How to Wash a Pet Bed (and Why It Matters More in Australia)

I learned this the hard way with a bed that couldn't be washed. It was a beautiful thing — a deep, soft, donut-shaped bed I bought for Pip when she first came to live with me, from a shop in Hobart, with a fixed cover stitched closed all the way around. She was sixteen months out of racing and had never slept on anything softer than a kennel floor, and she adored it. Within eight weeks it smelled faintly of wet dog no matter what I did, and by the following summer the whole thing went to the tip.

I replaced it with a cheaper bed that had a zip I could actually reach. That one lasted four years. The zip, not the fabric, was the difference.

Why washability is a requirement here, not a bonus

In a lot of the Northern Hemisphere, a bed washed twice a year is fine. Australia is a different proposition, and not just because it's hot.

Red dust is the one that surprises visitors. In WA, the NT and much of inland Australia, that fine iron-rich dust works into fabric and stays as a pinkish-grey cast that no amount of shaking will lift. A friend in Kalgoorlie unpicked a bed cover after two years and found the fill itself tinged orange.

Then there's coastal living. Sand and salt from Queensland, NSW and Victorian beaches ends up ground into the weave, and salt stays damp and pulls moisture out of the air. Add humidity — the Darwin build-up, a Brisbane February, a still week in Sydney in March — and you have warm moist air sitting in damp fabric, which is where odour and mildew come from. Fabric that would dry in an hour in Canberra stays damp overnight in Cairns and smells by morning.

Fleas are the other local reason. Our season runs longer than most people assume, and a washable bed is part of how you break the life cycle. If you're fighting fleas, the bed goes in the wash the day you treat the animal, and you keep that up for a fortnight.

The routine I actually use

Shake and vacuum first. Always. Take the bed outside, give it a proper shake, then run the upholstery attachment over both sides of the cover and into every seam. Skip this and you'll wash ground-in grit straight through the fabric, then spend weeks fishing hair out of your machine filter. A lint roller beforehand saves an annoying afternoon.

Wash the cover on its own, not with your clothes or the towels. Gentle cycle, cool to warm water, fragrance-free detergent — the same one I'd use for a dog with itchy skin, because heavy perfume in a bed a dog presses their face into is asking for trouble. Use the dose on the bottle, not an extra slug, since detergent that doesn't rinse out leaves residue that holds odour.

No fabric softener. This is the one people argue with, and it's worth explaining why. Softener coats fibres in a waxy film, which is lovely on a shirt and ruinous on anything technical: it strips the water resistance from outdoor bed fabrics and clogs the weave of quick-drying and cool-touch materials. If the cover is waterproof-backed, softener quietly undoes the thing you paid extra for.

If there's been an accident — urine, vomit, a dog who came home from the beach and rolled in something — run a second rinse. One rinse won't clear the enzymes and the detergent together, and anything left behind smells worse once the bed warms under a dog's weight.

How often

Cover fortnightly for most households, and monthly at the outside for a low-shedding indoor dog. The inner pad monthly. Immediately after any accident, any illness, any flea treatment day, and any trip to the beach or a dusty property.

Pip's gets done fortnightly and more often in winter, because a Hobart winter means a wet dog coming in from rain several days a week. If you can smell the bed from a metre away, it's overdue regardless of the calendar. Trust your nose over the schedule.

Odour, and what not to reach for

For urine and vomit, use an enzyme-based cleaner made for pet accidents. The enzymes break down the compounds causing the smell, which is why they work and nothing else quite does. Saturate the area, give it the full contact time on the label, and blot rather than scrub.

Never use ammonia-based products on accidents. Urine contains ammonia, so cleaning with it reinforces the scent cue that tells the animal this is a place to go again. A well-meant mistake that makes the problem worse.

For general freshening, bicarbonate of soda is the cheap answer. Sprinkle it over the dry bed, leave it a few hours or overnight, then vacuum it off. It works on the inner pad between washes too, where you can't easily get a machine to.

