Hand-Knitted Felted Cat Beds by Wrapt on Etsy

 If you're still uninitiated, the online craft bazaar Etsy ranks high among the internet's great troves of hand-made pet paraphernalia.  Like with any craft bazaar there's a fair amount of frendschämen-inducing schlock thrown in the mix, but it's also easy to find excellent shops boasting unique, high-quality fare at reasonable prices.

One such shop is Wrapt, which specializes in fine hand knits ranging from scarves to little decorative bowls.  What caught my attention though were the delightful hand-knitted felted Peruvian wool pet beds featured in their pet section (ETA 2/23/11 now moved to the new WraptCats!) The beds come in a wide array of colors, making it easy to find one to fit your palette of choice.  Unlike commercial pet beds, which favor mystifyingly garish patterns and colors, these have the potential to act as little accents for your decor.  I wanted a bed that would fit with the colors in my living room, so for my first purchase I chose the whimsical "Victoria," (see below right).

Asdis models the "Victoria"

Full disclosure: I wasn't a huge believer in cat beds until fairly recently.  I thought, the cats have plenty of warm surfaces to sleep on already.  Then I realized I couldn't find a single blanket in our apartment to snuggle with that didn't leave me with a face-full of fur, and I also noticed that the white chair in our living room was developing a brownish, for lack of a less-disgusting word, residue exactly where our cats like to park themselves.  This, combined with their taste for violently nesting in any sweater left unattended for more than 10 seconds led me to seek out new options. 


The dilemma in purchasing a good cat bed, I quickly realized, was finding one that appealed to both me and our two cats.  All cat beds, it turns out, are not created equal.  I first bought a plush donut from Petco, tossed it in the chair where they liked to sit and felt pretty pleased with myself.  It was $5, white like the chair, and had the slick-soft texture of one of those latter-day oversized Beanie Babies they started making after the original product became passé.  I'd sleep in it, I thought.  Surely the cats would, too.


The cats disagreed, apparently.  The first week they actually seemed frightened of it.  Then they started sleeping immediately beside it.  I knew I'd been defeated when I walked in and found that Asdis, our Siamese, in her desperation to reclaim the coveted spot on the chair, had burrowed underneath it.  The donut sat perched on top of her, useless and loathed.  Asdis had a forlorn expression on her face.


Gallivanting back to the point: the cats immediately loved the Wrapt bed.  It took them all of five minutes to figure out this was the new "it" spot in the apartment.  They began passive-aggressively stealing it whenever the other got up to eat or pee, so I bought a second bed, this one in a slightly more subdued color called "Elmyra" (see below).

Pamina inspects the Wrapt "Elmyra" (left) and "Victoria" (right)

Overall, I've been extremely pleased with the Wrapt beds.  Both the materials and the handiwork are very high quality, and frankly they're super cute.  In this regard, I think I prefer the look of the "Elmyra," which lacks the nylon trim circling the edge of the "Victoria."  The trim does seem to give the beds a more sturdy shape, as the "Elmyra" is slightly floppier, though not so much as to detract from the bed's look or functionality.

Before receiving my purchases, I was concerned about how well the cats would fit in the beds, as Pamina (our torti, pictured top left) is a broad cat, and on the heavy side, weighing in around 12-13 lbs.  Asdis, on the other hand, is relatively small for an adult, and weighs around 6 lbs.  However, because the Wrapt beds are so soft and malleable, they comfortably accommodate both cats, curling in around them like cozy blankets.

Knit detail for the "Elmyra"

At $45 per item, plus $5 for shipping in the US, the beds are not cheap.  However, taking into account the high-grade materials, as well as the amount of design and craft work that goes into a knitting project of this caliber, I believe the price is more than fair.  I have seen similar products at a local pet store going for quite a good deal more.  Finally, I feel the beds are strong enough to last for many years, even with ordinary wear-and-tear.  I haven't had to clean them yet, but expect they will stand up to that well.  The seller recommends spot cleaning, as well as hand or machine-washing in cold water, then air-drying.  The mottled coloring of the yarn will probably work well to hide future stains, too!  Wrapt also offers a flat mat-bed at the slightly cheaper cost of $32, plus $5 for shipping. 


As with other Etsy shops, one of the added pleasures of buying from Wrapt is the individualized service you receive from the seller.  When I purchased my second bed, the seller from Wrapt remembered me and sent along a nice card, as well as a couple little extras in the package: a trio of little felted wool beads, and a wool toy (right) that I later stuffed with catnip.


All in all, the cats and I are very pleased with our Wrapt experience.  Have you purchased anything from Wrapt?  Do you plan to?  Let us know your thoughts!

"Thx, Wrapt!"