Do You Pad the Crate?

September 22, 2008

For those pups who find safe havens in their crates, it helps to have a comfy cushion to come onto. North, who rests inside one during the day, prefers to drag his crate pad out as soon as I come home and bring it next to me in the living room . . . which means I need to put it back myself every time I leave. I'm thinking of upgrading with an investment in a heavy-duty version like these beautiful Luxury Dog Crate Mattresses ($60) instead of my current lightweight counterpart. Do you pamper a pet by placing a product like this inside his crate?

21 Comments

adogtrio 4 years 32 weeks

my 100 lb, 7 yr old, 3-legged german shepherd has a leopard covered custom memory foam mattress. in the summer, it's topped with a large chillow to keep her cool. my 60 lb, 8+ yr old, one-eyed, nearly-blind, chow chow has a collapsible wire crate set up in a corner of the master bedroom with a fleece pillow topped memory foam mattress and I covered all the wire walls inside the crate including the lip of the entryway to prevent injury. at the foot of the bed, we have an extra large soft sided portable crate for our german shepherd to sleep in at night or to nap in during the day. her crate is lined with a foam floor mat covered by a soft crate pad. my 55 lb foster dog is a 7 yr old one-eyed, blind chow chow who sleeps in her own pop up crate with a blanket topped floor pillow.

GrayC25 4 years 32 weeks

Our 7-month-old yorkie Samson has a Coleman sleeping bag for dogs in his crate. It's an actual Coleman sleeping bag, just mini-sized. It zips up the side, it's totally cushy and has flannel on the inside. Plus, the the bottom is waterproof. Samson loves it! He climbs in and snuggles down into it. It keeps his little 7lb body nice and toasty, especially now that it's colder. We like to keep the windows open just a touch and we feel completely comfortable doing that now.

akrsouth 4 years 33 weeks

We actually have different pads for the different style of crates we have use. The large metal house crates have thick fleece covered pads. The collapsible port-a-crates have thin washable pads and their airline crates have thin high density foam pads.

klreynol 4 years 33 weeks

Logan has a fleecy bed in his kennel, but he usually balls it up and hugs it while he sleeps on the plastic kennel bottom! He's only crated for a little bit at a time - when we're not home - and sleeps on the bed with us at night (which was great when he was 11 lbs, but now that he's 6 months old and 48 lbs ... he takes up a lot of room!!)

lilCROAT03 4 years 33 weeks

for bigger dogs sometimes it's important bc sleeping on hard surfaces after a long period of time can cause hip displacement and other bone related injuries or arthritis.

minhoca 4 years 34 weeks

Belly doesn't really have a cushion.. per.. se... he has a "blankie." He chewed his pillow to pieces so I got him a $4 flannel throw blanket from Family Dollar :). It's worked great. He pulls it out of his kennel, chews on it, drags it around with him.. but the stubborn thing doesn't tear or shred. Easy to wash, too.

ElleJay 4 years 34 weeks

no cuz it would be ripped to shreds in 1.5 seconds!!

tattooedgirl 4 years 34 weeks

Our dogs used to eat the cushions so I found an awesome type of indestructable bed made by Kuranda. They have a few different sizes and the crate bed is great. They are easy to clean and come with a year warrenty (which we haven't had to use because Bear couldn't destroy it, he still hasn't!). I can't recommend this enough!!!

unpocojmoney 4 years 34 weeks

My Riley's crate is lined with comfy blankets, but nothing specifically manufactured for the purpose of lining a crate.

fleurfairy 4 years 34 weeks

My little guy has two soft cushion inside his crate when he sleeps at night. He loves to be snuggly. When he was a puppy when I first brought him home, he couldn't have a pad in there or he would pee on it. Ugh housetraining was exhausting, I'm glad we're done with that phase...

j4everlasting 4 years 34 weeks

All of Newton's crates have a pillow in the bottom, and blankets . The little bugger loves to 'nest' and 'burrow' in blankets, so I always make sure he has the option.

baltimoregal 4 years 34 weeks

I use a blanket because she chews on anything stuffed.

CocoChic 4 years 34 weeks

Yep. We have a sheepskin thing that is bolstered around the edges. She loves it!

Ellenora 4 years 34 weeks

If your potty training, cushions aren't all that great alba. Otherwise, they're fine. Zena has a cut pad that came from the sleeping pads we used when we went camping. On top of that, she has a fluffy bed and some of her killed stuffed toys and a pillow I hand-made for her. She doesn't sleep in her crate, but we make sure it's comfortable when she wants to have alone time (she goes in her crate when she wants me-time).

alba 4 years 34 weeks

if you are trying to house-train your dog isn't it best to not have a cushion in case of accident??

BalooB 4 years 34 weeks

Bella has a bed in her crate. I just got tired of her mats/ beds/ cushions being all over the house, so she has a cushion in the family room, one upstairs and then her bed is in her crate, which is always open.

itsme3683 4 years 34 weeks

Chester didn't like having the pad in it (I guess he's more into hard surfaces?) so we just took the foam pillow out of the cushion so it's just the "lambskin" cover for softness/warmth.

OhMyDragonflys 4 years 34 weeks

I think it's the only option. I wouldn't want to lay on cold metal, why would my dog?

Renees3 4 years 34 weeks

oh no foxie, that's so sucky! I wish I had some words of wisdom for you. Is your cat a male that's "marking" it? Is he fixed? I think I've heard of stuff to spray on things so they won't pee there, maybe look into that? B-Bop does have a cushion in his crate, he loves it, because it's all snuggly. In the winter we throw a blanket in there and he actually moves it with his mouth to cuddle in. I love it

foxie 4 years 34 weeks

We're having a problem with our cat peeing on our dog's crate cushion. I have no idea what to do. =(

moonlissa 4 years 34 weeks

Sadie Grace is no longer crated during the day, but when she was she had a crate pad on the bottom. When I got rid of her crate I put the crate pad on the sofa. That is the spot she lays on when she is on the sofa (I was hoping to reduce the amount of hair on the sofa, and it worked!). I also invested in a good bed with bolsters that is in the spot her crate was in. Those are the only two spots where she will lay down.

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