Cleaning a memory foam dog bed: the cover, the foam, and urine in the core

The short answer to the question most people arrive with: no, the foam in a memory foam dog bed does not go in the washing machine, and none of the care instructions we read allow it in the dryer either. The cover washes. The foam gets spot-cleaned with as little liquid as possible and air-dried all the way through. Every manufacturer instruction we found says a version of that. The rest of this page is the detail: which parts wash and how, how to spot-clean the foam, what to do when urine has soaked into the core, and how to tell when it has gone past cleaning.

What you can and cannot do to the foam

Before anything else, read the label sewn into your own bed. Bedsure's care guide opens by telling you to check the washing label to find out what each part is made of, and its FAQ says to always refer to the care label. Where your label and this page disagree, the label wins. With that said, here is what the makers and cleaning sources we read say about the foam itself:

The reason behind all of this is in Bedsure's own wording: memory foam conforms to the body and provides support, and "water and agitation can damage its structure." A washing machine is both at once. Tempur-Pedic goes further for its own material, saying it "should never become wet" at all. Its instructions for a liquid spill come with an honest warning: "Because the mattress should never become wet, we can't promise that these steps will completely remove the stain or odor." Foam is a material you protect, far more than one you clean.

Washing the cover

The cover is the part designed to be washed, and the instructions vary more than you might expect. From the listings and maker pages we read:

• Bedsure. The memory foam crate pad listing says to machine wash and tumble dry the cover. Bedsure's general FAQ recommends cold water, a gentle detergent and low-heat tumble drying, while its material-by-material care guide says polyester can be machine washed in warm water, with no bleach and a low-heat dry. Both say the care label on your own bed has the final word.
• PetFusion. The Ultimate bed's listing says the cover is machine washable and simple to spot clean, to tumble dry on a gentle setting, and not to use bleach. The PetFusion product page on the Petmate trade site says the same: wash the cover, tumble dry on a gentle setting, spot-clean whenever needed.
• Laifug. The listing says the cover can be fully machine-washed and to use a gentle drying mode.
• EHEYCIGA. The listing says to remove the foam insert and machine-wash the cover, and repeats that the foam insert is not washable.
• Tempur-Pedic, for comparison, from a mattress maker: a cold machine wash and a cool dryer setting, with air-drying best; do not over-dry the cover, and do not use chlorine products or harsh stain removers.

If you arrived asking how to wash a Bedsure orthopedic bed specifically, that is the whole method: unzip the cover, lift the foam out, wash the cover as its label directs, and spot-clean the foam with a mild detergent and as little water as you can manage, then let both dry fully before they go back together.

For a cover that smells of urine, Humane World for Animals, the organization formerly known as the Humane Society of the United States, suggests adding a one-pound box of baking soda to your regular detergent, washing as usual and air-drying if possible. If the smell survives, it says to wash again with an enzymatic cleaner. Shake or vacuum the hair off before the cover goes in. And do not zip a damp cover back over the foam: our guide to when a bed stops supporting explains why damp is hard on foam.

Liners are a separate question. The listings we read describe how to wash the outer cover and mostly say nothing about the waterproof liner under it, so check the liner's own tag before it goes anywhere near a machine.

Spot-cleaning the foam, step by step

This is for a spill, a muddy paw print, or a small accident that got through the cover. Urine that has soaked in deep has its own section below.

1. Strip it. Take off the cover and any liner. Tempur-Pedic's spill instructions start the same way: remove the cover and wash it.
2. Press out what you can. Tempur-Pedic says to soak up as much of the liquid as possible with towels, pressing down on the material to release the moisture. Press, do not rub. The Sleep Foundation's instructions blot rather than scrub, too.
3. Clean with the least liquid that works. Bedsure says to spot clean memory foam with mild detergent and water. The Sleep Foundation suggests a mix of dish soap and water, using just the foamy suds, and as little cleaning solution as possible. Put it on a cloth, never pour it on the foam.
4. Rinse by blotting. Go over the area with a clean cloth dampened in plain water to lift the soap, then press dry with a towel again.
5. Dry it all the way through. Bedsure says to let memory foam air dry completely before use. Tempur-Pedic suggests a fan blowing on the mattress to speed things up. Standing the foam on its long edge lets air reach both faces. None of the instructions we read suggest a hair dryer or a heater, and Tempur-Pedic warns that high heat can hinder its foam.
6. Deodorize. The Sleep Foundation says baking soda helps absorb moisture and neutralize odor, and suggests leaving it on for at least a few hours before vacuuming it up.

