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.

Mine has sat in her bed once.
She is still very young.
The outdoor bed once as well but much prefers on furniture or our beds.
I went for a soft shell cushioned one.
Anything goes but I went for something plain so I could live with it too.

📦

Don't waste one penny on this OP.

There used to be a very good Reddit page devoted to this very issue. Wish I could find it. The photos were hilarious.

I don't think cats like the smell of new textiles/dyes/substances that these things are treated with. Cardboard box with your oldest blanket will do.

Last time I left mine alone, he dragged my coat off the hook and slept on that behind the door waiting for me to come home
Anything I have been wearing is his favourite bed

Whatever you buy will go unused for weeks/months right up to the moment you decide to throw it out, at which point the cat will refuse to leave it. Top of microwave is favourite for one, round the back of the washing machine for another. On a neighbour's bed is also a favourite.

Ours sleep everywhere except cat beds, they will occasionally humour us by sleeping on blankets we got for them.

Top of the cable TV box for mine, which is probably v. hazardous I know.

Longhaired one of mine did that every time we went out. Came in quietly (for a change, I had two kids, another 2 cats and a dog, so quiet was pretty much unheard of) and found her sound asleep on it.

I had wondered why her belly was bright pink and bald, despite the bloody vet's bills.

Put the cable box on a lower shelf where she couldn't climb in and lollop about on it and all her fur grew back.

Oh God! I was thinking more of the fire hazard with the box overheating, not the cat being grilled!

On the bloody expensive pressure reducing cushion on the equally expensive wheelchair. Or the clean washing. Or my pillow. Or the armchair. Or halfway up the stairs.

Save your money, OP. Your cat will do exactly what the hell she likes. You might want to invest in one of those sticky lint roller things because you can guarantee that 10 mins before you're due to go out the mog has slept on your coat/cardigan/shoes and now it looks like YOU are the one with a fur coat

Or a pile of bags in the cupboard under the stairs. Or the bathmat. Or outside on top of the bin. I've even caught one of my cats lying sunbathing on rubbish in a bloody skip in the street for God's sake.

Mine is currently asleep on my left arm.

As everyone has said they decide where they will sleep.

Ikea bag

Arthur loves a radiator hammock..... which he sleeps in all night in the kitchen. Otherwise, as pps, he rotates around the house, using and despoiling each and every chair and bed in the house, the cleaner the better. I do use old towels on his most favourite spots, which saves on cleaning difficult surfaces like Ikea chairs, his particular favourites.

Cardboard box on bench outside
Waterproof coat she's dragged off the bannister onto the floor
On the floor under the radiator
Top of cat tower in window
In box full of dhs precious flag collection
On top of paper recycling bin
Under spare bed
Clean washing pile
Wet towel hauled off dryer and scrunched up into heap is a great bed, apparently.

Lots of lovely fluffy doughnut beds, cushions and igloos in our house, all 3 of our cats prefer one of the above.

DH & DD are adamant that she needs a bed but so far we’ve only bought a cat tree but we’ve got a box lined with a fluffy blanket, the box from the cat tree & obviously beds, sofas & chairs.

im sure she’ll find somewhere to sleep 😻

My previously feral cat has two very expensive beds. One he has never set paw on.The other he ignored for a few months then used for a while. He now sleeps on the landing, within sight of both beds. During the day he has two Lloyd loom chairs to lounge on in the kitchen,or his own chair in the sitting room. He also sleeps on the back of a sofa, or takes up more that his fair share of the sofa cushions. He ignores the other sofa. If I let him he would sleep on my bed, but that isn’t happening, He is my sixth cat and none of them have had bedroom privileges.

They do what they want, the sooner you recognise that OP the easier life will become.

My friends cats did that. They used to sit next to the poor dog lying in his bed and stare at him silently until he moved. They had their own beds, unfortunately slightly too small for the dog, who was a staffy.

I love this poem .Eleanor Farjeon.

They will sleep where they want 😂 I have plenty more. He's the cutest when he sleeps 😂

I used to have a cat that slept in the bathroom sink 🤷‍♂️

Current cat sleeps inside the duvet cover and gets lost in it, then falls off the bed, duvet and all, with a loud floomp and then yells till he's rescued.

He's also long haired so makes sure to sleep on my pillow often enough that I always have fluff in my mouth in the night. So that's nice.

On top of a cat bed instead of in it 😂

Cat one. Pillow on bed in spare room. Under duvet on bed in spare room. Windowsill in spare room. On bare boards on landing just outside bathroom. Corner of Welsh Dresser in dining room. Windowsill in sitting room. Under duvet in bed in my bedroom.
Cat two. My bed. Either on pillow just behind my head or next to me. Sofa of sitting room, ideally on cushion that has been pushed on one side. Occasionally on my lap in sitting room. On desk wedged between computer screen and keyboard. On pile of paper next to printer. In garden, or possibly neighbour's garden.

I'd put an empty box at the top of the stairs to take down to the recycling bin. Five minutes later...

Lawnmower cover also very acceptable! 😍

Cats also tend to choose their 'preferred human' which isn't always the one who most wants to be it. But if DD puts anything made from fabric on her bed (so a cushion, blanket, pyjamas etc then there's a good chance the cat might sleep on that).

But the cat being '9 and a bit chubby' won't necessarily stop her from climbing. I have one that's 16 and still sleeps on top of the wardrobe, accessed by jumping onto a windowsill, then across to some quite high drawers and then on to the top of the wardrobe.