How to clean a dog bed foam

If you are a proud dog owner than you must be worried about how to clean your dog’s bed foam specially if it is stinking badly. Some dog beds are big and some are small depending upon which dog you own for example if you own a Labrador than you need a larger bed.

Dog experts say that its very good for hygiene of your dog as well as your self that you wash the dog bed once a week. Although that seems tedious but i know you love your dogs and yourself as well so you have to handle this burden. You can also wash the dog bed once in a month.

This is important not only for the bed but if your dog has some toys than you must also wash them as these toys become super dirty when dogs bury them in bud or play with them. Sometimes they are so dirty that i have to throw them away. Dogs can even sleep together on same bed so you may have a larger bed if you have more than one dog. Today i will tell you how you can wash your dog bed, this will be surely a problem for you if the material of the dog bed is not washable.

Washing a smaller Dog bed

If you have a smaller dog bed as shown in figure below you can directly put it in your washing machine or if you don’t have one wash it with your hands. But before that you should also vacuum it using vacuum cleaner to remove any pet hair if present. After that put detergent in the washing machine and clean it. One more thing that when you are washing the foam you also need to clean the bed with anti bacterial liquids available. this is shown in Figure below

After washing the foam just dry it in tumble dryer or open air and put it back in the bed.

 

 

Cleaning a large Dog bed

If you have a larger dog bed as shown in Figure below that is used by large dogs, mostly than in this section I will tell you how you can was it correctly.
I assume and wish that your dog foam or mattress had a washable cover that comes with a zipper as shown in figure below

As you can see the white colored cover over the foam that is actually water proof foam cover. This water proof cover is mandatory as it saves the under lying foam from the bad smell of dog pee. So if you have purchased a newer foam/mattress for your dog, this water proof foam mattress is a must have as you will never have to wash the inner lying foam which is quite a tedious job.

Step 1. Vacuum/ mob the dog bed cover

So the first step in washing the dog foam is to vacuum the bed using a vacuum cleaner to remove all the dog hair on the mattress cover. But better than vacuum cleaner is a dust mob or a swiffer as shown in figure below. The swiffer actually traps the hair in itself and makes your daily life quite easier. Before applying the swiffer put some baking soda over the bed or mattress so that the pet hair that have sticked to the bed can be removed easily. Baking soda actually loosens the hair stick to the foam.

Another very good option is that you should apply microfiber cloth over the mob as shown in image below. You can find such clothes here

If you don’t have a vacuum cleaner or a swiffer, you just remove the cover and shake it out to remove all the dirt, dog hair and debris.

Step 2 Washing the mattress or mattress cover

If you mattress or foam is washable and smaller in size than you can just put it in washing machine and get it washed. It is highly recommended that you wash the dog bed cover with hot water to kill any bacteria and germs present within it. After washing the cover you get it dried in dryer or open air.

Step 3 Washing the dogs bed

The next step is to wash the dog bed after removing cover. inside the cover you mostly have memory foam but that doesn’t need to be washed frequently as its inside a water proof cover. You can even wash the bed once a year for proper hygiene. To do this just remove the cover and put the bed in bath tub. This is shown in Figure below

 

Please make sure that you fill the bath tub with as much possible hot water as possible.  Soak the bed in water as much as possible you can also add vinegar (quarter a cup) in water so that it kills more bacteria. The other benefit of vinegar is that it will remove all the bad smell and odor of dog pee or dog smell from the bed. You can also add any water detergent in the water as well. But make sure to avoid using detergent if you have very sensitive skin. You can also wear gloves to avoid any problems to skin due to warm water, vinegar or detergent present in water. You may have to press and fold the bed with force so that it keeps in under water for almost one or two minutes and absorbs the detergent.

As i have very dry and sensitive skin so i have tested many detergents and this one given below suits my skin and i also recommend it to my readers

Step 4 Dry the dogs bed

You can let the dog’s bed try by let it there in the bath tub for almost 3 to 4 hrs so it releases all the water in it.

When to replace a dog bed

some times dogs are in habit of biting or chewing their bed and that made it torn apart. If that is the case you may try to sew it or the other option is to replace the dog bed specially if all the foam started coming out.

In the end i would like to thank my readers i hope you and your dog have benefited from my experiences and i have brought some ease in your life.Thanks.