What's the difference between a cat bed and a dog bed?
Though there are many exceptions, most people tend
to own one of dogs or cats. Dogs and cats can get along, and many families
choose to have both pets in their household, but in general you are going to
find only dogs or only cats, simply because it is easier to care for just
one.
Whichever one you have, chances are you are going
to need a pet bed for them. But if you go to the pet store, you may find
that these beds are all shoved together, often times with both dogs and cats
lying on or near the bed in the photos. Are there differences between dog
beds and cat beds?
Dog Beds
Dog beds come in all shapes and sizes. They have
plain mattresses, large pillow beds, dog house beds – almost every type of
soft item exists as a dog bed. They even have dog beds that directly
resemble couches. Because of the broad range of acceptable “dog beds” they
appear at first glance to be anything soft. Yet in general they will meet
the following criteria:
·
They will almost always be round or
rectangular shaped.
·
They will have very soft cushioning,
sometimes pillow cushioning.
·
They can usually withstand a little bit
of biting, though not always.
Otherwise, dog beds can be pretty much anything
soft that fits its body. Dogs are sometimes large, and they sprawl out, so
you will need to find something that fits a sprawled out dog, but otherwise
anything will do.
Cat Beds
Cat beds are a little different. For starters, cats
need less space, as they always sleep in a circle (unlike dogs that
sometimes sleep in a circle, and sometimes lay out across the floor). Cats
also have a few quirks that change the way their beds are made. Cat beds
will generally have all or some of the following:
·
They are often raised, since cats
greatly prefer to be high.
·
They will sometimes be enclosed, as
though your cat was sleeping in a soft bag.
·
They will usually have scratching posts
attached to reduce scratching on the bed.
·
They will almost never be entirely flat
– at minimum they will almost always have an outer raised edge.
The above criteria are not found on every cat bed,
because some cat beds are simply “pet beds” renamed. But if you located a
cat bad that was specifically designed for cats, there is a high likely it
has at least one of those, especially the last one. The pocket cat bets (the
ones that envelop the cat like a bag) are always made exclusively for cats,
as only cats like to sleep inside little enclosures.
There are not many true differences between cat
beds and dog beds simply because both animals are able to sleep on tough
surfaces, which means that any soft surface acts as an improvement. But that
does not mean there are not subtle differences that you may find between cat
and dog beds.
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