A deep clean is the same six steps over the whole surface, with a thorough vacuum of the top and sides first. It is a job for a dry day with a window open, not for the evening before your dog needs the bed back. Have somewhere else ready for your dog to sleep, because the foam may need more than one day to dry.

When urine has reached the foam

Deal with it as soon as you find it, and aim at the smell rather than the visible mark. Humane World for Animals explains why: "As long as your pet can smell their personal scent, they may continue to return to the 'accident zone.'" A spot that smells clean to you is not necessarily clean to your dog.

1. Strip the bed and press out the urine, as in the steps above, with dry towels and firm pressure. For a fresh puddle on carpet, Humane World's method is a thick layer of paper towels covered with newspaper and your own weight on top; the same pressure with your palms works on a block of foam.
2. Use an enzyme cleaner. The Sleep Foundation says a commercial enzyme cleaner is typically the best option for urine, and Humane World says enzymatic cleaners break down pet waste odors. Humane World also says to apply them according to the product's instructions.
3. Mind the conflict. Here the two sets of advice pull against each other. The enzyme product needs to reach everywhere the urine went, and the foam makers want the foam as dry as possible. Our approach: follow the cleaner's label on the stained area only, do not flood the whole block, and then put all your effort into drying.
4. Dry completely. Fan, open window, foam on its edge, dog elsewhere. Do not put the cover back on until the inside of the foam is dry, not just the surface.
5. Check your work. Humane World suggests a black light for finding soiled areas you cannot see. Once the foam is dry, the real test is whether the smell comes back when the bed has been slept on and is warm again.

What not to use. Humane World says to avoid ammonia and vinegar, because "strong chemical odors may encourage your pet to reinforce the urine scent mark," and the Anti-Cruelty Society gives the same advice. Both warn against steam cleaners on urine, because the heat sets the stain. None of the foam instructions we read suggest bleach, and several of the cover instructions specifically say not to use it.

When the foam is past saving

Tempur-Pedic's own caveat is the honest starting point: once foam has been wet, the maker cannot promise the stain or the odor will come out. The Anti-Cruelty Society makes a parallel point about carpets: if urine has soaked into the padding underneath, you may need to remove and replace that portion. In our view, foam that has soaked up a full bladder is in the same position as that padding.

These are our signs that it is time to stop cleaning and replace the core. They are judgment calls, not a published standard:

• The smell returns every time the bed warms up, after two thorough treatments.
• The foam still feels cool and damp inside days later.
• Your dog keeps going back to the same spot to urinate.
• The stain has come through to the underside of the foam.
• The bed also fails the palm test, in which case it was due for replacement anyway. Our replacement guide explains the test.

If your dog leaks regularly and the bed has no liner, cleaning the foam over and over is a plan that only ends one way. Replace it with a bed that has a waterproof liner, and put the money you would have spent on cleaners into the layers below.

The liner is what actually keeps foam clean

Look at what the mattress maker does. Tempur-Pedic's answer to liquid is not a cleaning product; it is a barrier: "We offer a special wet-safe cover to provide extra protection against liquid spills." The Anti-Cruelty Society's house-soiling advice reaches for the same idea, suggesting a vinyl tablecloth over a bed a pet keeps soiling. Everything above this section is what you do when there was no barrier, or when it failed.

For a dog bed, the barrier comes in two parts. The first is a waterproof liner sealed around the foam under the removable cover. Our page on washable and waterproof beds explains the difference between a water-resistant cover, a waterproof cover and a true liner, and it is worth reading before you buy. Read where the waterproofing sits, too: one waterproof bed listing we read places its waterproof film inside the cover's sleeping surface and says plainly that the sides are not waterproof.

The second is a waterproof layer on top of the bed, so most accidents never reach the cover at all. A top layer is quick to strip and goes in the machine on its own, which means the foam-cleaning steps above become something you do rarely instead of weekly.

If the bed you have is past saving, buy the replacement with the liner built in. Listings vary in how clearly they say where the liner is, so look for wording that puts it around the foam itself.

The floor around the bed matters as well. An old dog that half-rises before it leaks can easily miss the edge of the bed. A washable pad there takes the smell to the washing machine instead of into the floor, and the same pad can sit under a blanket on top of the bed on a bad week.

A dog that leaks, or a dog that cannot get up

For a dog with ongoing incontinence, the answer is a rotation of covers and pads rather than a cleaning routine, and our page on keeping an incontinent dog dry sets out how many of each to own and in what order they go on the bed. For a dog that can no longer get up at all, the bed also has to protect the skin, and our guide to beds for a dog that can't get up covers the layered setup veterinary nurses describe. If you are choosing the bed itself, our memory foam roundup explains how to tell a solid foam core from shredded fill.