I am thinking about buying my cat a new bed.

[TheOriginalFAB]

My cat is 16 and is ill. Going into the utility room - where she sleeps - there was a strong smell of urine. She has also dribbled on the sofa. I have smelt her bed and it doesn't smell too bad but it stands to reason she has probably dribbled in there too. Given her age and illnesses will it cause her stress to get a new bed or will the fact that it is all new and nicer smelling make it okay? I have tried washing her pad a while ago but the fur doesn't come off and it just makes the nest 3 washes get covered in her fur.

My beautiful moggies have never used any bed I have bought them. Beautiful Moggy girl sleeps on the dog's bed and arrogant posh boy sleeps on a £900 armchair and has totally ruined it (DH bought it before I knew him and took all his money).

A tip for getting a good amount of hairs off is to wipe firmly in the same direction each time, with a damp sponge. It rubs the hairs together in a ball. I have never washed pet beds in the machine even so.

Could you fold a cheap pet fleece blanket and put in the bed instead of the pad, and keep changing it? Or cut up an old fleece blanket so that you have spares? I remember my old cat used to lie on the sofa on a folded up fleece, he wet himself on one occasion, but it didn't soak through. They wash and dry really quickly. The other option might be cutting up an old duvet into pet bed sizes, sew up the cut edges and keep rotating those as they get changed and washed. If it needs to be more padded you could cut it larger and fold over. You could put it in an old pillowcase in the bed if you wanted to keep hairs off the duvet bit. (This last idea another mumsnetter suggested ages ago, it seems like a good cheap idea and it will smell of your family, which should please your cat!) You could wash the duvet bits in the machine and rinse through the pillowcases by hand to keep hair out of the machine. Hope this gives you some options.

I have some fleece blankets that used to be the Guinea Pigs until we got a new washing machine and dh said not to wash the blankets in there. I will try the damp sponge tip, thank you. If all else fails she will get a new bed.