We all love our stuffed animals. For the little ones, they offer comfort and make them feel secure. Moreover, the plushies can help the young ones fall asleep. But what do you do if the plushie gets stained with blood? Do you throw it away, or can you remove the blood from the stuffed animal?
To remove blood stains from a stuffed animal, apply a small amount of hydrogen peroxide to the stain. Blot with a clean cloth until the stain is removed. You can also treat the stain with shampoo, meat tenderizer, white wine, coke, a solution of salt and water, and lemon juice. First, run the stained part with cold running water for fresh blood on the stuffie.
In this article, I’ll explain how to get blood stains out of stuffed animals using the methods listed above. In addition, I’ll also explain whether blood ruins stuffed animals, whether blood stains stuffies, and whether blood comes out of plushies.
Does Blood Ruin Stuffed Animals?
Blood is a fluid in our bodies responsible for delivering nutrients and oxygen to different body parts so that the body keeps functioning well. Blood is made up of liquid and solids.
When blood splatters on a stuffed animal, the stain might not look serious, especially if the plushie is dark-colored. However, if the stain is left to set in your plushie, the stain has to be treated to remove it.
As you might be aware, blood contains a lot of red-pigmented cells that give the blood its reddish color. The blood also has ionized plasma proteins, which sticks to the stuffed animal fabric. The pigments in blood and the plasma proteins make the blood stain the plush toys.
Blood will not ruin your stuffed animal. However, a blood stain on your stuffed animal could be permanently set on the plushie’s material when left to dry under the sun or in warm conditions.
Heat can permanently set stains on your stuffed animals. To avoid that, you should wash the stain on the stuffie immediately the toy has been stained. In situations where you didn’t notice fresh blood in the plushie, you should purpose to remove the stain immediately you have seen it.
The longer the blood stays on the stuffed animal, the more challenging it will be for you to remove the stain. To avoid that, ensure you remove the stain immediately you notice it.
Does Blood Stain Stuffed Animals?
Blood comprises liquid and solids. The liquid in the blood is known as plasma, and it is made up of water, salt, and proteins. The solid in the blood comprises red and white blood cells and platelets.
When blood splashes, oozes, or is splatted on a stuffed animal, it will stain the plushie’s fabric. Immediately blood comes into contact with the stuffed animal fabric; the fabric that could be absorbent will attempt to absorb the blood. As the blood dries up, a stain will set in.
To effectively remove blood on the plush toy, ensure you immediately wash the stain with cold water. If the stuffed animal is non-washable because it has some electronics, you should blot the stain with a clean towel soaked in cold water.
When removing fresh blood from the stuffed animal and other fabrics, always ensure that you use cold water. Blood is a protein stain, and as such, blood dissolves in cold water and easily washes away. However, hot water will solidify the protein and make it hard to remove the red pigments.
Once the blood has set on your stuffed animal, you have to treat the stain to get it off the plushie. After you have removed the blood, do not dry the stuffie on the dryer. Air-dry the stuffie so that if the stains are not entirely removed, you can remove repeat the stain removal process.
Does Blood Come Out Of Stuffed Animal?
If the blood on the plushies is fresh and has not set in, the blood can be effectively removed by blotting with a cloth soaked in cold water. You can also apply a few drops of dish soap to the stain and blot it out with a damp cloth.
For old stains that have already dried and set in the stuffed animal, the stain has to be treated with different household products which you already have in your house. Alternatively, you can use commercial stain removers to remove blood on the stuffed animal.
If you are not sure whether the stain on the stuffed animal is blood, the color of the stain should give you hints on the type of stain you have. Fresh blood will be reddish. As the blood dries, the stain will turn reddish-brown in color. When exposed to sunlight, other forms of heat, or when you attempt to remove the stain, the reddish brown-brown color will disappear, and the stain will change color to grey.
When you wash your stained stuffie, do not dry it on the dryer unless you are sure that the blood has been completely removed. If you dry the stuffie on the dryer while the blood stain is still on the stuffie, the blood might not come out later on since the heat in the dryer is likely to make the stain permanent.
How To Get Blood Out Of Stuffed Animals – 11 ways
In this article, 11 different methods that can be used to get out blood from plush toys are discussed. Take note that if your stuffed animal has electronics on it, you cannot wash the stuffie.
Thus, if the discussed method requires that the stuffed animal is washed in the washer, you should consider blotting the plushie with a clean wet cloth instead of washing it in the washer.
If you are not sure whether the stuffie can be washed with a washing machine, check the care label, as it will specify whether the stuffie is machine washable or not.
11 different methods described in this article mainly involve using different household products that you already have in the house. Thus, you can remove the blood and urine from the stuffie without going to the shops to buy stain removers or other products.
