Buying a Dog Bed for an Older Dog - Tips You Need To Know

Beds for Older Dogs

As we all know (or will learn) aging requires changes in our daily life styles. While at one point in our lives we may have run 3 miles daily, at another point, just walking a mile can be something to celebrate about. Going camping and sleeping on the ground may have been no problem as a youth, but with age, crawling into the tent and then spending the night on the cold, hard ground is not only not fun, but in some cases impossible. The same is true for your best friend.

As a puppy your dog may have loved to play fetch, sleep in on cool concrete and swim whenever possible. Now however, after several years of hard play, your dog isn’t as spry as he used to be. You notice the limp in his walk, the painful way he sits down, and the difficulty he has in getting up from lying down. You want to help, but you aren’t sure how. A great place to start is with his dog bed. What follows are some tips to help you chose the right bed to make your dog’s golden years his best yet.

1. Decide to get a bed

While he may not have needed or wanted a dog bed as a puppy, your senior dog can only benefit from a bed. Can you imagine your grandmother sleeping on the floor? Not only would she be angry; she would be incredibly uncomfortable. The same goes for your dog. Sleeping on the hard ground is not easy for an older dog, and while they might keep their mouths shut about it more than your grandmother would, they still don’t enjoy it.

2. Get a new bed.

Dog beds are very similar to human mattresses. The newer the bed the better functioning it will be. For one, a new bed will be cleaner. If your dog has skin problems or allergies, a previously owned dog bed can irritate these conditions if the bed was not cleaned, or if was it constructed so that a full cleaning is not possible. Even more important than the cleanliness of the bed is the functionality of the bed. The internal structure of most dog beds degrades over time. If your dog needs a bed due to pain when lying down, a bed that is several years old will most likely offer little to no comfort compared to the floor. There are some dog bed manufactures that do offer dog beds which are durable over the long run. Their beds can last, without structural degradation, for years. Such durable beds tend to be made of memory foam rather than ‘ordinary’ stuffing.

3. Choose the type of bed

As alluded to, there are two basic types of dog beds on the market. There are ‘ordinary’ stuffed dog beds, and memory foam dog beds. The stuffed beds are much like a giant pillow. When they are new they are fluffy and soft, and they seem to offer your aching best friend some respite from his pain. Stuffed beds are also often much less expensive than memory foam dog beds. However, over time stuffed dog beds begin to deteriorate. Like a human pillow, after a while, the stuffing in the bed begins to flatten, clump or spread out, leaving areas with no stuffing at all. For an older dog, especially one with joint or muscle pain, this is not good. What then happens is your dog develops pressure points when he sleeps. The parts of his body that need to be supported and cushioned the most suddenly are not as the stuffing loses its structure and spreads out. Your dog could be sleeping on his bed, but his hips could be in contact with the floor below him. This creates pressure where he does not want pressure.

4. Orthopedic Memory Foam Dog Beds

Then there are memory foam dog beds. While not all memory foam dog beds are created equally, memory foam offers a better way to cushion and support your dog. Memory foam is designed to contour to your dog’s body. What this means is that when your dog lies in a memory foam dog bed, his sore front right leg is supported without pressure, just like his other three legs. Memory foam is designed to eliminate pressure points, unlike ‘ordinary’ stuffed dog beds. Memory foam does not, like ordinary dog bed stuffing, spread out over time. It does not clump and it does not flatten. That being said however, just like all things in life, over time everything starts to fall apart. What is most important when selecting a memory foam dog bed is the quality of memory foam. The higher quality of foam, the longer the life span of the bed. Buddy Beds is one company that makes several types high quality memory foam dog beds which are designed to keep their shape and structure for years.

Buying your aging best friend a dog bed is one of the first steps to easing the everyday strain of age. By purchasing a bed you are opening the doors for your dog to sleep sounder, to sleep longer, and to sleep without pain. You’ll be delighted to see how something as simple as buying a dog bed can translate into both better nights, and days, for your best friend.