Every winter, Charlie our cat, migrates from his rather deluxe cat home to sleeping under the covers of our bed (no doubt deciding his cat home is unsuitable for a Melbourne winter).  Migration usually takes place every night after we fall asleep, leaving Jen and I to awake with a warm cat curled up at our feet. Now I would be the last to say that this was unpleasant, as of course we love our cat, however being woken every night during the working week was getting to be a little too much so the search for a cure began.

Using my powers of perception (aka searching on Google.com) it became clear that our cat was simply searching for a warmer place to sleep.  Although he had a cat home this was obviously not considered to be warm enough, so we investigated the options and decided to purchase a heated cat bed.

What it is

The bed itself is a foam mattress with a cover and an electric blanket type bladder that fits underneath the cover between the cover and mattress.  It simply then plugs into the mains power to heat up.

The good

The bed works like an electric blanket and hence is very easy to operate; the bed that we purchased had one temperature setting built in and hence you simply plug the bed in and turn it on each evening.

In addition, the cover is removable and machine washable making cleaning the bed a breeze.  The power cord is  also covered with a safety sheath which is both chew and liquid resistant.  So too is the heatable bladder. 

The not so good

I am hard-pressed to pick a fault with this bed. A very minor complaint would be that it would be great if there was a built in timer to turn the bed on/off at particular times.  This I am sure is available in more deluxe models / versions of similar beds  and in any case is easily overcome with a traditional plug timer.

In summary

The bed works like a dream and has stopped the annual migration from cat home to our bed with our cat Charlie.  The bed has been reliable, uses very little power and has been easy to clean.  All in all, I highly recommend using a heated bed to keep your cat (or dog) warm during the winter months (and to regain control of your bed!).

Verdict: 9/10

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