by David Smith

Created on: August 26, 2009

Buying a cat a bed just seemed like a rotten idea as it was just spoiling the cat. It never occurred to me that if I got the cat a comfortable place to sleep, the cat might be willing to stop laying in the middle of the floor, in the very narrow doorways and hallways of the house. In the dark hours of the night, when you have to move around for the wake up bathroom break, the night time drink of water, or the early morning stumble to the shower, a cat in the middle of the walkway is a very rude thing to encounter.

So, my cat received her new bed. First off, my wife had to introduce her to the bed because the cat, Arwen by name, worships the quick sand that I walk on. The first thing that she did was start kneading the bed. This is the same action that a cat uses when it shows affection, as well as the same action they used as kittens when they were nursing. Although they use their claws when they do this, don't admonish the cat when they do this to their new bed. There are scent glands in their paws that produce a small amount of scent when they knead something in this manner. What the cat is doing is marking the bed as hers.

The next thing that you should do when you get your cat a bed is not force the cat to get into it. When the cat is ready to get into the bed, they will. When they realize that it is a bit more comfortable than the cold floor, they will continue to use it. If the cat is allowed to go into the bed on their own terms, then they can claim it as theirs. If you force the cat into the bed, than the cat feels that the bed is another in a long line of useless things you have bought the cat before. So, let the cat take to the bed when the cat wants to take to the bed.

When you go to purchase the bed for your cat, there are a few important things to remember. First of all, you can pay a small fortune for a cat bed, or you can buy one at your local dollar store for around six to ten dollars. Buying the cheap one is often the way to go, because, contrary to popular belief, the cat is not going to care how much you paid for the bed, so long as you got them one.

In closing, buying a bed will keep the cat in a predetermined location while they are sleeping. If you want them to continue to stay in the bed, don't harass them while they are in the bed. They need to view the bed as a place where they can go to sleep, not as a place where they are going to have to fight or play.

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