Printable View
Bo is 16 now and he seems to be cold all the time. He isn't as fat as he used to be (he lost weight when he had hyperthyroid, he's gained back some but is still thin) and he sleeps on the heater vent or under the covers with me.
I want to get him a plug-in heated bed. Does anyone use one, and what brands/types do you recommend? Are they safe to leave plugged in all the time?
My neighbor made one herself............just take a human heating pad, and place it between 2 towels or under a favorite bed, etc. Make sure when you plug it in, there is no hazzard to you or your kitties (pulling the plug out, or if you have a wire biter :eek: ) place the setting on low, and place kitty in new warm and fuzzy bed!
My neighbor actually has hers outside in the kitty house, and she turns the heat on every night for them...........they just love it!! :cool:
There's a disk that you heat in the microwave and can put in his bedding.
I have a heatable ceramic plate (clay as in flower pots) with a quilted mat on it. A potter here made it for his old kitty - and then started to sell them.
Tigris loves to sit on top of it.
I missed you, Bo and Hannah- hope you are all ok :)
The disk you heat in the microwave is called a Snuggle Safe. Heating it for 4 minutes gives 12 hours of heat. Be sure to put a couple of layers of cloth like a towel on top or it will be too hot. (use a hotpad to take it out of the microwave)
When I use mine outside, I put a piece of foam underneath for insulation. Keeps the heat from leaching downward.
That would be nice for the Found Cats and I am going to start scoring the Boxing Day Sales Flyers,as I have to buy in quantity for the Hotel!!!
I have used both the commercially available heated beds and a heating pad underneath layers of cloth and both have been very good for my older kitties. They LOVED the heated beds!
I bought a commercially-produced heated bed (with faux lambskin) from Drs. Foster and Smith and was very happy and satisfied with it.
Generally, I would not leave them plugged in all day every day, but on occasion, I would forget to unplug one or the other or both, and nothing bad happened and my kitties were warm and toasty all day during the cold months here.
Hope this helps.
Robin (aka Biscuit's Mom)
I use the microwave disks inside a "pillowcase" made of faux sheepskin.
Someone here, years ago, lost a cat who was a wire-biter, it seems.
Thanks for all the ideas! None of my cats are wire biters, so I tried the human heating pad thing. Bo loved it! I'm going to look into the heated disc thing, the problem is my cats don't have their own "beds", per se, they sleep wherever they want.
Like this:
http://home.comcast.net/~ladidah1/rocky_hanna_bed.jpg
:D THis is funny because Rocky is usually so timid around the cats. Hanna was there first and left him room - he climbed on with her! We got some new memory foam beds for the dogs and piled the older beds up, and it is now the favorite bed in the house.
I have a twin bed sized electric blanket. I can plug that anywhere and the kitties like to sleep on top (or all bunched up in it!) :) These work nice because the kitties "burrow" a little cave in the folds of the blanket so they're covered top to bottom in heat!
My mothers cat has an electric blanket especially for pets, she does leave it plugged in all the time in winter, it seems to work just fine and is safe, but i would enquire when purchasing it, I must try and get one for my old Ash and his arthritis.
When I was living in Ecorse and had no heat in my apartment, I priced heated beds. They can get pricey. Then a lightbulb went off and I thought, "Why not a heating pad?" It has 3 settings and I put it on the kitty hammock covered by a towel. MooShoo LOVES it! It's right next to the radiator.
My brother Jim used an old-fashioned hot-water bottle to make life more comfortable for his senior kitty Athena (now at the RB). Thought it worked MUCH better than a heating pad.
Liz