Cats like to sleep where they feel warm, safe and in control of the view: enclosed spots that hold body heat, high spots with a clear line of sight, and sunny spots that do both at once. Give a cat those things in a place it already passes through every day, and almost any bed will get used.
Most adult cats sleep between 12 and 16 hours a day, and kittens and older cats often sleep more. That is a lot of time, so it is worth understanding what your cat is looking for before buying a bed that sits empty while the cat naps in a shoebox.
What cats look for in a sleeping spot
Watch where your cat already sleeps and a pattern appears. The choice usually comes down to three things, plus one more we will come back to: familiar scent.
Warmth
Cats run a little warmer than we do and lose heat when resting, so they seek out surfaces that hold it: a laundry pile, a sunny patch of floor, the crook of your knees. A deep plush nest that traps the cat’s own body heat does the same job without a cord.
Enclosure
A sleeping cat cannot watch its own back. Small enclosed spaces solve that: a box, a wardrobe shelf, the gap under a bed. If your cat prefers hiding to lounging, a covered bed will beat an open cushion every time.
Height and sightlines
Other cats want the opposite: the back of the sofa, the top of the fridge or a windowsill, where they can see the room, the door and anything moving outside. Height gives a nervous cat an escape route and a confident cat a lookout.
Match the bed to the cat
No bed suits every cat, and no cat has a favorite brand. What cats do have is a sleeping style. Work out which one you live with and the choice narrows quickly.
The hider: tunnel or cave bed
If your cat naps in boxes, cupboards and behind curtains, it wants a den with one entrance and solid walls. A donut-shaped tunnel bed is the classic answer: the cat curls up in the middle, the plush walls hold heat, and the tunnel mouth gives a peephole on the room.
The Plush Donut Cat Tunnel Bed is the simplest version, with a long-pile plush outer, padded lining, a removable cushion and a non-slip dotted base so it stays put on hard floors. It folds flat, which helps if your cat only wants a den in winter. The Cloud Donut Cat Tunnel Bed adds a second mode: closed, it is a 33.5-inch donut den with an 8 by 6 inch opening; opened out, it becomes a 10-inch-high tunnel with a 16-inch padded bed in the middle. That suits a cat that hides to sleep but plays the moment it wakes.
The sun-seeker: window perch
Some cats follow the sun all day and end up asleep on the narrowest windowsill in the house. For them, height and warmth matter more than walls, and a window-mounted bed gives both without taking floor space.
The Cat Window Hammock mounts on smooth glass with four 85 mm suction cups and a nylon-and-fiber frame, and is rated for up to 44 lbs when weight is added slowly, so it covers even a very large house cat with margin. The bed is thick plush with a pom-pom border rather than a thin sling, which makes a difference to how long a cat stays. It needs a clear patch of glass, and the cups should be wiped and re-pressed about once a month.
The snuggler: donut bed
Cats that sleep curled in a tight ball want something that presses gently back. Raised, padded walls do this, so either donut bed above fits a snuggler.
The multi-cat household: sofa or XL ring
With two or more cats, the problem is finding a bed where both can sleep without one being cornered. Size and multiple exits are what matter.
The Cat Tunnel Sofa Bed is 49.6 inches wide, with a tunnel on each side, a canopy over the center and a removable padded cushion with a front bolster. One cat naps under the canopy while the other patrols the tunnels, and neither has to cross the other’s space to leave. The XL Donut Cat Tunnel Bed with 20 Toys goes bigger again: a ring about 47 inches across with three entryways, tunnel openings of roughly 10 inches and a 26-inch cushion that fits a large cat stretched out or two curled together. The sections join with snap buttons, so it can also be laid out as an S-curve or a straight tunnel if a full ring does not fit the room.
Placement matters more than the bed
A cat does not judge a bed in isolation; it judges the spot. The best bed in the wrong place loses to a cardboard box in the right place.
- Put it where the cat already sleeps. If your cat naps on the sofa arm every afternoon, the bed goes beside the sofa arm, not in the spare room.
- Against a wall or in a corner. Cats feel safer with something solid behind them. A bed in the middle of a room is exposed on all sides and often ignored.
- Out of foot traffic, but near the family. The edge of the living room usually beats the hallway.
- Follow the sun. A bed in a patch of afternoon light gets used more. A window hammock solves this permanently.
- Away from the litter tray and food. Cats naturally separate where they eat, toilet and sleep.
- Adjust with the seasons. Keep plush beds away from radiators, and expect a deep nest to be swapped for a cool tile floor in July.
How to get a cat to actually use a new bed
Cats sleep where things smell like home, which is why a worn sweater beats a bed fresh out of the packaging. New things smell wrong; that is the whole obstacle, and it is fixable with patience.
- Air it out first. Let the bed sit unpackaged for a day so packaging smells fade.
- Add your cat’s scent. Rub a soft cloth gently along your cat’s cheeks and wipe it over the inside of the bed, or drop in a blanket the cat already sleeps on.
- Place it well. Use the rules above. This step does more than any treat.
- Make the first visit easy. Mount a window perch near a chair or shelf so the first hop is short. Leave a tunnel bed’s hanging pom-pom where it will catch an eye.
- Reward, do not force. Put a treat inside, or a pinch of catnip or silvervine, and walk away. Never lift a cat into a bed and hold it there; that teaches the opposite lesson.
- Wait. Most cats investigate within a few days; some take two or three weeks. If it is still untouched after a month, move it rather than replacing it.
One caution: a sudden change in where or how much your cat sleeps, especially hiding constantly or sleeping in cold, hard places like the bath, can be a sign of pain or illness. If it comes with less eating, less grooming or a change in litter habits, that is a conversation for your vet, not a new bed.
Keeping a cat bed clean
A bed that smells stale gets abandoned. A weekly shake or vacuum keeps most beds pleasant.
For a proper wash, check whether the cushion comes out. The cushions in the Cloud Donut and the XL Donut are machine washable on a gentle cycle (cold water for the XL), then air-dried. The plush and sherpa shells, the suede-touch sofa bed, the Plush Donut’s cushion and the window hammock’s pad are spot-cleaned with a damp cloth and mild soap. Skip the tumble dryer, as heat flattens the pile that holds the warmth, and re-fluff by hand after washing.
After washing, put back one unwashed blanket so the bed does not smell of detergent and get treated as new all over again.
Questions people ask
Why does my cat sleep on me instead of in a bed?
You are warm, you smell familiar and you react when something happens, which counts as a security system. Placing the bed beside the spot where you usually sit often transfers the habit over time.
Is it bad if my cat sleeps all day?
Twelve to sixteen hours is normal for a healthy adult cat, and much of it is light dozing. What to watch for is change: a cat that sleeps noticeably more than it used to, hides to do it, or is hard to rouse should see a vet.
Should a cat bed be enclosed or open?
It depends on the cat. Hiders and nervous cats do better in an enclosed bed with one entrance. Confident, sociable cats often prefer open beds or perches with a view. If you are not sure, a convertible design that works both ways is a safe first choice.
Do cats need more than one bed?
Most cats rotate between several spots as the sun and household noise move around. Two or three beds at different heights get used more than one expensive bed in a single location. In multi-cat homes, more beds than cats is the rule.
A cat that sleeps well also needs to play well; the two balance each other. If your cat is restless at night or bored by day, our guide on how to keep an indoor cat active and entertained covers the other half of the routine.