It’s a scene familiar to most cat owners: Your fluffy friend is curled up on top of a kitchen cabinet, purring like a radiator, or sprawled on your dresser amid a sea of knickknacks they knocked over during their biiiiiig stretch.
Many domesticated cats gravitate toward high-up hangout spots, reigning above our (their?) living rooms, bedrooms and kitchens. But what’s so attractive about lounging at such altitudes? Is it a show of dominance over the home — an affirmation of the commonly held human belief that cats think they’re superior?
According to cat behavior experts, not really.
“They are better than us, but that’s not why they go up high,” jokes Rita Reimers, a cat behaviorist and co-founder of the Cat Behavior Alliance.
Nearly all domesticated cat behavior can be explained by survival instinct, including their propensity to situate themselves in lofted areas. As both predator and prey, resting at a high vantage point allows cats to eye their potential dinner while avoiding becoming someone else’s (yes, this intuition persists even for house cats whose meals get delivered in a dish). “Everything a cat does is for the survival of themselves and their species,” Reimers says. It’s less about showing superiority over the home and more a way to gain the most advantageous view of their resources and environment.
While we humans tend to think of our living spaces two-dimensionally, mapping out floor plans and furniture arrangements according to square footage, cats view their world in three dimensions. As natural climbers, they’re always looking for ways to get in the air. “They evolved in areas where they took advantage of trees and rocks and being up high so that they could feel safe and also see where their prey were,” says Marci Koski, a wildlife biologist and certified feline behavior specialist.
So without spending hundreds of dollars on a gaudy cat tower, how can you construct comfortable vertical spaces for your four-legged roommate(s) that will keep the whole household happy? We’ve got you covered.
First, observe where your cat likes to hang out
It’s no use constructing an elaborate perch or shelving system in a room your cat doesn’t naturally frequent. “I go into homes where people have these really great wall setups with all these wall shelves, and it’s like the perfect jungle gym for their cats. And they go, ‘well, my cat never uses it.’ I look at what’s there, and it’s set up in the basement where there’s no window to look out of, or people don’t hang out in the basement very much,” Koski says.
Get to know where your cat prefers to spend most of their time — chances are this will also be a space where you spend a lot of your time or a room in your home that has a window with an entertaining view. Despite their self-sufficiency, aloof stares as we coo about how much we love them and general can’t-be-bothered demeanor, your cats do like to be around you, Koski says.
Identify your cat’s favorite outlook and add a low-effort hammock with suction cups. If you really want your cat to see a show, install a bird feeder outside the window. Take note of which spots in each room they gravitate to; there may be something particularly attractive about the surface of a piece of furniture or the smell of an object that you can replicate elsewhere.
It’s also helpful to clock where your cat seeks comfort when they’re feeling unsafe or scared, and what spaces they tend to avoid. If they usually visit a certain room or corner when guests come over or children abound, adding vertical hangouts to those areas can put them even more at ease during stressful situations. On the flip side, if they run for the hills at the sound of a front door opening, putting a perch in a place with heavy foot traffic will be a waste of your time.
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January 30, 2024 at 09:00PM
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Cats love high places. 6 tips to create a lofty spot your feline. - The Washington Post
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