Heated dog bed
Creating a wonderful heated dog bed for your favorite pet is a near must for colder climes. It is also a great asset for older dogs with arthritis or some of the genetic infirmities. Let?s face it: joints work better if they are warm.
A heated dog bed will need to be fitted to the grown size of your dog. If your dog is a pedigreed animal, you know what its likely full-grown size will be. In this case, just add 7 inches to the distance as measured from root of tail to nose for the proper size of its dog bed. If you have a mixed breed dog, you may have to ?guesstimate? what your dog?s final size will be. Your veterinarian may be able to help you judge final size by the current puppy paw dimensions.
There are several types of heaters available for a heated dog bed. Commercially available heaters should be checked out to make sure that they do not overheat in one spot to the point of burning your pet. Most heaters need to be plugged in and can only be used indoors. Make sure that the cord is well hidden and won?t be chewed if you do introduce the bed to a puppy! Additonally, consider the option for the nest-making pooch that follows.
If your dog paws up the rug or carpet while turning round and round making its bed comfortable, you might wish to consider putting a heater under a raised floor board and the bed on top! That way, you can have a heated dog bed and still maintain a safe environment.
If you are going the commercial route, you have many choices for a heated dog bed cover. You can choose from among scent-retaining fleece, unscented poly/cotton, fake lambskin, vinyl or real fleece covers. Keep in mind, however, that there might be a temptation for your pet to confuse any kind of ?real? animal skin with a chew toy and there goes the bed!
One word of advice about the type of material for your heated dog bed is to choose something that is durable and can be washed. You will want to be able to keep vermin out of the bed and the best way to do that is to wash the bedding in very hot water with a mild soap. If your dog has sensitive skin, then use the same soap for washing the bedding as you do for your dog?s bath. That eliminates skin irritations down the road.
Speaking of road: when you take your pet on a trip to colder areas, consider a heated dog bed for your vehicle. They are commercially available and the heat source comes from a cord run off of the cigarette lighter!
