Cat Territory Mapping 2025: Vet Guide to Beds, Shelves & Hideouts 📐🐾

By Dr. Duncan Houston BVSc

Most catfights don’t start over food. They start over space. Beds. Shelves. Corners. Windows. That sunny shelf near the kitchen? It’s prime real estate. 🐾

If you’re managing a multi-cat home or introducing a new cat, knowing how to map their territory — with the right beds, perches, and escape zones — can prevent conflict before it starts.

🐈 Why Cats Care So Much About Territory

• Cats are solitary hunters, not pack animals
  
• They rely on “safe zones” to eat, sleep, groom, and observe
  
• Overlapping zones = tension, guarding, stress

💡 Cats don’t need more square footage. They need more control

📍 Core Territory Zones to Create

1. Sleep Zones

• At least one per cat + 1 extra
  
• Different styles: cave, pad, open bed, shelf spot
  
• Spread out in different rooms or corners

2. Vertical Zones

• Window shelves, felt houses on benches, or stackable platforms
  
• Allows “peaceful coexistence” via height

3. Hideouts

• Felt caves, tunnel houses, behind furniture
  
• Used for decompression and escape during tension

4. Observation Zones

• Perches with visual access to people and windows
  
• Great for territorial security without confrontation

🛏️ Purrz Products That Support Territory Mapping

🏠 Felt Houses

• Structure + hiding + nap zone in one
  
• Great for placing near entryways or rooms, cats like to watch

🔁 3-in-1 Cube

• Use cube mode for a corner claim
  
• Flat pad mode under shelves or benches

🛋️ XL Felt Pad

• Neutral territory bed = peaceful shared space
  
• Great for bonding or supervised nap sessions

📏 Example: 2-Cat Layout

• Living Room: XL Pad on floor + Cube on shelf
  
• Bedroom: Felt House on dresser + Donut Bed in corner
  
• Office: Window perch with pad + tunnel near desk

Result? 2 cats, 6 spots = no competition, no stress.

🧠 How to Know Your Map Is Working

• No blocking or staring during nap time
•  
• Each cat uses their spots without being followed
•  
• Shared use happens by choice, not by pressure
•  
• Less hissing, hiding, or sudden relocations

✅ Every bed is a signal: “This is my space — and I feel safe here.”

💬 From Dr. Duncan Houston

“Cat conflict is often invisible until it explodes. Territory mapping with beds, levels, and hideouts gives every cat a way to rest and reset — without competition.”

🛒 Design Your Territory Map With Purrz

• 🏠 Felt Houses
•  
• 🔁 3-in-1 Cube
•  
• 🛋️ XL Felt Pad

📐 Shop all territory-safe beds and hideouts at Purrz

📚 References

1. International Cat Care. (2023). Mapping feline territory indoors. https://icatcare.org
   
2. Buffington, C. A. T. (2011). Territory, scent, and stress in multi-cat homes. *Vet Clinics of North America*, 41(5), 1001–1015.