Home Decorating For Pets

We pet lovers want the very best possible things for our pets. If you have the space, you can create a fun room just for your canine pal. It can be extremely elaborate or quite simple, but your pup will love it! Decide on the budget for your pup's room and plan accordingly.

If your dog is completely housebroken, you can even have a carpeted dog room. If you have a younger puppy that still needs some housebreaking assistance, linoleum is the best possible material for the floor. Carpets may become stained and very smelly as they tend to traps odors. Tile floors can allow liquid to become trapped under and between the tiles which also allows for odors to fill the room. Linoleum is one large piece that goes from wall to wall like carpet with no seams so seepage is unlikely.

Since dogs come in so many sizes so should your furnishings and equipment for the room. While a small dog may love to have a carpet covered box to rest in, a larger dog will be happy with a cushioned, fleece covered pad. Older dogs may need a heated pad to go under their bed to help alleviate arthritis aches and pains. A raised and heated bed for your older dog may be your best bet if he is large. Older small dogs enjoy curling up in smaller spaces, so consider a ferret cozy for him. They resemble an igloo and they are usually lined with lamb’s wool for heat and comfort.

For play time, you can go a little crazy here if you choose to. Take a gander at the many options offered by brick and mortar or online stores for anything from toys and furniture to agility equipment. Keeping your dog's age, size, personality and activity level in mind, try to find things that will occupy your dog's time. Knowing your breed or the main breed if he's mixed, will help you to understand whether you have a chaser, a burrower, a hunter, or a lazy breed of dog that will need to be stimulated before he bothers to get out of his own way.

When selecting toys for your dog it is imperative that you know and understand your breed. Small dogs can play with vinyl toys, soft baby toys and lamb's wool toys. Medium sized dogs normally do well with vinyl dog toys, but larger dogs or dogs with extra strong jaw muscles, such as Pit Bull's, Boxers, and Rotties will need something much tougher like the Kong line of toys. They are virtually indestructible and will save you more money over the long haul.

For calmer breeds or older dogs you may want to purchase furniture for your dog's room. You can find prissy little canopy beds, dressers for dog outfits that have grooming tables on top and beautiful wooden chests to store toys. As you begin to put your dog's room together, follow your breed's instincts. If you have a hunter, hide toys and a couple of treats everyday for him to seek out during the day. If you have a high energy dog, go for a piece of agility equipment for his room. For a Pit Bull you may want to hang a heavy duty ball from the ceiling, but make sure it is connected to a stud and not just the sheetrock. He can easily entertain himself all day.

Decorate your dog's room with wall hangings, up high so they don’t get chewed. You can purchase or create wall hangings of bones and balls, clouds or anything you want! Darker decor will help your dog relax and brighter colors will encourage energetic play. Again keep your dog's breed and instincts in mind as you create his special place and you will quickly have a wonderful room for your dog's enjoyment!

If you are the proud owner of a couple of cats or ferrets, you already know how active they can be. Nurturing their need to be active is a great way to help them exercise and stay healthy longer. If you have the space to devote a small room just for them, here are some ideas to make the room as special as possible for your beloved furry friends. Here again, you can keep the price very low, or you can splurge depending on what you want or what you are able to do.

Any small room will work for this purpose. The first thing you will need to do is completely empty the room and make sure there are no loose baseboards, no holes in the walls, absolutely no escape routs, especially if you plan to house ferrets. If a ferret can get his nose through a hole, he can get his entire body through it. Remove any carpet from the floor. If you leave the carpet, you will need to have access to a shampoo machine that you can run regularly, but you will need to keep the animals off the floor until it is completely dry. Place a door sweep or weather stripping around the closet door to keep them out of the closet.

While the simplest thing to do once the room is prepared is to purchase a kitty castle, which is a carpet covered castle that allow cats or ferrets to climb both in and on with plenty of hiding places for napping. If your budget simply can't stretch that far there are plenty of ways to create a safe and fun structure just for them on a shoestring budget. Begin by shopping the animal isle at your local dollar store. For cats, go crazy on cat toys. For ferrets purchase cat toys, but nothing that contains catnip which can create health problems in ferrets.

Other things to look for in the dollar store are large baskets, laundry baskets, boxes of any kind and of any style, throw rugs, treats, small balls, and stuffed toys, especially anything made from lambs wool. While in any store, ask for corrugated cardboard boxes of varied sizes. Cats and ferrets both enjoy crawling and climbing as well as dark places where they feel safe and protected so they can crash for a short "catnap."

One short trip to the hardware store and you can start to construct an elaborate play room for your ferrets or cats! While at the hardware store you will need to find several wooden shelves and sturdy brackets. While it depends some on the size of the room you are working with, you probably want your shelves to be about 12 to 18 inches long, and for safety reasons try to find shelves that are about 10 to 12 inches wide. If you are creating this room to help exercise an obese cat, your shelves may need to be a little wider. You can paint the room with vibrant colors to stimulate your pets for more fun. Linoleum is the very best product to use as flooring, but it is not mandatory. Depending on your budget, you may want to get the paint and flooring while you're at the hardware store.

After painting and flooring installation, stagger the shelves on the walls so your pets can climb on them, close enough to avoid falls. Set up your boxes and attach them with glue or Velcro dots in such a way that your pet can climb around in them. Place toys in unexpected places for your pet to explore and find on their own. Your pets will love their new domain and they will exercise as they enjoy all you have done for them!