New (first) cat - what sort of bed?

[HelloCheekyCat]

I read somewhere it is better to buy a plastic bed with a cushion & cover which can be washed, rather than trying to wash a whole bed, but how often does the bed need washing?
If we went that route I've found a bed which seems a good size but I can't find a cushion which fits.

Whichever bed you buy will be the wrong one for the cat! They sleep where they decide even if it looks to you as the most uncomfortable and impossible place.

Also, as others have pointed they sleep on or in whatever you don't want them to. It's a cat thing.

They do love a suitcase.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=932665288579035

😻
I love this video!

I'm lucky, my cat uses everything I buy for him including cat beds but generally they are not dogs and will sleep wherever they choose. A bit of catnip may help attract your cat to the bed, and once you can get them in it, it smells of them which I'm sure they like as megalomaniacs.

Thanks everyone.
We randomly have a cardboard box from the supermarket yesterday so we'll keep that for her and let her sleep where she wants 😍
DD wants her to sleep on her bed so she'll probably end up somewhere completely random

The cat will sleep on the bed of the person who least likes cats.

An amazon box

My girl likes in order:
an Amazon box.
her blanket on her chair.
a different chair.
my bed when I’m in it.
an actual cat bed.

Before DH and I got our first cat he asked ‘where will she sleep’. I laughed at him and replied ‘wherever the fuck she wants’. He’d not had a cat before.

Mine sleeps on top of a washing basket most of the time. We had to put the towel to stop him falling in 😂

https://meowtown.co.uk/products/the-cardboard-box-cat-bed

One of my cats likes this bed. We got it with the cushion. They also sleep.on the couch and random chairs and in corners of the hall

Nothing that you have bought. Mine likes our beds, the sofa, and under bed drawers with clothes.

Mine sleeps on the footstool, his cat tree, my fleece when I want to wear it and at night under the covers wedged against me with me going "are you sure you can breathe?!"

Cat pyramid bed

Mine has this one and really loves it, but let’s be honest it’s no comparison with a warm human’s bed!

Cat beds in our house are currently as follows (and used entirely at random throughout the day by whoever gets there first):

The floor in front of the telly
The top of the stereo (yes we still have a turntable)
Perched on the back of the sofa
Our bed (big enough for all of them)
Under DD's bed
The middle of the living room floor
The bathroom doorway
The laundry basket
A Primark paper carrier bag with the handles cut off
A handmade (by me) pottery bowl still in its wrapping paper
DH's pyjamas left on his pillow

We have one cat bed. It is unused.

Mine don't have beds although I nearly bought them both some nice cosy looking ones from Pets at Home last winter. They sleep on a bed, on a blanket on the sofa, or on a deep windowsill with a blanket on. One can open the wardrobe door and sometimes sleeps in there! One used to sleep in an old box on top of a bookcase filled with Christmas decorations. So, just anywhere really!

I've never bought a cat bed in 30 years of cat ownership.

Pity about Amazon reducing boxes. If my cat wasn't so timid of people he would be chasing the Amazon delivery person down the street.

My cat has 2 beds.

He sleeps on top of a blanket on my wardrobe

Cardboard box with a pile of newspapers in the bottom seems popular.

How sweet thinking of buying a bed.
Buy something which you like looking at. Will not need washing often.
Your cat will pick it's own bed which is highly likely to be your bed,
You can fight it but you will loose the battle.
My cat against my will sleeps on my silk pillow case wrapped around my head . Or if very cold under the duvet.
This was not the plan but that is how it is.
Good luck negotiating with your new cat. Be prepared to loose on every single battle you have with him over the rules.
BTW cats are truly fantastic but they walk in fully intent on taking over your home!

Samsung tv come with instructions to turn the box into a cat house

It's better it's washable incase they catch worms or fleas

DCat1 likes flowerbeds, the garage roof or my pillow in Summer. In Winter, it is her heat pad (topped with a fleece blanket, placed on the top of the tall boy), my pillow, the upstairs office chair, our (filled) clean laundry boxes, the front window sills, and wardrobe shelves.

DCat2 will sleep on the sofa, our bed, the cat tree (he loves all the features of this, although DCat1 won't so much as sniff it!), the downstairs office chair or on the landing (right across the top stair) year round.

We currently have 2 cat beds that are purely decorative. One we bought when DCat1 first arrived 13.5yrs ago - it is still very much in 'as new' condition. Bed #2 was given to us by a friend whose 2 cats wouldn't use it. It came to us as, and remains, 'as new'... We had a 3rd kind of bed too, but I sold that one - you guessed it, it was listed as 'as new' too 🙄

Mine does actually really like this bed, so much so that we bought a second one for upstairs. Clamshell bed It’s good for smaller cats. And cheap.

However, I committed the cardinal sin of washing the cushion in one of them (just the cushion, mind, not the rest of the bed) as it was looking a bit grubby. She won’t go near that one now.

I left my suit bag on the floor on Friday.
Enough said.

No bed you buy will be good enough. Mine like cardboard boxes, corners of rooms, duvets and open suitcases.