Clothes for Dogs: Recycling Your Old Duds for Fido's Style and Comfort

During the winter, it is very important to make sure your outdoor pets are provided with the shelter and warmth they need to protect them from extreme cold. The wind chill alone is bad enough, but coupled with a soaking rain it just won't be possible for them to maintain a healthy body temperature. Especially if they are a short coated animal.

Recycle Your Old Sweatshirts:

You can use some of your own used clothing to make cosy woollies for your puppy. If you have an old sweat shirt and a smaller dog, simply cut off a sleeve, make some small holes for the dog's front legs and 'thread' your puppy into it! Please do not use woollen knits since the unravelling can cause a chocking or strangulation hazard for your pooch.

Like dogs, your kitty can also 'get trendy' by sporting a new sweater made from your old sweat shirt sleeves. Only do this if your cat lives indoors though, since felines are notorious for jumping fences and climbing trees, there is a danger of getting hung and again, strangulation can occur. For larger dogs you can still use old sweats, just use the pant leg instead of the sleeve. Your old dog will love you for it when the winter chill bites. When dressing your dog, use the ankle or cuff part of the garment for the collar area, it will fit snuggly around your dog's neck without choking and keep the draught out a little more.

Left-over garment scraps:

Instead of throwing away your leftovers, bundle them for bedding. SInce you don't want it all over your garden when your dog comes in and out of his kennel, take some velcro swatches and fasten them to the inside of the kennel in four or five places. Bundle your scraps together and secure them with strips of fabric cut from the scraps themselves. Stick some velcro onto the ends of these dangling strips and fasten them to the velcro inside the kennel. It will be experimental at first depending on the size and shape of your dog's kennel, but you don't want to use cord to tie it all together for fear of your dog choking or becoming involuntarily hogtied

Orphan Socks:

I just know you have orphan socks, everyone does. Please don't use this on your cat who lives outside, but an indoor kitty who needs that little extra snuggle at night can benefit from the making a sweater as mentioned above using one of those dreaded single socks. If you're going to be out of the house through the day, do not leave your cat dressed in the sock for the reasons stated. Cats also shouldn't wear collars if they are outside, not even a flea collar since they can easily get caught in the twigs of a tree and hang.

By the way, don't forget that you can also make a few of these little sweaters in no time at all and send them to your local pet shelter for our lost and homeless friends!