The Best Heated Cat Beds

Cats love heat. They follow patches of sun across the floor, sleep on laptops and radiators, and squeeze in next to you under the blanket. A heated bed gives them a warm spot that is always there, whatever the weather. A good one warms gently, uses about as much power as a night light, and has a cord a cat can’t chew through. A bad one runs too hot, has no safety listing, and leaves your cat no way to move off the heat.

We compared heated beds and pads on how hot they get and how the heat is controlled, whether the whole product is safety certified, how the cord is protected, whether the cover goes in the washing machine, and what owners report after several winters. These are the ones we recommend.

• Best overall: the K&H Thermo-Kitty Bed, a round, padded bed with a 4-watt heater that warms to a cat’s body temperature only when your cat lies in it.
• Best heated cave: the K&H Thermo-Pet Cave, a covered fleece bed with the same heater, for cats who like to hide.
• Best adjustable heating pad: the Toozey Cat Heating Pad, a pad with six heat settings and a timer that goes inside the bed your cat already uses.
• Best without electricity: the K&H Self-Warming Cat Bed Pad, a pad that reflects your cat’s own body heat, with no cord at all.
• Best for outdoor cats: the K&H Outdoor Heated Kitty House, an insulated shelter with a 20-watt heated bed inside and two exits.

Does Your Cat Need a Heated Bed?

Cats are comfortable at much higher temperatures than people. Their thermoneutral zone, the range in which they don’t have to spend energy keeping warm, is believed to be between 86 and 101 °F (30 to 38 °C), far warmer than most homes are kept. That is why a cat will lie in the one sunny spot in the house, and why so many cats take to a heated bed straight away.

Most healthy adult cats manage fine without one, but some cats get much more out of a warm bed:

• Older and thin cats, who have less padding and often feel the cold more. A heated bed doesn’t treat arthritis, so if your older cat seems stiff, ask your vet about pain relief, but a warm bed that is easy to climb into is a comfort on top of that.
• Hairless and short-coated cats, such as the Sphynx, who have little or no fur to keep them warm.
• Kittens without a mother. Kittens in their first weeks cannot regulate their own body temperature and depend on outside heat.
• Cats in cold or drafty rooms, such as a basement, a sunroom or a house kept cool overnight.
• Outdoor and community cats, who need dry, insulated shelter through the winter.

Heated, Self-Warming or Microwavable?

Electric heated beds and pads plug in and add real heat. The best have a thermostat that keeps the surface near a cat’s body temperature and use only a few watts. They are the warmest option and the only one that adds heat in a cold room, but they have a cord.

Self-warming beds have a reflective layer inside, a bit like a space blanket, that bounces your cat’s own body heat back. They need no power and are completely safe to leave anywhere, but they are only as warm as your cat makes them.

Microwavable heat pads are discs you heat in the microwave and slip under a cover. They stay warm for hours with no cord, which makes them useful for carriers, kittens and outdoor shelters without power, but they cool down over the night and have to be reheated.

What Makes a Good Heated Cat Bed

The heat is low and controlled. A cat’s normal body temperature is about 102 °F (39 °C). The best beds use a thermostat to warm to around that point, and no hotter. Pads with high settings can go well above it, so they need more care.

The whole product is safety certified. Look for a listing from a testing lab such as MET, UL or ETL that covers the finished bed, not just a component, and for a chew-resistant cord. Plug it straight into the wall. Makers of certified beds warn against using an extension cord, because the lab can’t test every cord with the product.

Your cat can move off the heat. A cat needs to be able to move away from the heat source when it gets too warm. A pad that covers part of a bed, or a bed in a room with other places to sleep, lets your cat choose.

The cover goes in the washing machine. Beds collect fur, dander and the occasional hairball. A removable heater and a machine-washable cover make cleaning easy.

It is rated for where you use it. Indoor beds are not built for damp. In a garage, on a porch or outside, use a product made for outdoor use.

Best Overall: K&H Thermo-Kitty Bed

The K&H Thermo-Kitty Bed is the heated cat bed most owners end up with, and for good reason. It is a soft, round bed with 6-inch padded walls that cats can curl up against, and under the cushion sits a removable heater that uses just 4 watts, less than most night lights.

The heater has a thermostat. When the bed is empty, K&H says the surface stays about 10 to 15 °F above room temperature, enough for a cat to sense the warmth. When your cat lies down, its body holds the heat in and the bed warms to about 102 °F, a cat’s own body temperature, and no higher. MET Labs has certified the whole bed, not just the heater, and the cover comes off for the washing machine. The small size is 16 inches across, for cats under 15 pounds, and the large is 20 inches. It has been on sale since 2018 and has more than 7,000 ratings on Amazon.

