The present invention relates to an article for pet resting, which comprises an internal stuffing and an encasing for said stuffing.

BACKGROUND ART

Dogs and cats suffer often from allergic disorders, like for instance atopic dermatitis. Fleabites and the contact with house dusts mites are the major causes of these allergic reactions. Among others mites, Dermatophagoides farinae (Df) and Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (Dpt) are implicated in these allergic diseases. They mainly inhabit tapestry, fabrics, carpets and, in general, surfaces that gather dust.

Optimal environmental conditions for development of mites are mild temperatures (20-30 ⁰ C), relative humidity of 60-70% and darkness. Because of their specific needs, beds, mattresses, carpets and textile surfaces in general are a prime habitat for mites.

The articles for the resting of dogs and cats are important recipients of dust, them being in continuous contact with the floor. Mites get into the stuffing of these articles and, in the favourable environment created by the sweat and heat from the animals, proliferate on and inside said articles. It is believed that approximately a 10% of the weight of a two year old pillow can be composed of dead mites and their droppings.

The allergenic proteins of mites are enzymes included in their body and especially in their droppings. Animals suffering from allergic (atopic) dermatitis due to mites, react to mite allergens by inhalation or by epicutaneous contact, and show itching and secondary infections.

A study for evaluating the effects of an acaricide in the control of house dust mites (Swinnen and Vroom, "The clinical effect of environmental control of house dust mites in 60 house dust mite-sensitive dogs", Veterinary Dermatology 2004, 15, 31-36) found that "house dust mite elimination is a useful tool in the management of house dust mite-sensitive dogs", although the authors' intent is on mite elimination by means of acaricides. The paper

further states that "allergen avoidance would appear to be a simple, effective and inexpensive treatment, although to [the authors'] knowledge, environmental control of house dust mites has never be reported in veterinary medicine".

Thus, there is not known a system for preventing the mites who populate articles for pet resting from interacting with the pets who use them, although there exist antiallergenic systems for human bed articles. Some of these are described in the following paragraphs.

In the past there was used (with humans) a system for plague control with the aim of eliminate or greatly reduce the mite population. There was applied, for example, liquid nitrogen for killing mites, but this is an impractical system outside the laboratory.

As mentioned, chemical treatments have also been used as acaricide products, but these treatments present two main problems: the chemicals may be hazardous for humans and animals, and their effect is not lasting.

There have also been used, for human bed cloth articles, encasing elements provided with barrier effect against mites and other allergens. But, as bed cloth articles are in contact with the body, they should be skin friendly and sweat permeable, which are requirements difficult to reconcile with the desired barrier effect.

Mites are about 100-300 microns in size and their droppings are about 10 microns in size. Thus, in order to provide a barrier effect effective enough against mites and their droppings, hypoallergenic fabrics should be impervious to particles larger than approximately 10 microns, while being air permeable enough to absorb the compression and decompression of a mattress when a body reach for it or jumps from it, respectively, and also sweat and vapour permeable.

In order to fulfil these requirements for bed clothing, the manufacturer PRECISION FABRICS GROUP INC has proposed, with its US patent No.

6277770, a fabric provided with barrier effect against allergens, known as

PRISTINE ®, which includes a tightly-constructed fabric substrate, woven

from 0 to 45% continuous synthetic filament yarns and 55 to 100% natural or synthetic spun yarns. The fabric substrate is finished to produce a fabric with a mean pore size of 4 to 6 microns, an air permeability of 0.5-25 cfm and a moisture vapour permeability in excess of 800 g/m ² /24 hours.

Patent ES 2177640 relates to bed cloth articles enclosed by a sweat permeable antiallergenic barrier which comprises an elastic substrate knitted fabric, which is laminated with an elastic film less than 25 microns thick, hydrophilic, continuous, not porous and made from polymers.

Besides using an adequate fabric, a mattress cover with antiallergenic or hypoallergenic features should solve the problem of making the closing system allergen-proof too (said closing system being usually a zipper). It is normally necessary for such a closing system to be reversible, for the sake of taking off the cover for washing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide an article for pet resting, mainly but not exclusively for cats and dogs, which significantly alleviates their allergic disorders.

To fulfil said object, it is proposed for the encasing of the internal stuffing to be made from an antiallergenic material having the capacity to prevent the passing of at least some allergens from the internal stuffing through the encasing. Thanks to said encasing most allergens will not reach the animal, and the pet will be much less adversely affected by said allergens.

In a particularly interesting way, in an embodiment said encasing substantially prevents the passing of mites from the internal stuffing through the encasing, but in a preferred embodiment the encasing substantially prevents the passing of mites' droppings from the internal stuffing through the encasing.

Advantageously, the antiallergenic material of said encasing acts as a barrier for said allergens in both directions.

Preferably, the antiallergenic material of said encasing is a fabric with a mean

pore size of 4 to 10 microns. Thus, the encasing is impervious to mite droppings.

In an embodiment, the antiallergenic material of said encasing is a PRISTINE ® type fabric.

Said encasing may comprise a reversible closing system but preferably comprises an irreversible closing system. For the sake of sealing, an irreversible closing system is clearly preferred to a reversible one, and there is no problem for washing the whole article, since it is intended to not very large pets and its is itself small enough.