1. Salt and Water
When salt is mixed with cold water, a saline solution is made. The saline solution is mainly water and less than 1% salt. When a blood stain is treated with saline solution, the saline acts as an agent and reverses the coagulation of the blood cells, thus removing the stain.
A solution of salt and water can remove fresh and dried blood from the stuffed animal. Moreover, when using salt and water, you don’t have to be worried about the solution damaging the material of the stuffed animal since salt and water is among the best ways to remove blood, even on delicate fabrics.
To use salt and water solution to remove blood from a soft toy, here is the process you should use:
1. Mix 2 tablespoons of salt with a cup of cold water in a bowl. Ensure that you only use cold water. If you use hot water, you could set the stain further into the fabric and make it hard to remove.
2. Using a soft sponge or a clean cloth, dab the solution onto the stain. Note that you should dab the solution and not rub. If you rub the solution on the stain with a sponge, you can spread the stain to other parts.
3. Let the solution sit on the stain for at least 30 minutes. If you have an old stubborn stain, you can let the solution sit for one hour.
4. Rinse with cold running water until the stain is removed.
5. Repeat the process if the stain is not gone.
2. Meat Tenderizer
If you love meat, you most likely have a meat tenderizer on your kitchen cabinet. Meat tenderizers have enzymes that break down meat proteins, thus making the meat soft to eat.
Since blood stains contain proteins similar to the proteins in the meat, the enzymes in the meat tenderizer will break down the proteins in the blood stain on your stuffed animal and, as a result, eliminate blood on your plush toy.
1. Spray the spot with blood with cold water to refresh the stain.
2. In a mixing bowl, mix cold water with meat tenderized to create a thick paste.
3. Apply the paste to the stain. Ensure that the entire stain is fully covered with the paste.
4. Let the paste sit for at least one hour – during this time, enzymes in the meat tenderizer will be breaking down the blood proteins on the stuffie.
5. Shake off the plushie to remove the paste. Dab the stain until it’s gone. Rinse with cold running water.
6. If needed, you can repeat the stain removal process.
3. Shampoo
Shampoo has surfactants that mainly comprise sodium lauryl sarcosinate, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), and sodium Laureth sulfate. In simple terms, the surfactants are chemicals that stir up the activity on the surface being cleaned so that dirt is trapped and eventually removed from the surface.
The surfactants in shampoo can break down the protein in the bloodstain on the stuffed animals and remove them from the surface. You can thus use ordinary shampoo to remove blood from your stuffie.
1. Apply a few drops of shampoo to the stain. Ensure that shampoo has been applied to all the blood spots on the stuffie.
2. Let the shampoo sit for at least 5 minutes.
2. Use cold water to wet a soft sponge or a clean towel.
3. Using the wet sponge or a clean towel, dab the stain until the blood is gone.
4. Rinse with cold water.
4. Lemon Juice
As one of the citrus fruits, lemons are rich in citric acid. As an acid, the critic acid can dissolve blood cells on stuffed animals stained with blood and, as a result, effectively remove blood from the soft toy.
Even if lemon juice bought from the market can also be used, I prefer to use freshly squeezed lemon juice since this will be 100% fresh lemon juice with no added sweeteners or preservatives.
Before you undertake the process, you should first spot test lemon juice on the stuffie’s fabric to confirm that there will be no color loss. If you find that the lemon juice is causing color loss on the stuffed animal fabrics, you should use another safer method like salt and water.
Here is how to use lemon juice to get off blood from stuffed animals:
1. Cut a lemon fruit into two halves.
2. Spray the stain with cold water.
3. Squeeze the lemon so that you apply fresh juice to the blood spots on the stuffed animal. If you don’t have lemons, you can use lemon juice.
4. Using a clean wet cloth or a soft sponge, gently dab the stain.
5. Rinse with cold water.
6. Repeat the process till the point the stains are all gone.
5. White Wine
White wine is known to remove red wine stains on clothes. White wine removes red wine stains because it has enzymes that break down pigments that give the red wine its color.
The enzymes in white wine are known as pectolytic enzymes, and they can break down the blood proteins stains in the stuffed animals and, as a result, remove blood from the plushie.
1. Pour white wine on the blood spots on the stuffie. Ensure that all the spots are soaked with wine.
2. Let the wine sit on the blood spots for at least five minutes.
3. Use a clean cloth to blot the stain. Continue blotting till the stains are all removed.
4. If your stuffie is machine washable, wash the stuffie in a normal wash cycle to get rid of the wine smell.
Alternatively, if you don’t want to wash the stuffie or it’s not machine washable, you can leave it to freshen outside in the sun for a few hours. The UV lights will kill the bacteria-causing scent and make your plush toy smell fresh.
