffed animal that says "surface wash only"?

Question

My son has pinkeye, the 4th kid to finally get it--and I want to nip this illness in the bud! I'm washing all the bedding today and totally sterilizing the whole house, but the two stuffed animals he sleeps with both say "surface wash only". What? How do I wash these?

Answer 1

A lot of people think that you can't wash stuffed animals but you can. Only the ones that have those beady things in them, you can't wash. All others you can, on gentle cycle. Or, if you are not comfortable with putting them in the washer, spray some Resolve on them and let it sit a few minutes, wipe off as much as possible with warm water, then put on the spin cycle of your washer and then place them somewhere to dry.Oh, and you can put those other ones in the dryer, it will help fluff them back up.

Answer 2

Spray them with Lysol air and surface cleaner.  Lysol also makes a formulation just for fabrics as well, but it is hard to find.  Just mist them to kill the virus or bacteria on the surface.  Then I use upholstery or carpet cleaning products to spot treat them and clean the surface.  They make dry granules that work well (Capture and Resolve both make them), but the sprays work well, too.  You can blow the surface dry with a blow dryer or put them on the rack in the dryer on low, air dry heat.  I seriously don't recommend putting well loved animals with beads in the wash.  In my experience, the spin cycle is just too rough on them and I have had a heck of a time getting all of the little beads that burst out of the seams out of the bottom of the drum.

Answer 3

try putting them in a pillowcase and washing them seperate from anything else on the delicate cycle thats what I do and they come out fine