The core, and the drying rule

Foam cores generally cannot go in the machine. Agitation tears them apart, and a waterlogged foam slab takes days to dry. Spot clean with a damp cloth and mild detergent, press out moisture with a towel, then be patient — air it somewhere with real airflow and stand it on its edge so air reaches both faces. Memory foam goes brittle and crumbly after one machine wash.

And the safety note I'd put on a sticker if I could: the bed must be completely dry before your pet uses it. A damp bed is a flea nursery and a mildew farm, and damp fabric against skin for hours leads to the hot, itchy patches I see so often in clinic in February. Squeeze-test the seams and the underside before you put it back down, not just the top. In humid weather, a fan pointed at it is worth more than an extra hour of waiting.

Buying with washing in mind

Before you buy any bed, find the zip and open it. Check it runs the full length of one side rather than a short opening you'll fight to get the pad out of, and check the label allows machine washing at all. A bed with a removable washable cover is worth more than a prettier one that isn't. Spare covers are easy to find at Petbarn and most independents now, and a second one on hand means the bed doesn't sit unusable for a day while the first dries.

One last honest note: if your dog has repeated accidents on the bed, or skin that's red and sore rather than just grubby, that's a vet appointment. Washing solves dirt. It doesn't solve a urinary tract infection or an allergy.

Pip's second bed lasted four years because I could unzip it, and her current one is on the same schedule — fortnightly covers, a bicarbonate soda dusting in between, and a full dry before it goes back down. Buy for the zip, wash cool, skip the softener, and never let a damp bed back on the floor. — Tessa, Hobart, with a load of covers currently on the line.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should you wash a dog bed?

Wash the cover fortnightly for most households and the inner pad monthly. Wash immediately after any accident, illness, flea treatment or beach trip. If you can smell the bed from a metre away, it is overdue no matter what the calendar says.

Can you put a whole dog bed in the washing machine?

Only if the label explicitly says so, and usually only for small beds with fibre fill. Foam cores should not be machine washed at all, since agitation tears them apart and they take days to dry. Remove the cover and wash that, then spot clean the core by hand.

What is the best way to remove dog bed odour?

Use an enzyme-based cleaner made for pet accidents on urine and vomit, giving it the full contact time listed on the bottle. For general freshening, sprinkle bicarbonate of soda over the dry bed, leave it several hours, then vacuum thoroughly. Never use ammonia-based products, as urine contains ammonia and it reinforces the scent cue.

Should you use fabric softener on a dog bed cover?

No. Fabric softener coats fibres in a waxy film that removes the water resistance from outdoor bed fabrics and clogs the weave of quick-drying and cool-touch materials. Use a fragrance-free detergent on a gentle cool cycle and add a second rinse after accidents.

How do I dry a pet bed properly in humid weather?

Air dry out of direct sun where possible, stand the bed on its edge so air reaches both faces, and point a fan at it in humid conditions. Make sure it is completely dry before your pet uses it, checking the seams and underside and not just the top, since a damp bed encourages mildew and skin irritation.

Size & Fit Reference

Bed sizing by internal sleeping area, not just the outside measurement. Measure your pet stretched out from nose to base of tail, then add 10–15 cm.

Size	External (L×W×H)	Internal sleeping area	Suits pets up to	Typical pets
S	43 × 32 × 10 cm	~36 × 25 cm	30 cm curled	Kittens, toy breeds, small cats
M	54 × 42 × 11 cm	~46 × 34 cm	45 cm curled	Cavoodle, Pug, average cat
L	66 × 50 × 12 cm	~57 × 41 cm	55 cm curled	Cocker Spaniel, large cat
XL	80 × 60 × 13 cm	~70 × 50 cm	70 cm curled	Kelpie, Border Collie
XXL	95 × 72 × 15 cm	~84 × 61 cm	85 cm stretched	Labrador, two small dogs
3XL	110 × 82 × 15 cm	~98 × 70 cm	100 cm stretched	Great Dane, two medium dogs

Between two sizes, size up. Note that soft polyester fill compresses under weight — for dogs over about 30 kg, a denser foam base will hold its loft far longer than fibre fill.