Luxury Fur Sleeping Mat

I used to think that my cat had the best fur until I found these faux furs.

High quality faux furs are amazing textiles. It’s just incredible to see yards of a continuous plush fantasy leopard fabric, a giant rectangle of warm novelty fur that is waiting to become something fabulous and creative. The attention to details in the length, texture, density, and sheen are incredible, and the fanciful color decisions are entertaining. I have no idea how faux fur is made. How do machines even create this stuff?

We got the camera out, and Tink arrived

We sourced some fantastic faux fur textiles and they are too thick and heavy to use to make our Cat Ball® cat beds, so I had to think of a different way to use them: I decided to create flat sleeping mats.

Tink sits on a stack of prototype luxury fur cat sleeping mats. These removable cushion covers are made with luxury faux fur and a coordinating cotton and are washable.

These mats use a high-quality faux fur on the top and the underside is a coordinating cotton fabric. There is an envelope closure on the back so you can easily remove the outer case and wash it or insert a different cushion in the cover. These beds are shipped with a ½” foam insert that can be removed, replaced, and washed separately with the bed. You don’t have to use the foam, you could put a pillow form, batting or a folded towel inside the case. The foam has a fun floppy character and gives the bed a well-defined shape.

This pink fur is short, shiny, swirled, and very soft

The mats measure about 19” x 17” and can be used alone or inside or on top of other cat beds, cat trees, and cat carriers. You can shove the mat inside a Cat Ball® and it will stick out the front and I think cats will find the shape and padding appealing.

Novelty Leopard Fur

This gorgeous faux fur has the rosette camouflage pattern characteristic to leopards, made here in a fantasy color variation. This fur is chinchilla like in the depth and touch, and has a definite nap. 

Washing This Bed

During our prototyping phase Retro puked on the cotton fabric side of a sleeping mat. I took the foam out of the cotton cover, sprayed a stain pre-treatment on the bed, and washed the two pieces together in cold water (I use cold to keep the cotton from shrinking). I let both components air dry and the puke stain washed out just fine. We haven’t tested cat puke on luxury fake fur yet, but I’m sure there will eventually be an opportunity. I would handle this by first removing any large pieces. I would consider brushing the fur if it looked like the vomit had caked the hairs together, then I would probably wet and gently pre-wash the area in the sink before taking it to the washing machine.

Machine wash on gentle with cold water, right side out, do not bleach, 

When testing the washing I found that I preferred to wash the bed right side out. If the bed is dried flat or on the line you can fluff the fur by hand or dry the still slightly damp bed in the dryer for a short time. If you put it in the dryer I recommend using the Low heat setting. I tested washing/drying with the foam pad removed.