What filling to use for a homemade cat bed?

[JHolcomb]

I've been embroidering fleece blankets to give to my little cousins for Christmas. Well, trying to anyway. Tiva keeps "helping" me. It seems like she's taken a real shine to the fleece material, and if we leave a pillow on the floor, she'll gravitate towards that and sit on it like a throne, so I thought that I would make her a pillow/bed of her own out of fleece (combining best of both worlds for her). I want to make it myself so that I can embroider it with her name and a little design. I'm planning on getting some fleece from the fabric store, cutting out two rounds, embroidering it, pinning and sewing (by hand), then stuffing. Just like a pillow. But I was wondering what the best material for the stuffing would be. DH said that he wants her to have something that will do some shifting, so that she can make a little dent in it to cuddle into (she really seems to like doing that on the back of our couch :rolleyes: ). Any ideas?

[beejayw1]

I'd use the stuffing you can buy for pillows at places like JoannEtc. It's like fiberfill. (My cats love pillows of any sort)

If you have a geriatric cat, I'd suggest putting some down in there too.

Cute idea; let me know if you decide to sell any! ;)

[CompassRose]

If you can find 'em, buckwheat hulls make a really nice stuffing. They breathe, they shift, and they are very comfy. (They're used for meditation cushions, and our cats are very fond of our meditation cushions.) When A. made our cushions, he got the hulls from someone who makes those neck pillows for travellers.

Here's an online source (http://www.seaswell.com/Products/Buckwheat/Buckwheat_Hulls.htm) for buckwheat hulls.

[sharris315]

if you encase the stuffing material (whatever you use) in its own separate cover--light-weight cotton, or other--it will be easy to remover the inner "pillow" to wash the cover.

Tiva knows what she likes--goes to show that cats definitely know how to make their wishes known :) Monogrammed bedding--how luxurious!!

[JHolcomb]

Originally posted by sharris315
if you encase the stuffing material (whatever you use) in its own separate cover--light-weight cotton, or other--it will be easy to remover the inner "pillow" to wash the cover.

Tiva knows what she likes--goes to show that cats definitely know how to make their wishes known :) Monogrammed bedding--how luxurious!!

Yeah, I get kinda bummed seeing how little really cool stuff there is for cats (vs all the dog stuff). So while I'm an embroidering rampage, I thought it'd be fun to make her a little something. She's so spoiled.

I was thinking about filling w/buckwheat. Thanks for the website---I'll have to check it out. Making the cover removable would be a good idea....I don't have a sewing machine and my sewing skills are very limited, but I'll bet I could use velcro to secure the cover over the encased filling (hand sewing a zipper is way out of my league). She doesn't get things stinky or dirty (just furry), but with my luck I'd spill something on it.