Hello everyone. I hope you can help.
I have a twelve year old Retriever. She has several beds dotted around the house, all pretty comfortable I would think. Her night time bed currently has an old continental quilt folded up inside it to give her that extra bit of support. But I feel that she needs a special bed that will make her as comfy as possible now she's older and beginning to get creaky in her joints. She's beginning to have problems getting up, and seems to find it more difficult to get comfortable nowadays. I've been looking at a range of beds by Orvis, but before I fork out around £150 for a bed, I thought I'd just make sure that there are none better. Orvis also sell a memory foam bed in their range, but hubby and I tried one of those, it felt pretty hard to me and I didn't much like it. 

A tall edge to the bed, seems to make her feel more secure, so that's essential, aside from that I want something that's going to be cosy and give her legs maximum support. So a good base is also needed. Some of the Orvis beds have open fronts which might help her as she'd be able to stretch her legs out of the front whilst still having the support around the sides and back. There are so many beds on the market, but I still don't know which one to go for.

She's also taken to wandering around in the night, and I'm wondering if part of the problem might be because she needs to stretch her legs. A decent bed might give her a decent night's sleep.. with the added bonus of giving me one as well.

Any ideas would be hugely appreciated. Thank you.

AnnieT

Hi AnnieT :)

No help on the dog bed front I'm afraid as my dogs are happy to sleep on the carpet anywhere but just wanted to mention that I have a 14 year old Golden Retriever who also has periods of getting agitated and wandering around a lot at night.  I took him to the vets for a full check and they agreed with me that it was probably senility.  Initially they prescribed valium for him which did help a lot with the sleeping but unfortunately, as it is a muscle relaxant, it didn't do much for his rather weak back legs.  He's now off the valium and I bought a DAP diffuser and most nights he sleeps OK.  He does have a younger companion though which maybe reassures him at night.  Wanted to mention my experiences to you as your dog's nighttime wanderings may have nothing to do with her being comfortable in bed.

Have you tried giving your dog things like Cortaflex, green lipped muscle extract, glucosamine/chondroitin, which might improve her mobility?

Hope this helps.

Annie, I have a 12 year old Golden at the moment.  She still sleeps on a deep duvet and is comfortable.  I have just put her on TopSpec mobility and she also has a Glucosamine tablet. I have found quite a difference in her gait, mobility and attitude since she has been on TopSpec. She seems happier in herself and has started trying to wind up the others again by stealing their toys etc. She has arthritis in her front paws and has quite a high hip score but seems more comfortable than she was. As for the bed I would just ensure that the duvet is quite thick, I don't think you need to spend out on an expensive bed.  You could purchase the very large soft bed with sides and put the duvet in for extra comfort. (Not explaining this very well) It is made out of fur fabric and has a lower side to the front!

Aside from having high sides (which they don't) I've found BioBeds from Overhill to be brilliant for arthritic dogs.

Debs

I ordered a bed from these people. It's fantastic, and friend and I bought together and we both got the orthopedic foam. It cost the same to ship 3 beds as 1 so buying together worked well and it was only around £100 total price including import and shipping. You can remove the foam and chuck the whole thing in the wash and the microfibre fabric is dead easy to clean and get hair off of. We love it! I have a Golden and she has a rottie who shares his with 2 small mutts.