As many people have pointed out this month (which, in case you haven't noticed, is Pet Month), cats are naturally contrary. Buy a cat a bed and chances are he'll never sleep anywhere near it. But, fold a basket of clean laundry, look away for 3 seconds, and you'll find him fast asleep on top of your favorite black sweater.
Where does your cat sleep?
Not buying things you don't need is one of the first, and often most difficult steps towards going green.
So, if you know your cat won't use a cat bed, buying one is a pretty un-green move. Instead, make a bed out of things you already have around the house, and see what happens. As far as we can tell there seem to be three sure-fire strategies that make for a successful cat bed. It should be 1) warm and soft 2) in a window if at all possible and 3) if not in a window, tucked away in a corner somewhere.
Other than our bed, there are three places our cats sleep:
On some old dish towels in the bottom of an open cupboard in the kitchen (pictured above).
On a pillow we wrapped in an old fleece blanket. We put it in a window box off the back of our apartment that never gets used. They love it!
And on an old blanket we keep on the couch just for Charlie.
Where do your cats sleep? Have you ever made them a cat bed? Out of what? And where did you put it?
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Comments (11)
My cat doesnt seem to like soft surfaces. She avoids the chairs, pillows, couches, etc. Occasionally she'll sleep on my bed, but more often than not she'll be sprawled out on the hardwood floor. It makes no sense.
During the day, my cats like to sleep on some old fleece blankets near the windows. At night, however, they like to sleep on me! :)
Ciara sleeps on my printer. I kid you not. It is her number one favorite spot. Fawkes sleeps in the dog's bed...with the dog. Go figure.
Misu sleeps on the back of the couch, which has a view out the windows. At night she is a fan of the couch seats, or the extra pillow above my head just for her.
Roxie the dog sleeps on an old sweater i have on my bedroom windowsill (she thinks she is a cat)
Squall sleeps in a basket that I tossed a throw into. Thank goodness she accepted the minor change! I'd put the throw in a cardboard box while moving stuff and she adopted it. The basket looks a lot nicer and sits right next to my armchair. At night she sleeps on me.
Chibi-chan snoozes on the couch or on the cat tree most of the time or sprawled out in the sunshine.
Our two cats share most of the same sleeping areas, which are:
windows (all of them), on the couch, on the recliner, on my desk chair—which is an ikea folding chair with an ikea seat cushion on top, on the bed, under the coffee table, and on the rugs.
Kaiser, our youngest and biggest cat likes any open box, paper bags, hardwood floors, and damned if we can figure out how he gets under there—but under the recliner.
The cheapest sleeping place they like is the top from a box that held reams of paper. In fact, I volunteered at a no-kill cat shelter, and they had many of these.
Monkey, who we suspect is a Bengal, likes to sleep in my closet, he will jump onto the shelves and if they're full he'll grab onto something, toss it out of the closet, and keep going until there's enough space for him. He also loves the bathroom, stretching out on the tile floor, curled up on a pile of clothes, or stretched out along the top of the toilet tank, with his head resting on the sink.
Mehitabel, a hefty tortie, likes the back of the futon in our study, bracing herself against the top of the bars and the smooshed down futon so she can spread out on her back with her paws in the air, usually in the sun in the afternoon.
In our house boxes are strictly for scratching and playing. They have two ikea cat tents that get a lot of use but not for sleeping really.
Maximus has a hundred sleeping spots and it changes every week. He likes to sleep on the back of the couch, on the armrest of the couch, on the floor between the couch and the end table, under the bed, on the rug in front of the front door, in front of the fireplace, in my closet, on a window sill, next to the tv stand, and rarely on the two cat beds I wasted my money on! He slept in a cat tent I got for him for about a month and never used it again. Then I bought him one of those padded perches that rest on top of a windowsill and he used that for a month then never used it again. Crazy cat.
Polly likes chairbacks and the bed - particularly if a terry-cloth robe is on it. Kipper likes hiding places or stretched out on the concrete if it's hot.
I inherited 3 glossy black porcelain planters and lined them in the hallway. The center one is cat toy storage but the two on the outside are beds. One of them has towels - for Kipper - and the other has one of those "magnetic" cat pads - which Polly has loved almost to the point of needing replacement. When it's cold they can be found curled up tight in those.
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whenever my cats find a new place to sleep (it never seems to stay the same) I just put a blanket on top of that spot so that it doesn't get too hairy. The favorite places by far are our bed and the couch.
Kitty Kat seems to love textbooks (currently, the child growth and development is her favorite), any random paper, the kitchen chairs, and the top of the dryer... And, lately, the back of the toilet.
hmmm...