I make a seasonal change to my pets bed. They use their plastic crate for a bed on a regular basis. The door is always open unless I need to transport them in the crate.
The seasonal change is for helping them stay nice and warm on a cold day or night. I line the inside walls including the ceiling and floor of the crate with Reflectix. That is easy to do, one single piece wraps around the top, bottom and the two long sides. a second piece covers the rear wall. The clear packaging tape typically used for mailing boxes works great for sticking the Reflectix in place. For the bed cushion I put a small memory foam bath mat in the bottom for a cushion to sleep on. Memory foam holds onto their body heat better than other types of foam. You can add extra fleece fabric in for a blanket to snuggle into if you wish to do so. The animals do radiate a lot of body heat so with this bed in a box they can use that reflected heat to keep much warmer. I have two cats so they have a medium sized dog crate for their bed. Some days it is hard to get them to come out of it because they love lounging in all that warmth while still looking out at what is going on."
An alternative crate liner with a Reflective surface that retains even more heat is to use one of the 1/4" thick EVA foam sleeping bag pads that has the shiny mylar bonded to one side of it. One mat will line a plastic crate, so not too expensive. I found a new one for $5.00 at a discount, dollar type of store. The EVA foam does have some R value to it.
Of course it will also help if you put a fleece (pajama) coat on the animals. It is easy to find them in pet stores at this time of year.
The seasonal change is for helping them stay nice and warm on a cold day or night. I line the inside walls including the ceiling and floor of the crate with Reflectix. That is easy to do, one single piece wraps around the top, bottom and the two long sides. a second piece covers the rear wall. The clear packaging tape typically used for mailing boxes works great for sticking the Reflectix in place. For the bed cushion I put a small memory foam bath mat in the bottom for a cushion to sleep on. Memory foam holds onto their body heat better than other types of foam. You can add extra fleece fabric in for a blanket to snuggle into if you wish to do so. The animals do radiate a lot of body heat so with this bed in a box they can use that reflected heat to keep much warmer. I have two cats so they have a medium sized dog crate for their bed. Some days it is hard to get them to come out of it because they love lounging in all that warmth while still looking out at what is going on."
An alternative crate liner with a Reflective surface that retains even more heat is to use one of the 1/4" thick EVA foam sleeping bag pads that has the shiny mylar bonded to one side of it. One mat will line a plastic crate, so not too expensive. I found a new one for $5.00 at a discount, dollar type of store. The EVA foam does have some R value to it.
Of course it will also help if you put a fleece (pajama) coat on the animals. It is easy to find them in pet stores at this time of year.
