Over the weekend I saw some folks with no-sew fleece blankets for their dog crates at shows. Knowing Beau likes fluffy things, I thought this would be a good way to pad his crate. The pad I describe here fits well in Beau’s crate and I think it’ll work as a travel bed for him as well since it’s pretty small (will easily fit in my Jeep). Since it’s getting close to the gift-giving season, I thought I’d post this in case anyone’s looking for a good present for their favorite pet-lover. It would be easy to make custom sizes for the smallest critters (check the remnant bins to save $$) or even the largest– very few crates are wider than about 40″, even ones for Great Danes. This size is about $13 to make, but could be more or less depending on size and materials used.
I purchased 2 yards of 60″ wide fleece and cut it to roughly the dimensions I needed for Beau’s crate (his crate is 28″ wide by 48″ deep) with an extra 4″ all the way around for the fringing. Pretty much I had the 60″ width of the fleece for the 48″ length of the crate, and the 2 yards folded in half for the 28″ width. I then cut and tied three edges of the fleece (see this page for a better description of this process). I did something a little different from here, I took a piece of 45″ by 60″ (crib/craft size) high loft polyester quilt batting, folded it to the same size as the fleece, and placed it between the two layers of fleece. I figured the poly wouldn’t hold water or moisture the way cotton would. I then completed the blanket as the directions above state.
I did consider using polyurethane foam (available at craft stores and EveryMart) since it would be more firm than the quilt batting. It would also be more expensive. If I do another I will likely use the stiffer foam padding. You could also fill the bed with poly-fil (loose fiber) to make a quick pet bed.