ADVICE ON DOG BED PLEASE - Page 1

My girl is coming home tonight from her knee sergury and I am looking for a very good bed for her. I just bought 2 beds from petco 3-4 months ago but they are concaved in the middle already and pretty much worthless in my eyes. I contacted a local matress factory and they could make me a custom 5" thick mattress with the top layer memory foam which sounded great but it will cost $230.00. So I continued researching and found that a quality mattress may very well cost me $200.00. I would like to know if anybody could recomend a mattress that will hold it's shape and actually be an orthopedic mattress and not just a conveluted foam that compresses to 1"and stays there. My girl is a 85lb gsd.  thanks as always.  JOHN

 John,

If you are CERTAIN your dog is not going to get bored and end up chewing, or worse yet, eating a bed, call around town to some furniture repair shops. They will likely have some very dense foam material you can purchase. Even putting several stiff camping rolls for humans together can also work just fine. You can pin or otherwise wrap a sheet around this and it should suffice.

There are plenty of bed manufacturers on-line with orthopedic beds, but dog beds that really are like you describe will be expensive. The dog probably really doesn't need a mattress, and, in fact, it may be harder for her to get on it. Even a nice set of folded moving blankets might do just fine. But, be sure to supervise the dog. Dogs who are recovering sometimes get bored and if they eat bedding, you might end up with an equally expensive surgery to save the dog.

Good luck.

Zin, Did you do a google search on Orthopedic Dog Beds? I found many  choices that don't cost near the $200 you mention. They include the use of the memory foam, too.

If you have a  costco, they carry the memory foam lots of the time. Also, I would use for a while the egg crate foam, helps with pressure points.

My dog eats foam, its dangerous.

Does the dog really need a special bed?

Moons.

My dogs do not eat there beds so that is not a worry. I just want to buy a good quality 5-7 " tall bed to keep her comfy. She loves to lay on beds so giving her a quality bed is my goal. I can look on line and the write up is good but I was hoping someone already purchased a bed that they were happy with because I don't want to waste any more of my money an a crap shoot. I liked the idea of a furniture repair shop since I can see and feel what I am getting. I think a bed would be best with 2 materials the bottom being firmer and the top layer being memory foam but thats just my opinion. Thanks for the help and I will figure something out.

Just a thought,
Go to Sportsman's Guide, key word search Dog Beds.
I don't know if any of these would be what your looking for or not but I have a friend who loves the one he bought for his Lab.

Moons.

If you're a crafty-type person you can usually find foam at Joann's or WalMart.  I'd just cover it with a washable blanket.  You can get it cut to the size you need.
 
Here's a link to making a raised bed out of pvc pipe if you want her up off the floor a little bit. You could make it shorter and add egg crate foam on top.  www.wiretheskiesblue.com/dogbed/instructions.htm

Years ago one of our dogs had ACL surgery and she had a hard time getting comfortable because she didn't really fit in her crate and she couldn't sneak up on our bed.  We ended up just making a huge pile of quilts (I'm a quilter) in our bedroom until she got the cast off.

Opal

After a full day of researching for a quality dog bed I was lead to a company called MAX COMFORT. This is the only memory foam dog bed made in the USA and it is superior to any other memory foam because all others are made over seas and have fillers added to the memory foam. With memory foam you typicaly can not wash it because of the fillers but if you needed to you could wash the one purchased from MAX COMFORT because it has no fillers. They also sell a cover that is waterproof if you wish to upgrade your cover along with color choices. They even build custom beds . They sell a 4",6",and an 8" bed that can accomodate all different weight animals. A dog weighing 100 lbs or less only needs the 4" bed.Now these beds are not cheap but they are guaranteed not to sag and they will be the last bed you will ever have to buy.
I spoke with a guy named Woody and he was fantastic giving me a lot of information and guidance. I just wanted anybody who is looking for the best orthopedic bed for there pet this is it.       http://www.maxcomfortusa.com/

Zin,

Let us know what you think of the bed. They are pretty pricey. I know of one that was less than half of what you paid. IF the foam is really dense, great, but I hope you won't be disappointed. As you know, sales people sell...... 

Good luck and I hope the dog heals quickly.