What do you use for bedding?

[Tam319]

I feed my boys raw beef marrow bones and peanut butter stuffed Kongs in their crates. I use old quilts for bedding which get DISGUSTING will all the blood (from the bones) and sticky (from the peanut butter). Washing the bulky blankets is a real pain in the butt. I was wondering if there are any easy solutions that other people use?

One idea I had:

An old king size pillow inside a kitchen size garbage bag (to protect from all the icky blood and slobber), then inside an old pillow case. This would be a little easier to wash (simply change pillow case as needed).

Any other ideas on an easy to wash solution? Any tips to keep bedding from smelling "doggy"? Do cedar chips work?

Thanks!

Tamara

 

[myrocky]

Rocky likes his towels. Doesn't provide much cushion but he likes them. We have a bunch of old ones in the car, in his crate, in the bedrooms, in the living room, you get the picture. Gee this used to be my house

 

[VTbxrFan]

I like fleece blankets because they are easy to throw in the washing machine (they are light, so they don't tend to throw the machine off balance like heavier blankets do) and they dry very quickly. Dallas loves anything fleece!

Susan

 

[McGehee1]

I had thought of the pillow idea too! In fact, I have one that I put in the crate for mine only at night (since she still chews a little in the day if she's bored!). Instead of the garbage bag, I use the zipper vinyl pillowcases and then a pillow sham on top. So far, so good--and she loves it!

 

[Nedra's_momma]

I have thought about this myself.

I don't BARF, (I feed Innova) but N has decimated three blankets and quilts so far. That girl can rip a blanket to shreds in a matter of 15 minutes. She has also gotten sick in there before and I just rathered to pitch the blanket than clean it. I have thought about it long and hard and I would really like to invent a sort of crate mat that is easily cleaned, super strong, yet confortable to lay on. I can't stand to have her in there without anything under her because her toenails scrape the plastic pan at night and it is so loud.

Soooo, I thought about going to Home Depot and seeing if they had a soft industrial rubber that I can have cut to the size of Nedra's crate. I think that would be perfect. It would be soft for her to lay on, easily washable, and easy to transport when we go places.

If you ask me, this would be a great solution for a person that feeds BARF!

The only thing that I would worry about and will be checking into is the content of the rubber and how easily it could be torn off... If it holds up to the "test" N will have a wonderful new crate mat.

 

[CoppersMom]

I was thinking the same thing just the other day. Copper shreds his blankets into long strips, so now about one a month I throw an old towel or blanket in his crate and get rid of his shreddings. He even pulls stuff through his crate and destroys it. (I saw someone post a picture just like it). I just hate the thought of him laying on that hard floor, as I know how much he loves his soft couch! Any suggestions would be great!

 

[Tam319]

Wow, you guys are awesome for replying so fast!

I think we should all do a little brainstorming to come up with a comfy, easy to clean, indestructible crate mat/bedding.

I think the soft industrial rubber would be a good idea - I know some horse stables use rubber flooring that is a couple inches thick squishy black rubber. Do you think that would rub black tar marks all over our pooches?

Tamara

 

[Monica156]

I'd be interested in something good too. Right now they have old pillows (from our bed) and they seem to be surviving so far (OK it's been less than a week!).

Milo seems to be OK with stuff in his crate. Jingo is more destructive, she also doesn't like to leave anything in the "dreaded crate". Are there any other dogs out there like this?

Monica

 

[Nedra's_momma]

Hmmm.... Not too sure on the tar issue. I will have to go check it out. Hopefully I will get out there in a few days to check out "available materials" LOL. When I do I will definitely post my findings!

I also wanted to say to check out the cedar first though, I have heard of animals having allergic reactions to cedar chips and I'm not too sure if it would be good if they started eating them. We used to have a rabbit that was deathly allergic to cedar chips.

Might be my next project to do a little search on the web about it. :D

 

[Monica156]

Heck, I'm allergic to cedar! LOL! Found out when I had a pet rat that kept sneezing and itching all the time. Next thing you know I had hives up and down my arms! Switched bedding and it was all gone!

Monica