Ideas for cushioning for plastic basket?

gemmaj

I'm after money saving advice for my "doggy-do-over". For those who saw my previous post I very sadly lost my darling doggy Max a week ago. I have a second dog, another greyhound. She has been rather difficult and so for a while my local animal shelter have been looking for a home for her - but since I would be the second home to give up on her, no one wanted her. Now that she is a single dog, I can devote all my effort to her and I am determined to keep her. I have been planning on her going for a while, so haven't "invested" in new beds etc, but instead I lost my gorgeous boy, so anyway (sorry I've got a little side tracked) its all change in my house... but I have not much money to fund the change...

She did have a settee (a long story) but I have replaced the yucky smelly settee with a plastic oval dog bed. I currently have a double duvet in it (which was Max's for the car) but it doesn't fit very well and so looks ridiculous! I would love suggestions for something cheap (or free?!) I could put in it for comfort. So far I have thought of a single duvet and duvet cover, if I can find either at a charity shop - but they are tricky to find around here, believe it or not. A pillow might be a bit small, the bed is 35" long. Any more ideas? Could I cut my double duvet smaller, or will it just fray?

sammy_kaye18

Hi Gemma

Sorry to hear about Max. Our dog Bruno has the same bed size as you baby does (sorry you didnt mention doggy 2s name!)

Anyway we did have a double duvet crammed in there but we found if we had a single duvet - folded it in half and sewed the sides up it made a good sized cushion that he could cuddle into - we then got a duvet cover and sort of converted it - we measured the now duvetish pillow, measured the cover, then cut it across the middle - ok that bit sounds easy

so you have a top and bottom piece, we then sewed up the top hole on the bottom part (so you have button/popper edge as it was but smaller) then on the top part the top seam is still there and we made little tie ups for each side - still with me???? hope so

so we now had two doggy bed covers so we have a spare when one is cleaned. Do you get what i mean?? :rotfl: :rotfl:

is hard to explain but really not when you see/do it. Our jack loves his bed. Am looking to make him a new one - he has a bed in the hallway which he dubbed his room (he sleeps in hallway in night as he has a tendancy for chewing) but i want a nice basket for the living room for him

gemmaj

Thanks sammy-kaye, thats the sort of thing I was thinking of (so long as I can find a single duvet, am car booting tommorrow!). Oh, and my doggies called Jez, should have thought to mention that really!

(Had a lovely letter/bill from the local animal shelter the other day, saying "sorry for your loss etc, in accordance with your wishes your dog Jez has been cremated..." :eek: At least it made me laugh instead of crying, lol! I even looked to check that Jez was happily sleeping in the lounge. Talk about a clerical error!)

Savvy_Sue

Freecycle - google that plus your local area! You'll have to register and some groups have limits on how soon you can ask for something, but you may get a freebie that way!

Fleago

Hi Gemma,

I'm sorry to hear about your lad, Max. It's horrible to lose a much loved dog.

What about something like this if you don't want to be creative using duvets and covers (am very impressed with your ingenuity, sammy_kaye!) or can't find anything carbooting? I can't vouch for this company - I found it doing a google search for dog bed inserts.

This one has a special offer of a free extra cover and the medium size at £10 would surely fit Jez's bed, but if you look around on the site, they have different patterns on the cover if Jez is fashion conscious. Mind you, I don't know what the p & p would be to Guernsay, but it says on the site that it starts from £2.25.

Hope this helps,

Fleago

sammy_kaye18

Fleago wrote: »

(am very impressed with your ingenuity, sammy_kaye!)

Thank you much.

Our pooches is being washed at the minute - walked past this mornign and thought 'phew thats a bit whiffy!' not sure if it was the dog or the bed though so have taken a risk and cleaned both! :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: baby shampoo ona jack russell leavesthem lovely and soft mind you! (and before anyone gets on it was the tiniest dot to help get the mud off from his walk earlier)

frugallass

I use an old cotton sleeping bag (like the kid's ones) in my dogs bed - try your local charity shops or ask friends / family if they have any hiding in their linen cupboards

I wash the bedding about once every week or two and he seems happy with it

oystercatcher

Our two had sheepskin bed liners for christmas. We bought 'seconds' from Skyeskins they were quite expensive but I'm wondering if you could maybe get something like that from freecycle or friends/relatives ? Sheepskins can be machine washed on a wool cycle so it wouldn't matter if they were a bit 'used ' looking. Our dogs love them.

Oystercatcher

Dennis99

My two have bedding made from cheap Wilkinsons single duvets doubled up and then as my missus is a dab hand with the sewing machine she buys fleece material and makes covers which have velcro to close them at one end so they can be taken off and washed.

lostinrates

oystercatcher wrote: »

Our two had sheepskin bed liners for christmas. We bought 'seconds' from Skyeskins they were quite expensive but I'm wondering if you could maybe get something like that from freecycle or friends/relatives ? Sheepskins can be machine washed on a wool cycle so it wouldn't matter if they were a bit 'used ' looking. Our dogs love them.

Oystercatcher

You can wash sheepskins? really? Thats wonderful news! my cats love them but goodness, cleanng has been an issue. I've been using dry shampoo and a hair brush!

LillyJ

I use a single duet for my dog's bed, it is so easy to wash.
I got the cheap one from asda for about £5 (I think) and a cheap duvet cover for about £4? So about £9 in total. Our dog loves it and now actually sometimes just looks at me in the morning rather than getting up and being hyper, because he is so comfy!