Advantageously, said irreversible closing system is a seam.

Preferably, said seam is double or of a higher order.

In an embodiment, the internal stuffing has a rectangular shape and is substantially flat.

In another embodiment, the internal stuffing has a concave shape.

In yet another embodiment, the internal stuffing has a generally prismatic shape.

The aptness of these shapes will depend on the needs and likings of the pet owner and on the season of the year.

Advantageously, the present article for pet resting comprises a washable external case having a reversible closing system.

Preferably, the bottom portion of said external case is made from nylon or a similar fabric, and its top portion is made from cotton or a similar fabric. In this way, the external case is provided with a resistant bottom portion, which contacts the floor, an a comfortable top portion, which contacts the body.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the subject matter, the appended drawings show, schematically and only by way of non-limiting example, some particular embodiments of the invention. In the drawings:

figure 1 is a partial cross-section of an embodiment; figure 2 is a schematic view of an embodiment; figure 3 is a schematic view of another embodiment; and figure 4 is a schematic view of yet another embodiment;

DESCRIPTION OF PARTICULAR EMBODIMENTS

An article for pet resting, particularly for dogs and cats, according to the invention comprises an internal stuffing 3 sealed by a fabric 1 which does not allow mites nor their droppings to get through it, acting like a barrier in both directions, the stuffing 3 and the fabric 1 being enclosed by a washable external case 2 reversibly closed by a zipper.

The bottom portion of said external case 2, which is in direct and continuous contact with the floor, is made from nylon, or from any other fabric which an analogously high strength. For the sake of comfort and hygiene, the top portion of the washable case is made from cotton.

The internal stuffing 3, which is normally a mattress, is acrylic and has a variable thickness, depending on its intended shape.

The antiallergenic or hypoallergenic encasing 1 for the mattress 3 is a fabric made mainly from polyester which has a mean pore size of 4 to 10 microns, for example a PRISTINE ® type fabric as disclosed in US patent No. 6277770. This fabric is sewn by means of a double seam. This irreversible closing system does not, in this case, prevent the washing of the whole article for resting because, since it is intended for not very big pets like cats and dogs, its size is small enough for it to be washed all in one piece, mattress included, although nothing prevents the washable case 2 from being washed alone, since it has to be washed more often.

Hence, the antiallergenic article for resting of the invention is wholly washable at 6O ⁰ C, that is the temperature at which mites are destroyed and its allergens

are denaturalized.

A recent study for determining the prevalence of the mite species on the skin, hair coat and bedding of a population of pet dogs (Jackson et Al., "Prevalence of house dust mites and dermatophagoides group 1 antigens collected from bedding, skin and hair coat of dogs in south-west England", Veterinary Dermatology 2005, 16, 32-38) have identified mites in 15/68 samples (22%) of dust from both dogs and their beds, and Dpt was the most common. Hence the importance of preventing mite proliferation on pet bedding.

Besides, the inventors have performed an experiment to assess the dust mite allergen concentration in the skin and hair of dogs before and after using an anti-mite bed provided with a hypoallergenic encasing according to the invention. In the test, dust samples were obtained from the skin and hair of 12 dogs. At the completion of the dust sample collection, dogs were randomly divided in two groups of 6 dogs: a control group and a treatment group. Dogs included in the treated group were provided with an anti-mite bed according to the invention while control dogs kept their standard old bed.

One month later, all dogs were submitted to a second dust sample collection. All dust samples were processed immediately after collection. Detectable concentrations of mite allergens were found in the hair and skin of 9 out of the 12 dogs.

Four of the 6 dogs in the treatment group showed a significant reduction in the mite allergens detected in the second dust sample with respect to the first, but no significant changes were noticed between the first and second sample from the control dogs. These results indicate that the anti-mite bed of the invention prevents mite accrual in the dogs' hair and skin.

The bed or article for resting can adopt different shapes, in order to satisfy different tendencies or likings hold by the pet owners, or to be used at different times through the year. Normally it is the mattress 3 the element which defines the shape of the article for resting.

Figure 2 shows a classic mattress with a rectangular shape.

Figure 3 shows a concave, cradle-shaped mattress.

Figure 4 shows a prismatic, igloo-shaped mattress.

Although only particular embodiments of the invention have been shown and described in the present specification, the skilled man will be able to introduce modifications and substitute any technical features thereof with others that are technically equivalent, without departing from the scope of protection defined by the appended claims.

For example, the shape of mattress 3 can be any shape suitable for pet resting; mattress 3 can have a shape for dogs and another shape for cats. Its size can equally be adjusted.

Analogously, the materials of the elements of the invention can be different from the ones mentioned above, though they should comply with similar functional requirements.

Besides, the antiallergenic encasing 1 may comprise a reversible closing system, even if it is harder to seal it than to seal a double seam, or, on the contrary, it may comprise a simple, double, triple seam or a seam of any order.

Moreover, nothing prevents the external case 2 from having too some hypoallergenic features.

Furthermore, encasing 1 is also able to prevent fleas from entering and nesting in mattress 3.