Cleaning Cat Beds

How do we clean our cat beds?  Well, it depends on the level of cleaning disaster we are dealing with. Here are some of our tips, tricks and tools. We would love to hear your suggestions, so let us know if you have any tips or tricks. 

The first step is to remove excess hair, and I love these tools:

The Lilly Brush® is a great tool for removing excess cat hair. It works well on the Cat Ball® cat bed, and you'll also find that it works well on furniture and other fabrics. You can get it at this Amazon link, and other places. It costs about $20 and the rigid plastic handle and firmly attached bristles feel like they will last forever. 

The Carrand brush isn't as pretty as the Lilly Brush®, but it is great on smooth cotton fabrics and I think it will probably work on carpet or furniture. It fits well in my hand. Here is a link on Amazon. This brush costs about $7, and it is soft and rubbery. 

I like to start with one of these brushes and remove most of the cat hair with them. If I am cleaning a really hairy Cat Ball® (oh my!) then I turn the bed inside out. I remove as much hair as I can using these tools, then finish the job off with a sticky lint roller tool like these. 

This is a simple roller that uses electrostatic charge to pick up hair. The hair is gathered in the compartment, and you flip the lid up to remove the hair and clean the roller. It's totally mechanical. It works as well as the sticky, tear-off sheet rollers, but without the waste. This tool is a bit more expensive, costing around $25 - $35, but it is well made, it performs well and will last a long time. You can get the Chom Chom Roller from the manufacturer or on Amazon. I'm really happy with mine. 

Dealing With Gross

If a cat pukes inside a Cat Ball® cat bed, I often don't realize it right away, which means the puke could dry up. When this happens, you can turn the bed inside out and brush the puke into the trash. A stiff brush or dry dish scrubbing sponge can come in handy now to remove leftovers. If there is still wet vomit, I like to dump baking soda on it, which helps to soak the wet up. When it is all dry I just brush the puke and baking soda into the trash.

Is it poop? Oh, I'm sorry this happened to you. If it's wet, think about dumping baking soda on the mess to help absorb the liquid. Your next step is the washing machine, and it's OK to use commercial laundry pre-treatment products on our fabrics, just follow the manufacturer directions on these products. 

The Washing Machine

1. Remove any excess hair or chunks of poop or vomit. 
2. It's OK to use pre-treatment if there are gross stains, just follow manufacturer instructions. 

Do you have a top loading washing machine or a front loading machine? The instructions are a little different for each type.

Front Loader - This is easy

1. Use cold water
2. Do not use bleach
3. If you are washing a shark Cat Ball® cat bed, turn it inside out (to protect the eyes)
4. It's OK to turn a Cat Ball® inside out, too. 
5. Wash your Cat Ball®

Top Loader - Pay attention!

1. Wash your cat bed alone, don't put anything else in the wash. 
2. Use cold water
3. Do not use bleach
4. If you are washing a shark Cat Ball® cat bed, turn it inside out (to protect the eyes)
5. It's OK to turn a Cat Ball® inside out, too. 
6. Wash your Cat Ball®

Drying Your Cat Ball® or Cat Canoe®

• Use the Low dryer setting. You don't want these cotton fabrics to get too hot, because cotton shrinks.
• Leave your shark Cat Ball® turned inside out

Shark Hints

Now that your shark Cat Ball® is clean and dry, turn it right side out. You can iron the fins, just use a hot iron and some steam. Do not iron the shark's body, only the fins. 

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Did I cover it all? Do you have any questions about cleaning your Cat Ball® cat bed or your Cat Canoe®? Do you have any great tips for cleaning the Cat Ball® (or other ped beds)? We would love to learn from your experience. 

 

This is our web page on cleaning the Cat Ball® cat bed.