Why I use merino wool for every bed I make

Cats sleep between 12 and 16 hours a day. So whatever they're sleeping on, they're spending a lot of time in it.

When I started making the beds, I knew I wanted to use natural materials. I've always leaned toward natural where I can, and when I started looking into merino wool, the more I learned, the more I wanted to know.

And here's a little bit of what I've found so far.

Merino has a finer fibre than regular wool, making it softer and less likely to irritate sensitive skin. It also naturally resists dust mites and mould, which makes for a cleaner, fresher sleeping environment overall. The wool I use is mulesing-free and dyed with LANASET dyes, which meet Oeko-Tex Standard 100 and EU Ecolabel criteria. A non-negotiable from the start.

Merino is also one of the few fibres that regulates temperature, trapping warmth when it's cool and releasing heat when body temperature rises. Cats tend to run warmer than we do, so a bed that breathes is probably more important than most people think about. Synthetic beds tend to trap heat without releasing it, which can make a cat restless or cause them to abandon the bed altogether. Wool handles that on its own.

Because it's felted, there are no loose threads and no stuffing that shifts around. The structure holds, and it washes well too.

If you want to see the full range, you can find it here. Each one is made and sent by me, here in Melbourne.

How do I clean a merino wool cat bed?
Cold water and a wool-safe detergent. No hot water, no tumble dryer. Wool can shrink or felt further with heat. Reshape it and lay it flat to dry. It'll hold its shape.