Cats Napping Spots

You can buy the most luxurious cat bed for your cat, but will she actually choose to sleep in it? The only thing we can predict with any amount of certainty is that a cat will spend many hours of the night and day sleeping - usually about 16 hours a day. As for predicting where... well, that's a bit more complicated.

As with many other things, cats are quite idiosyncratic when it comes to their choice of napping locations. When we asked our forum members about their cats' favorite napping spots, they came up with some pretty unique choices that their felines made, yet a few themes do come up.

Temperature

Some like it hot, and so do most cats. On cold days, cats will act like heat seeking missiles, looking for the warmest spot in the house, be it next to the stove, on top of an electric blanket, under a strong reading lamp, or simply in a nice spot of sunshine.

A Sense of Safety

Cats find it necessary to sleep where they feel safe. The parameters of safety may change from one cat to another, but they often include two elements: height and the ability to observe their environment. They will often spend a while watching the area, allowing their eyes to very gradually shut down. Height plays a special role in households where kids, dogs or other cats cause mischievous interruptions on the floor level.

A Hiding Place

Many cats love to feel surrounded or sheltered while they sleep. They need a little "cave" of their own in which they can let their defenses down and nod off. Boxes are a favorite with these felines, as are drawers, deep laundry baskets and anything else they can crawl into. One of our forum members even shared the story of a cat named Archie, who used to retreat inside a kitchen cabinet of all places.

Safety in Numbers

Watch a bunch of kittens in action and you know it's bound to end in one way: a pile of sleeping kittens, all cuddled together. As kittens, littermates almost always sleep together. As they grow up, some cats maintain the bond, or form similar bonds with other cats. Whether it's for warmth, a sense of security or both, these cats seek out each other when they get tired. In many instances, the "other cat" may not be a cat at all... and you will end up with an endearing sight of a sleepy canine-feline couple.

The Human in Their Life

Just like they would curl up alongside their Mama Cat, most cats love sleeping next to their human. Or preferably, on top of their human. Given half the chance, your cat is likely to hog the best spot in the bed, claiming it for its own. Things can get complicated in a multi-cat household, as each cat seems to find their own spot, while their human has to settle for territorial leftovers. As Stephen Baker once said, "Most beds sleep up to six cats. Ten cats without the owner."

It's not just the bed that our cats love to share with us. Whether it's by the TV or in front of the computer, many felines love sleeping on or at least close by to their favorite human. One forum member told us that her cat loves to fall asleep curled on her shoulder, even while she - the human - gets up to walk about the house!

The Strangeness Factor

The world is their bed, and some cats find the oddest corners of their world to be as comfortable as any fancy store bought bed. Sometimes it seems that they do it just to make us laugh, as some of these strange yet very real, napping spots show: on bookshelves, on or inside pizza boxes, in the pot with the cactus garden, on top of the firewood kindling, inside the sink, and of course, the white cats' favorite: on top of black shirts and jackets!

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