Dog-Friendly Microfiber Towels: A Review

I was first introduced to these towels when I was a long-distance cyclist.

We would bike for days at a time, carrying all of our gear with us, and setting up camp each night.

Needless to say, the lighter your gear, the better. Which is why these towels (used as bath towels & sweat rags) were a lifesaver!

Fast-forward several years and about a thousand uses later... and I'm still singing the praises of these wonder towels.

What Are These Towels Like?

These super-absorbent towels go by many names: microfiber towels, microfibre towels, pak towels, pack towels, beach towels, super absorbent towels -- to list just a few.

On first glance, they seem somewhat primitive, if not archaic, in design.

In fact, when you first take one out of the package, it appears stiff, oddly shaped, and it barely even resembles a towel. The last thing you would think is that this towel could hold nearly 10 times its weight in liquid!

That's right... Their strength is in their ability to absorb liquids lickedy-split. From small spills to large puddles, nothing soaks it up faster than these towels (...not even a sponge!).

The large PakTowel can absorb a full liter of water, and then release 90% of that liquid when you wring it out.

Made of a polyester/nylon microfiber.

Super absorbent viscose fiber absorbs up to 10 times its weight.

The fast-drying material is biodegradable and reusable.

Machine-washable... and dryable.

Available in many different sizes and colors.

Unique Uses For This Towel In The Dog World

Here are just a few of the ways that these highly absorbent towels have come in handy in the course of raising dogs...

Without a doubt, in our house these towels have been used mostly to soak up urine from the carpet every time puppy had an accident during housebreaking. They work wonders by wicking up the smelly stain in just minutes!

Other uses for these towels:

• To clean-up spills, spots & stains on the carpet
• To wipe off muddy paws before returning indoors
• To clean ears
• To dry off dog after bathing
• To clean off dog toys
• To clean up blood from
carpet
• To apply ice cold pressure to a sore spot
• To wipe out the bottom liner of the dogs' crates
• To clean the dogs' food bowls

How To Use These Towels To Soak Up Stains

To soak up stains from carpet, there's a trick to getting these towels to "activate":

1. First, lightly dampen the entire towel, then completely wring out all of the water.

2. Place the damp towel on top of the stain or spill.

3. Immediately, press (don't rub!) the towel onto the stain or spill -- I usually step on it, or mash it with my hands.

If the stain or spill was quite large, then the towel will have already soaked up a good portion of the mess, so go wring it out and re-dampen it with fresh water and proceed to Step 4.

4. Then, leave the dampened towel lying on top of the stain or spill for at least 30 minutes.

5. Finally, remove the towel from the stain or spill, rinse out, and launder with your other towels.

Cleaning & Drying These Super-Absorbent Towels

They say you can wash these towels with the rest of your laundry... and you can even stick them in the dryer for faster drying!

For the record, I do wash them with my normal loads of laundry, however I usually hang them to dry by poking them through the little slats on the shelf in my laundry room.

If you choose to dry them in the dryer, you are not supposed to place dryer sheets in with these towels because they lessen the absorption properties of the towels.

FYI... I have placed them in the dryer with dryer sheets before, and I haven't ever noticed any difference in their absorption properties. However, I did notice they shrunk a bit after that first time in the dryer. Such is why I tend to just hang them to dry from a rack in the laundry room.

I've had my super-absorbent microfiber towels for well over 15 years, and they show absolutely NO sign of age. I've used them to clean up everything under the sun, and they have never become stained. I've washed them and dryed them without any special attention, and they are just as absorbent as they ever were.

Unique Things About These Towels

One of the coolest things I figured out a few years ago, is that you can cut them to size with a standard pair of scissors. This means, you simply purchase one larger sized towel, then you cut it into several smaller towels. That way, you always have one on hand for whenever spills occur!

I understand they're making these towels now with "finished edges", but you certainly don't need anything fancy for cleaning up pet spills & stains.

These "pack towels" (or "pak towels" as they tend to be called in the outdoor gear world) often come with a big loop on one end for hanging, drying, etc.

Not only are they great around the house... they're also great for camping!

Where To Buy Pak Towels

There have been several "knock-offs" through the years, and I have tried many of them.

One thing I can tell you for sure... if it looks or feels like a "real" towel. Then it's not the super-absorbent kind that I'm referring to here in this article. These towels are unique in that they look & feel more like cardboard until they are wet for the first time. Other towels marketed as microfiber simply do not absorb as well.

Without a doubt, I always come back to the original Pak Towel. Here's where you can find this one-of-a-kind towel:
REI Outdoor Gear Store
Eastern Mountain Sports
Petco
Drs. Foster & Smith