Washing pet bedding properly

To wash a dog bed, take it apart into cover, inner and any loose blanket, read the care label on each piece, remove the hair, then wash and dry only what the label allows, as hot as the label allows, and dry every piece right through before reassembling it. The same routine works for a cat bed. The label decides the settings; the routine below decides the order.

Start with the label, not the machine

Covers, blankets and many filled beds carry a care label, and its conventions are set by law in Australia. The ACCC’s care labelling mandatory standard covers clothing, household textiles, furnishings and bedding, and requires instructions in English, the five recognised care symbols, or both. [S4] The five symbols are a washtub for washing, a triangle for bleaching, a square for drying, an iron for ironing and a circle for professional care, and the washtub shows the maximum washing temperature in degrees Celsius. [S5]

So the answer to “what temperature should I wash a dog bed at” is printed on the bed, and it is a maximum, not a target. A cover labelled for a warm wash can also be washed cool; it cannot safely go hotter. A crossed-out square means no tumble drying; a crossed-out washtub means the piece is not for the machine at all.

Not every pet bed carries a full label, and foam and loose-fill inners are the pieces most likely to have separate or missing instructions. Where a label is gone, check the model’s care page or ask the manufacturer before soaking anything. With no instructions at all, treat the piece as spot-clean only.

Step 1: Separate the layers

Unzip the cover and take out the inner. Pull off any blanket, towel or mat on top, and lift the bed off the floor so the surface underneath is exposed. Keep the pieces apart from here on; a bed is several textiles with different rules, not one washable object.

The RSPCA’s dog-care guidance recommends washable rugs, cushions or blankets for extra comfort and warmth, and says bedding should be cleaned regularly. [S1] A loose washable layer on top takes most of the wear and is the easiest part to keep clean, so wash it most often and let the cover and inner follow their own labels.

If the bed does not come apart, check whether the whole thing is machine washable and will fit your machine with room to move. Overfilling the drum leaves the centre unwashed and the inner soaked. A bed too big for the machine and not labelled for hand washing is a spot-clean job.

Step 2: Remove the hair before it goes in

Shake each washable piece outside, then vacuum it with an upholstery attachment, working along seams and the sleeping hollow where hair packs in. Hair that goes into the machine ends up in the drum, the filter and the next load. If fur is a problem beyond the bed, dog fur, floors and a clean house covers the rest of the room.

While the pieces are apart, scrape off anything dried on and note any patch that needs pre-treatment. Dose detergent as its own instructions say; more does not clean a heavier item, it leaves residue in the filling.

Step 3: Wash by the label, one layer at a time

Wash the cover, the blanket and any washable cushion as separate loads or in the combinations their labels allow, using the cycle and temperature each label permits. If the machine offers an extra rinse, use it on filled items so detergent is not left inside the padding.

Keep pet bedding to its own load rather than mixing it with the family’s clothes and towels. That is a hygiene habit rather than a rule: the RSPCA notes that regularly cleaning surfaces, toys and bedding, disposing of faeces properly and washing hands all reduce disease risks in a household with animals, and a separate load keeps hair and grime out of everything else. [S2]

For a piece labelled hand wash, use the laundry tub, water no warmer than the label allows, a small dose of detergent and a rinse until the water runs clear. Press water out rather than wringing, which distorts filled items and seams. Bleach only if the triangle on the label is not crossed out, and follow the bleach product’s own instructions. [S5]

Step 4: Dry it all the way through

A damp inner is the fastest way to bring a smell back. Check the square symbol on each label: if tumble drying is allowed, use the setting the label gives; if it is crossed out, plan for a rack, a line or a sheltered spot with airflow before you start the wash.

Dry filled items until the middle is dry, not just the surface. Turn a cushion or inner partway through and squeeze the thickest part before you decide it is done. In a flat or a wet week, a rack indoors near an open window or under a ceiling fan is slower but works; keep a spare blanket down for the pet meanwhile.

Reassemble only when every layer is fully dry. If the cover comes back clean but the smell returns once the bed is back together, the problem is usually the inner or the floor beneath it, and keeping a dog bed from smelling works through where the odour is hiding.

Cats and small beds

The routine is the same for a cat bed, cave or padded cushion: separate what separates, follow each label, remove hair first, wash by the label and dry right through. Small beds are more often a single stitched unit, so the label question matters more, and a cat bed with no label and a fixed foam base is a spot-clean item. An extra rinse and no fabric softener is the safer starting point for a bed a cat has to accept.

When bedding hygiene is a vet question

Washing is household cleaning. It is not a treatment for anything, and this article does not recommend one.

If your pet has fleas, the RSPCA says the environment needs treating at the same time as the animal because flea eggs end up on bedding, under furniture and in carpet, and its weekly routine until the problem clears includes vacuuming floors and furniture and washing bedding at a high temperature. [S3] Use the highest temperature your bedding’s labels allow, and ask your vet what to use on the animal and the environment, which is where the RSPCA directs that question too. [S3] If the bed cannot take a hot wash, ask the vet and the manufacturer before assuming a cool wash is enough.

The same applies to a pet with itchy skin, hair loss, sores or a coat that keeps smelling despite clean bedding: wash the bed as normal, but the pet is the vet’s call. The RSPCA also expects animals to be kept up to date with worming and external parasite prevention; what that means for your pet is a vet conversation, not a laundry setting. [S2] If the carpet under the bed is part of the problem, getting pet smell out of carpet covers that surface.

Make it a routine you will actually keep

Neither the RSPCA nor the care label sets a fixed number of washes per month, and this article does not invent one. Wash on condition: the top blanket when it is soiled or smells, the cover when the blanket alone no longer keeps it clean, and the inner as its label allows and as needed.

Two things make that sustainable. Keep a second blanket or spare cover so a wash never leaves the pet without a bed, and photograph the care labels on every layer now, while they are still legible, so the settings are already decided next time. If visitors are coming and the whole house needs the same attention, keeping a house with pets smelling normal for visitors puts the bedding wash in order with everything else.

How we checked this: Checked on 22 September 2026 against the RSPCA Australia Knowledgebase pages on caring for a dog, children and companion animals, and fleas, and against the ACCC Product Safety pages on the care labelling mandatory standard and its symbols. The wash order, drying checks, rotation and condition-based schedule are editorial suggestions. No beds, machines or methods were tested, no temperatures or timings are claimed beyond what a care label states, and nothing here is veterinary advice.

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