One Cat. Infinite Beds!

We came to know this cat we call Indica, who is everything but mellow, in a Portuguese apartment three years ago. After being abandoned by her mother, we decided to bring her back to the Uk with us. Since then, she had been living with my parents while we finished university. They both adore Indica purely because of how much sass she holds in that tiny little body. A somewhat cantankerous feline, She does not let you hold her for very long, and her attitude comes out when you try to clip the nails! She likes our company, but not so much of our affection which we have so much to give! Owning an independent cat is a great way to learn about patience and consent, cats will let you know if they don't like what you're doing with a quick bite or a hiss, maybe even a scratch!

It's essential that a cat feels safe in their environment with multiple places to hide when they get scared. But because we live in an apartment, Indica does not have access to a garden like she once did at my parents home. Though she is independent, she has always been rather skittish and often runs to hide under the bedsheets when the binmen come along the road in their vans every Friday morning. To make her feel as though she had her own space where not even we humans could annoy her, we created/discovered ten spots across the apartment that Indica sleeps in.

When we first moved Indica into our apartment from my parents home during the summer, Indica hid in the smallest corner she could find as soon as she got out of her carrier. She hates travelling and has to sulk for a few hours before she gets hungry. She began by hiding away beneath the bottom drawer of a wardrobe, but quickly abandoned those spots when she realised we could pull out the drawer to reveal her!

As the days turned to weeks, she became more relaxed, settling in nicely to her new home and exploring every nook it had to offer her. Indica would sleep at our feet in the bed but soon abandoned that too after finding out one of us is a restless sleeper. So we took a small chest of drawers and placed it at the end of our bed, topped it with a few fuzzy blankets to entice the moggy et voila! A new spot for the cat where she can be close to us and comfy through the night!

While living with my parents, Indica had a spot in their living room. They had a long three-seat sofa against the radiator, and on top of the iron radiator was a blanket folded into a little bed for Indica. She would spend every evening in the autumn and winter snoozing away on top of the piping hot radiator as if she was sunbathing back in Portugal! Luckily in our apartment, we had a sofa in our room with the only space available against the radiator. We managed to replicate her spot from my parents home in ours to remind her of something familiar.

After a month or so, we started to notice Indica snoozing in amongst our folded jumpers in our wardrobe's shelves. Since we didn’t mind her cat naps on top of our clothing, we let her continue. But then after a long clear out of old clothes, ornaments, hobbies we got bored of, etc. suddenly we had a few shelves in our wardrobe empty! So naturally, we decided to make it into a tall bed for Indica! The sofa that we had in our room had two rather unnecessary pillows along the arms, so I place them along the inner walls of the shelf to make it seem smaller and more cushty for her, then we put some soft felt in the middle using it as padding for her faux fur bed on top. The long pillows narrowed the entrance for her to up into, but I think she enjoys the challenge of aiming her jump precisely! Not only that, but Indica loves how high up it is! Cats like to have a clear view of a place where they cannot be surprised. And now, she uses it the most out of all her beds, leaping up into her bedtime spot every night for a long deep sleep.

Our divan bed has four drawers in its base, we use one for socks and underwear, and whenever Indica was tired of everyone telling her how cute she is, she would usually go to that specific drawer, pry it open with her claws and climb inside. She would then crawl into the drawer beside it with all the soft linen and hide away in there. During the first few months of having her in the apartment, there would be times when we would think that she had somehow gotten out when really she was hidden away exceptionally well! This was one of these times, and because of that, we decided to take out one empty drawer from beneath the bed. This way, she had an easy entrance into the other drawers where we had eagerly set up a nice new spot for her! Sometimes we will wonder where she has gone and always go to her beds under the bed first, and most of the time she’s curled up in the dark dreaming.

Most of these places are relatively hidden, but this one is pretty obvious. We did not need to add anything because Indica is happy to take up the whole sofa! She is often happily sprawled out across the cushions, acting so offended when someone dares sit next to her! And although Indica uses this spot quite often, so do we humans, so she does not stick around for very long before we get affectionate!

In our bedroom, we have an internal sliding window that keeps out the city noises in front of our external window, which acts as a greenhouse in the summer. It is also a newly acquired spot for Indica in the winter! As it got colder, we decided to bring in our houseplants from in between the windows so now there are only two hardy houseplants sat at either end. As the sun comes up in the mornings, Indica enjoys lounging between the windows and watching the blackbirds land in the trees. It’s a nicely isolated spot since its difficult for us human to get in.

The most recent spot of Indica’s that we have discovered is in the hallway. We have a shoe rack against the radiator in the hall. The radiator has a frame attached to it for drying clothing. We regularly lay our towels across it to dry after coming out of the shower and have noticed that we create a sort of tent over the shoe rack each time. One day we see Indica emerge from beneath the towels where she had been incubating in the heat for some time! She loves being warm and cosy, which is why she enjoys the radiator so much no matter where she goes!

Indica is a free-spirited cat who has quite the attitude and a lot of spots to nap in, and we are sure that she will continue to find new places to sleep the longer we live together!

Thanks for reading!

- Atlas and Indica