6. Contact Lens Solution
If you have someone in your household who wears lenses, you must contact a lens solution in the house. Unknown to many people, contact lenses solution comprises hydrogen peroxide and polyaminopropyl biguanide. The chemicals are responsible for cleaning and disinfecting the lenses.
When the chemicals in the contact lens solution come into contact with a bloodstain, the solution breaks down the stain molecules and gets the blood out of your stuffed animal.
Since you are not sure whether the fabric of your stuffed animal is colorfast, it is essential to first spot test the solution on the plushie’s fabric and continues with the method after you have ascertained that the solution will not ruin the fabric.
1. Wet the blood spots on the stuffed animal with contact lens solution.
2. Let the solution sit on the stains for five minutes.
3. Using a clean cloth, gently dab the stain until completely removed.
4. Rinse with cold water.
5. Repeat the process if needed.
7. Hydrogen Peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide is ideal more removing the most common stains. Indeed, if you were to ask your grandma or auntie what you should use to remove most stains, hydrogen peroxide has to be one of the products that will be recommended to you.
When hydrogen peroxide is applied to a blood stain, it comes into contact with an enzyme present in the blood stain known as catalase. The enzyme will then activate an oxidizing reaction which breaks down most of the chemical compounds, which makes blood stain stick to the fabric. As a result, the stain will be removed from the fabric.
You however need to be careful since hydrogen peroxide can stain fade the stuffed animal fabric. Thus, to be sure that the stuffie will not be faded by hydrogen peroxide, you should first test on a small section and proceed after finding out that hydrogen peroxide will not have any fading effect on the plushie’s fabric.
1. Pour hydrogen peroxide directly into the blood stains on the stuffed animal.
2. Allow the hydrogen peroxide to sit for 5 minutes.
3. Using a clean cloth, lightly dub hydrogen peroxide to the stain.
4. Continue dabbing until the blood stains are gone.
5. Rinse with cold running water.
6. Repeat the process if required.
8. Ice Cube
Ice cube is an effective blood stain remover. In addition, all protein-based stains can be effectively removed with an ice cube. When an ice cube is introduced to a blood stain, the ice breaks down the stain without the risk of taking the proteins apart.
However, this method should be used when removing blood stains on the stuffed animal. If you have a dried blood stain, you should use other methods discussed.
1. Rinse the specific section of the stuffed stain by blood with cold running water.
2. Gently rub an ice cube on the blood stain.
3. Continue rubbing until the stain is removed.
4. Wash the stuffed animal.
9. Aspirin
As one of the common pain relievers, you likely have some aspirin tablets in your house. You can use some of the tablets to eradicate blood from stuffed animals.
The main metabolite or ingredient of aspirin is salicylic acid. Indeed, the allowed salicylic acid in each aspirin tablet. The salicylic acid in aspirin will neutralize the blood stain on the stuffed animal and thus make it possible to remove the stain.
1. Crash 3 – 4 aspirin tablets.
2. Mix the powder from crushed aspirin tablets with water to create a thick paste.
3. Apply the paste to the stain.
4. Let the paste sit on the stain for at least an hour.
5. Remove the paste from the stuffie by shaking it off or brushing it away with a soft bristle brush.
6. Wash the stuffed animal in a washing machine using the normal washing cycle.
7. Repeat the process if needed.
10. Ammonia
As a cleaning agent, Ammonia is made up of nitrogen, hydrogen, and water. When used in cleaning, the chemicals in ammonia cut through oil and grime on surfaces leaving the surface clean.
When used to clean a blood stain on a stuffed animal, ammonia will cut through the stain and remove the stain from the plushie. However, since ammonia can affect some dyes, always test a small section of the stuffed animal with ammonia and only continue with the process once you have confirmed that the plushie will not be ruined by ammonia.
1. In a mixing bowl, mix ammonia with cold water.
2. Soak a clean cloth in the solution.
3. Lighty dab the stained area.
4. Wash the stuffed animal as you usually do.
5. If needed, repeat the process.
11. Coke
Coke is a good blood stain remover since it has phosphoric acid and carbonic acid that break down the blood stains and remove them from the fabric’s surface. The coke can be diet coke or just the regular Coca-Cola.
1. Pour coke to the blood stains on your stuffie.
2. Let coke sit on the stain for at least one hour.
3. After one hour, use a damp cloth to dab the stain.
4. Wash the stuffie in the washer.
5. Repeat the process if needed.
Conclusion
Generally, blood stains on stuffie are easy to remove. However, you should be patient and committed to the stain removal process. As with any other protein-based stain, you might find that the stain might be required to be treated a few times. As long as you are determined, the stain will come out and leave you with a clean stuffed animal.
Let us know the method you used to remove blood out of a stuffed animal and whether you had to repeat the process or not.
