Mabel is fifteen years old, gray and white, about eight pounds, and slow to get up in the mornings. Last November the weather turned cold and she quit sleeping on the towel I kept folded by the heat vent. She picked the bare kitchen floor instead, which is hard and cold and about the worst place in this house for an old cat to spend the night. I ordered the Bedsure calming donut cat bed in the 20 inch size that same week. Twelve months later it still sits on the living room floor next to that vent, and it is the only thing I have bought for her that she uses every single day.
I am not a veterinarian and I am not going to pretend a bed does anything medical. What I can tell you is what changed in my house, what the listing actually says, and the ten things about this bed that matter when the cat using it is old. Some of them are obvious. A couple of them are the reason I would buy it again tomorrow.
The bed Mabel picked over the kitchen floor
Twenty inches round, six inches tall, faux fur over a microfiber fill, and light enough to move with one hand. It has been down on my living room floor for twelve months and it is still the first place she goes after breakfast.
Amazon Check Today's Price on Amazon →She steps into it instead of climbing
The bed stands 6 inches tall at the outside, and the middle sits lower than the rim. For a cat who used to take the stairs two at a time and now stops at the top to think it over, that six inches is the whole point. Mabel walks in. She does not climb, she does not launch, and she does not stand at the edge working up to it the way she does with the laundry basket. A bed an old cat can walk into is a bed she will actually use.
The raised rim gives her a place to put her chin
The donut shape leaves a raised rim all the way around, and that rim is the part she uses. She curls up with her chin hooked over it and her nose tucked down. It is the same position she used to take on the back of the couch, except now she does not have to get up there. I did not think about the rim at all when I ordered it. I think about it every afternoon now.
The round shape matches how she already sleeps
Mabel has slept in a circle her whole life. The round shape lets her do that without her head hanging off an edge. A rectangular bed would have worked, I suppose, but she would have ended up pressed into a corner of it, and corners are where old cats get stiff. This one has no corner to press into. The first week I put it down she circled it twice and lay down in the middle. That was the entire adjustment period.
Faux fur over a microfiber fill, soft against a thin coat
The outside is faux fur over microfiber fill, according to the listing. Mabel's coat has thinned out as she has gotten older and she feels the cold more than she used to. The surface is soft against her, and she does not slide around on it the way she did on the bare floor. I am not going to tell you it keeps her warm. I will tell you she chooses it over the tile every single time, and she has never once chosen the tile since November.
Twenty inches is roomy for an eight pound cat
Twenty inches across and about eight pounds of cat is a lot of room. She can ball up tight or stretch out with one leg hanging over the side. The listing puts the maximum weight recommendation at 25 kilograms, which is far more than any cat in this house, and lists the breed recommendation as small. If you have a big male, measure him first. Biscuit is fourteen pounds and he fits, but he spills over the rim when he steals it.
The bottom does not slide on a wood floor
The listing says the bottom is non skid, and on our wood floor it holds. I have watched Mabel get up and walk away and the bed stays where I put it. That sounds like a small thing until you have watched a cat step out of a bed that skidded out from under her, look down at it, and never go back. I have seen that happen with a plastic mat in the kitchen. It does not happen here.
It goes in the machine, which matters more as cats get old
I wash the Bedsure bed on gentle about every two weeks and air dry it on the screened porch. Old cats have off days, and I would rather wash a bed than throw one away. The plush flattens some in the wash. I fluff it back up with my hands while it dries and it comes out looking like itself again. The listing says machine wash, and I have not pushed it past the gentle cycle because I have no reason to.
No cord, no plug, nothing warm left running
A heated bed was the other thing I looked at. I never bought one and I am not going to review one. What I can tell you is why I passed: the heat vent is right there, the outlet is behind the end table, and I did not want a cord running across the floor where a fifteen year old cat walks in the dark at two in the morning. This bed has nothing to plug in and nothing to switch on. It is soft and it is on the floor.
The listing names certified materials, so I read up on it
The listing says the materials are Standard 100 by OEKO-TEX certified, with a certificate number printed right there. I had never heard of it, so I read the listing twice before I ordered. What I took from it is that the fabric has been tested for certain harmful substances. That is all I can tell you about it, and I am not going to stretch it further. It did make me feel better about a bed she sleeps in for hours at a stretch.
There is nothing to maintain, which is not true of everything I own
One of the other things I bought for these cats has a pump I take apart every second Sunday and a filter I swap out. The bed has none of that. I pick it up, shake it out on the porch, and set it back down. It weighs 2.14 pounds, so one hand is plenty even on a morning when I am running late for the five o'clock shift. In a house with four cats, that counts for more than you would think.
What I'd Skip
I would skip a heated version of this, for the reason I already gave: I did not want a cord across the floor, and I have never owned one, so I cannot tell you what I am missing. I would also skip the 20 inch size if your cat is a big male. Biscuit is fourteen pounds and he hangs over the rim of the Bedsure bed whenever Mabel gets up to eat.
And I would skip buying any bed, this one included, hoping it sorts out a stiffness problem. It does not. Mabel still gets up slowly in the mornings and she still takes the stairs one at a time. If your cat is stiff, or has stopped eating, or is drinking more or less than usual, or is missing the litter box, or is breathing differently, that is a call to your vet's office. It is not a shopping trip.
She curls into it with her chin on the rim and stays there for hours. I cannot tell you it does anything for her joints. I can tell you she stopped sleeping on the kitchen floor.
The floor by the vent is where she goes now
Twenty inches round, six inches tall, faux fur over microfiber fill, machine washable, and light enough to lift with one hand. Twelve months in, it is still the first place Mabel goes after breakfast, and I have not had to replace it once.
Amazon Check Today's Price on Amazon →