Your cat feels the cold indoors: thermostat, nights, draughts, and where they should sleep
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If your cat seems cold indoors, the thermostat is rarely to blame: a healthy adult cat copes perfectly well with a normally heated home, even when the heating is turned down at night. What chills them is where they sleep: on the floor, in a draught, in an unheated room, and all the more so as they get older.
How can you tell if your cat is cold in the house?
The best clue at home is where they choose to sleep: a cat that switches beds when the first cold days arrive is showing you where your home is cold.
| What you notice at home | What it means | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| They sleep on the radiator, the router, your laptop | They like warmth: that's normal, not a sign of cold | Nothing, except give them a warm spot of their own |
| They slip under the duvet, the throws, into the clean washing | They're looking for somewhere that wraps around them | An enclosed bed, right where they already sleep |
| They've abandoned their open bed on the floor | The bed is too exposed to the floor or a draught | Move it, raise it or swap it for an enclosed one |
| They won't leave the one heated room, or press up against you at night | The rest of the home cools down at night | Set up a bed for them in that room |
| They stay tightly curled and shiver in a heated room | The problem goes beyond the bed | See the vet promptly |
According to Cats Protection, cats descend from the African wildcat, a desert animal: they prefer warmth. The signs of cold and the temperatures at which a cat suffers outdoors are covered in taking your cat out in winter.
If the second and third rows sound familiar, what they lack isn't heating but somewhere that wraps around them. That's the idea behind a cat sleeping bag: they slip right inside, and their body heat stays in.
What room temperature is right for a cat?
According to Cats Protection, there's no need to put the heating on for your cat unless the temperature indoors drops to 7 °C or lower: their fur keeps them warm, even when you feel chilly. For a healthy adult cat, turning the thermostat down at night is no problem.
What matters is the temperature where they sleep, not the figure on the thermostat. In a heated home, the cold spots are nearly always the same:
- The floor, especially tiles and floorboards over a cellar: cold air settles at ground level.
- Draughty spots: by the front door, a French window, a badly sealed window, a chimney flue.
- Rooms you don't heat: the hallway, utility room, conservatory, a spare room with the radiator off.
- Night-time, when the programmed heating drops and the doors are shut.
The same Cats Protection page advises putting their bed somewhere quiet, warm and dry, away from any draughts. In winter, your cat often ends up on the radiator: a hammock that hooks onto the radiator gives them a plush spot right there, provided you measure the top of yours first.
Where should a cat that feels the cold sleep?
A cat that feels the cold sleeps best in a bed that wraps around them, in the room where they spend the night, against a wall rather than under a window. According to Cats Protection, cats curl up into a ball to keep themselves warm: a bed that wraps around them works the same way.
International Cat Care in fact lists igloo beds among those that help an older cat feel warm and secure. It needn't be expensive: according to Cats Protection, a cardboard box lined with a blanket or an old jumper works perfectly, as the cat who prefers a box to a new bed well knows.
What a box can't do is be washed. The sleeping bag is fully machine washable, which matters in an enclosed bed where hair builds up quickly. Two sizes: 50 × 40 cm for a standard-sized adult cat, 65 × 55 cm for a large cat, a long-haired cat, or two cats who sleep together.
A bed that holds on to their warmth
Closed, the sleeping bag keeps their body heat inside, with no extra heater; opened out flat, it turns back into a simple mat when the warm weather returns. Discover the sleeping bag →
Our other cat beds, whether open, enclosed or raised, are all in the beds and scratchers collection.
Why do older cats feel the cold more?
An older cat moves less, sleeps more and often has arthritis, which the cold makes worse. According to Cats Protection, a cat is considered senior from 11 years old; their sleep becomes lighter and they prefer a soft, well-padded surface, because of lost muscle tone and sometimes arthritis. Placed where they already sleep, a self-warming cat bed mat gives them velvet over two layers of padding, and reflects their own body heat back to them, with no wire or plug.
The charity's cats and cold weather page counts elderly cats among those most at risk from the cold; it also explains that cold can worsen arthritis and that cats are good at hiding pain: they groom less, rest more, hesitate to jump. International Cat Care adds that they start sleeping in easier-to-reach places, and recommends soft beds in quiet, accessible, draught-free spots.
- Put their bed at the level where they live: if they no longer jump onto the sofa, the sofa isn't where they'll sleep.
- Set up two or three warm spots around the home, so they never have far to go.
- Take them to the vet: arthritis pain can be eased.
The rest is in beds for older cats.
What if a bed isn't enough?
A bed, even an enclosed one, produces no heat: it only keeps in the cat's own. A cat that shivers, is unusually drowsy or stays chilly in a heated home doesn't need a new bed: whether it's weight loss, illness, arthritis or old age, it's for the vet to find the cause. Cats Protection lists weight loss in an older cat among the symptoms never to ignore, with hyperthyroidism, kidney disease or diabetes among the possible causes.
And if your cat refuses any enclosed space, the closed shape won't help them. The sleeping bag opens out flat and becomes a complete bed in its own right. A raised wooden cat bed, designed first and foremost for summer since air flows beneath its canvas, lifts them off the floor, out of draughts at ground level; with a throw on top and away from draughty spots, it makes a good winter bed.
Frequently asked questions
Can you put your cat's bed near a radiator?
Yes, and that's often where a cat that feels the cold ends up sleeping: Cats Protection even mentions beds designed to hang over radiators among the ways to keep them cosy. An ordinary bed should sit a little way off, not pushed right up against it. And leave them another, cooler spot to retreat to if they get too warm.
Can a long-haired cat get cold indoors?
Less often, but yes: their coat insulates them well, and Cats Protection notes that some breeds, such as the Siberian, have adapted to colder climates. A thick coat isn't everything, though: an older or unwell long-haired cat is still more at risk from the cold than a fit young adult.
Should you leave the heating on for your cat when you're out?
Not for their sake, according to Cats Protection, unless it drops to 7 °C or lower indoors. Turning the heating down while you're away is fine for a fit adult cat, as long as they can still reach their bed and the warmest rooms: leave the internal doors open. A kitten, or an older or unwell cat, which the same charity counts among those most at risk from the cold, needs a warmer home.
Key takeaways
- A healthy adult cat doesn't need the heating on for their sake: according to Cats Protection, not until it drops to 7 °C or lower indoors.
- In a heated home, a cat is usually cold because of where they sleep: on the floor, in a draught or in a room that gets cold at night.
- An enclosed bed, placed against a wall in the room where they spend the night, keeps in their body heat with no extra heater.
- A cat that stays chilly in a heated home, especially an older or thinner one, needs the vet, not a new bed.