Should Each Cat Have Their Own Bed?

Cats need a bed to feel secure, relieve anxiety, and maintain their routine. Felines aren’t fond of changes. Plus, even the most extroverted cats like to spend quality time alone.

Contrary to a popular misconception, cats can become friends and even share the bed. Still, there’s always a risk of territorial conflict.

To guarantee the emotional well-being of your furry friends, ensure that each cat has at least one bed.

Can Cats Share a Bed If They’re Friends?

Feline behavior specialists and experienced owners recommend having at least one bed per cat. So, if you have two cats, you should have at least two beds; if you own five, you should have at least five beds.

However, many owners argue that their cats are friends and don’t mind sharing a bed. This may be true – some cats are very social and form strong bonds with other felines, especially if they grew up together.

Cats mark their territory with pheromones by rubbing their forehead, chin, and cheeks against surfaces. They also have pheromone glands in their paws, so whenever your cat kneads something, it marks the territory.

Cats use these pheromones to read information about other felines and recognize cats from their social circle. Typically, cats don’t mind sharing a bed or scratching posts with other cats from their friend group.

Many cats will happily sleep cuddled up with other felines. Some cats even get along with dogs, parrots, ferrets, and lizards.

But cats are typically territorial, independent, introverted animals, so such cases are an exception from the norm.

If your cats sleep together and groom each other, they are true friends. You’re a lucky owner because cats don’t always get along even if they live together for years.

Some cat breeds are more likely to share their bed without engaging in conflicts. The friendliest cat breeds include Burmese, Birman, Ragdoll, Sphynx, and Abyssinian. Still, even they need their personal space.

It’s fine to have one bed per two cats if you don’t have space. But you should be mindful of cat territorial aggression signs and separate your pets if their relationship worsens.

Territorial Conflicts

Cats are territorial species. They can become friends with other felines, but friendship doesn’t change their nature.

Your cat categorizes your home into core territory where it sleeps, feeds, and goes to the toilet, and common territory shared with other animals and people.

Cats claim their core territory with their pheromones.

Some cats have moderate territorial instinct and don’t mind sharing their scratching post, toys, or bedding with other felines from their social group, although most prefer to have personal bowls and a litterbox.

If your cats headbutt each other, nap together, touch noses, and play, you can rest assured they get along. But even cats that were initially friends can start fighting over territory.

A cat can suddenly become territorial because of pain-induced stress, a new pet in the house, hormonal disbalance, or moving homes. Cats are very sensitive to changes and can turn from calm and loving pets into beasts in a second.

Territorial conflicts can also arise between littermates when they achieve sexual maturity. If you got two kittens from the same litter, have them fixed on time to avoid this.

Territorial aggression is more widespread among cats of the same sex and of different ages. In both cases, cats compete for a higher position in the family hierarchy.

Pregnant and nursing felines tend to be more territorial than usually because their maternal instinct makes them overly protective of their kittens.

Pay attention to your cats’ behavior to determine whether they need more personal space. If your cats avoid each other, hiss, growl, run away when they meet, or stare at each other tensely, they are on the edge of territorial conflict.

In that case, you should place your cats’ beds as far as possible. If your cats get along, you can keep the beds close.

Territorial conflicts can have a lasting impact on your cat relationship. It’s best to ensure each cat has its bed, scratching post, bowl, and litterbox to prevent the conflict from arising in the first place.

Tiredness, Anxiety, & Pain Relief

Each cat should have their own bed, whether it lives alone or with other felines. Even if your cat enjoys human company and like sleeping on your desk or in your bed, it should have its personal space.

Cats may want to be alone for different reasons, including tiredness, anxiety, and pain. Similar to how humans want to isolate themselves when they feel sick, cats need alone time to revive their energy.

The cat’s bed should be only theirs. It shouldn’t carry smells of other felines or people. Cats only feel safe and content in their personal space where no one threatens them.

Furthermore, cats don’t like to be disturbed when they sleep – and who does? If your cat shares its bed with other felines, another cat might get in and out of the bed as the first cat sleeps.

Or, if your cat sleeps on the couch, it will be disturbed by you sitting and standing up. Either way, your cat needs a quiet and calm sleeping place when it doesn’t feel like interacting with anyone.

Anxious cats tend to be especially territorial. A cat can feel anxious because of physical pain, a change of house, a new pet, loud noises, or an unpleasant vet visit.

If another cat approaches an anxious cat while it rests, it can behave aggressively and begin a fight. For this reason, each cat should have a personal place to wind off and relieve stress.

Furthermore, cats feeling physical pain might want to stretch their legs or sleep in a particular position that helps them minimize discomfort. When two cats share a bed, they don’t have such freedom.

Do Cats Claim Their Beds?

If each cat should have its bed, does this mean that other cats cannot sleep in the beds of their housemates? It depends on the relationship between cats in the household.

Cats with a strong territorial instinct may “claim” their beds, scratching posts, bowls, and litterboxes. They might attack anyone approaching their belongings, even if they don’t use them at that moment.

However, this isn’t normal behavior. If one of your cats is aggressive towards other cats using the cat tree or condo, you should seek the root of the problem and try to improve the relationship between your pets.

Ensure that other pets don’t use the belongings of the territorial cat. This is easier said than done because you cannot supervise your cats non-stop.

If the territorial conflict between your cats is severe, keep your cats in separate rooms whenever you aren’t home. You can use pheromone products and behavioral therapy to deal with the problem in the long run.

Most cats in multi-pet households don’t mind other felines sleeping in their bed as long as they don’t use it themselves at that particular moment. In other words, cats don’t usually claim their beds in the traditional sense.

Cats don’t perceive their beds like humans perceive their phones. It’s merely about distancing than being the bed’s sole owner. However, this only refers to cats coexisting in peace.

Even then, your cats can have their favorite resting spots and spend more time in a particular bed. Usually, other cats will respect that and not take that bed for the night.

How Many Beds for Each Cat?

We’ve determined that each cat should have a bed. But is one bed per cat enough, or do cats need more beds to feel content?

The answer depends on your living conditions and your cat’s habits and health. Some cats like routine and will only sleep in one place, whereas others have a somewhat chaotic lifestyle and like switching sleeping spots.

In the first case, additional beds are unnecessary, but the cat would appreciate freedom of choice in the second case. You might also need additional beds if you have a big, multi-story home.

As a rule of thumb, get your cat a bed for each floor. Some owners get a bed for each of their pet’s favorite resting spots.

For example, if your cat enjoys watching birds through the window, you can get a soft cushion for the windowsill. There’s no such thing as “too many cat beds.”

Extra beds will also benefit senior cats with low energy levels and mobility issues. A bed in each room will ensure that your cat always has a comfortable place to rest when it doesn’t feel well.

If you have many cats, providing each one with several beds gets trickier. In that case, you can get a big cat tree with several condos – this way, each cat has a bed, but they don’t take up much space.

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