Mrsfitts's Full Review: Petstages Cozy Calming Cat Mat
I have a 16 yr old Pomeranian mix that has been suffering arthritic pains in our brutal California winters. When night time temps got down to 40 deg outside, we knew it was time to take drastic action!
The Search for Comfort
All kidding about California winters aside, when you've got an old friend in "discomfort" The medical profession's word for "PAIN", you want to do for them what they can't do for themselves. We've been searching the Internet and the Brick & Mortar stores for a solution for our old pup who's been waking us up yelping in pain from a stiff neck when the nights get too cold. Nothing gets your attention at 3am like the hollering of a dog that moved wrong in his sleep who hurts until his muscles warm back up again.
We ordered some items off of Amazon.com, but they're not here yet and we needed something "last month". so we continued to look. When we made our weekly Target run, we saw in the cat section He's a very small dog, most cats are bigger! a PetStages Cozy Calming Cat Mat. We checked it out thoroughly to make sure there wasn't any catnip or other herbs for the "calming" part and saw that it was just buckwheat in a cotton & velour wrapping so we tried it.
What Is a PetStages Cozy Calming Cat Mat?
The PetStages Cozy Calming Cat Mat is just an 8" x 8" brightly colored square that looks like any potholder you might make in arts & crafts. The back is a red & orange print while the front is bright green & purple stripes trimmed with yellow piping.
This cozy mat is machine washable, simply remove the buckwheat pouch through the Velcro opening in the back and toss in the washer but use Air Dry only.
To use for your pet, simply toss the whole thing in the microwave for 30 seconds. There are strict warnings for over heating, but I find 45 seconds is what works in my older microwave.
We then place the 8" x 8" square mat in his bed and he decides where he wants the extra warmth.
For those who actually have cats this product claims:
* To help kittens transition from mother cat to your home.
* To provide warmth & comfort for kittens while blending with your family.
* To provide comfort & security to your left-alone cat.
* To provide a cozy safe place to rest and relax with defined boundaries to encourage secure feelings.
Results
This might be kind of scary, but in a good way, but my poor old man seems to be sleeping harder than before, but definitely more at ease. I noticed that the mat's heat barely lasts an hour but that may be enough for my pup's own body heat to kick in and reheat or keep the buckwheat heat in.
On his own, he nuzzles it up to the side of his bed and then rests his head and neck on it like a pillow while sleeping soundly. We've taken it at other times and put it on his back hips and he doesn't even bother to move it for the duration of a long nap.
I had not heard of this company before, but once I/he tried it, I went online to Amazon.com and bought the one for dogs (15" x 6" -not available at Target in my area) and also a burrowing/nesting bed that was shown since the Poms love to nest & burrow.
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