Good to know:

• The bed won’t feel warm to your hand when it’s empty. That’s normal: it only reaches full warmth once something lies on it.
• Plug it straight into the wall. K&H says not to use it with an extension cord.
• The heater lifts out, so the bed works as an ordinary bed in summer.
• K&H covers it for one year.
• K&H also makes a Deluxe version with a plusher, fleece-lined cushion.

Best Heated Cave: K&H Thermo-Pet Cave

Some cats don’t want to sleep in the open. They burrow under blankets, sleep in cupboards and climb into boxes. The K&H Thermo-Pet Cave gives them a covered bed with a heated floor. Its foam walls keep their shape, the inside is lined with soft fleece, and a roof traps the warmth around your cat.

It uses the same kind of 4-watt heater with a thermostat as the Thermo-Kitty Bed, warming fully only when your cat is inside. A zipper at the back turns the cave into an open-ended tunnel, which suits cats who want a way out on both sides. A plush toy hangs inside. Once you take the heater out, the whole bed goes in the washing machine.

Good to know:

• At 17 by 15 by 13 inches, it suits most cats, but a very large cat may prefer the open Thermo-Kitty Bed in its 20-inch size.
• The covered design holds more heat, so make sure your cat has somewhere cooler to go as well.
• Some cats won’t use a covered bed at all. If yours sleeps stretched out in the open, start with the Thermo-Kitty Bed.

Best Adjustable Heating Pad: Toozey Cat Heating Pad

If your cat already has a favorite bed, basket or crate, you don’t need to replace it. The Toozey Cat Heating Pad is a flat 18 by 16 inch pad that slips inside, and it costs about half as much as a heated bed. It has more than 11,000 ratings on Amazon.

Unlike the K&H beds, which hold one temperature, the Toozey lets you choose. A controller on the cord has six settings from 86 to 131 °F (30 to 55 °C) and a timer that switches the pad off after 2, 4, 8, 12 or 24 hours, or leaves it on. The heating pad inside is waterproof, the cord has a reinforced, chew-resistant sleeve, and the soft cover comes off for the washing machine.

Good to know:

• The top settings are much hotter than a cat’s body temperature. Start on the lowest setting and only turn it up if your cat seems to want more.
• Don’t use the higher settings for a cat that can’t easily move off the pad, such as a very old, sick or newborn cat.
• Toozey says to use the pad flat and unfolded, and indoors only.
• Unlike K&H, Toozey’s listing doesn’t say the pad is certified by a testing lab such as MET or UL.

Best Without Electricity: K&H Self-Warming Cat Bed Pad

The K&H Self-Warming Cat Bed Pad has no plug and no heater. A layer inside the plush pad reflects your cat’s body heat back up, so the spot warms as soon as your cat lies down. It is the best-selling cat bed mat on Amazon, with more than 13,000 ratings, and it costs about $15.

With no cord, it can go anywhere: on the sofa, in a carrier, on a cat tree, in a room with no outlet, or in the home of a cat who chews cables. It is reversible, with different colors on each side, and goes in the washing machine.

Good to know:

• It only reflects the heat your cat gives off. In a cold room it won’t add heat the way an electric bed does.
• The reflective layer crinkles. Many cats like the sound, but a nervous cat may not.
• It is a thin pad, so put it on top of a cushion or in a bed if your cat likes some padding.

Best for Outdoor Cats: K&H Outdoor Heated Kitty House

If you look after a cat who lives outdoors, or feed a colony of community cats, the K&H Outdoor Heated Kitty House gives them a dry, warm place to sleep. The walls are insulated and covered in heavy waterproof fabric, and inside is a 20-watt heated bed that, like K&H’s indoor beds, reaches full warmth only when a cat lies on it.

The house has two 6 by 8 inch doorways, so a cat can always get out the other side if another animal comes to the door, and clear plastic flaps that keep out wind and snow can be removed while cats get used to the house. It goes together without tools. MET Labs has certified the whole product for indoor and outdoor use, and it has more than 7,800 ratings on Amazon. K&H also sells an unheated version.

Good to know:

• It needs an outdoor outlet. K&H designs it for porches, patios, garages, barns and sheds, and it lasts longer out of the worst of the weather.
• Don’t add blankets or towels. Fabric soaks up moisture and turns cold and damp. In an unheated shelter, use loose straw, which stays dry.
• If you already have a shelter, K&H’s Extreme Weather Kitty Pad is a 25-watt heated pad in a tough plastic case, with a steel-wrapped cord, that you can put inside.

Also Good

For the sofa or an existing bed: the K&H Thermo-Kitty Mat is a flat, 12.5 by 25 inch heated mat that uses 6 watts and the same thermostat as K&H’s beds, warming to a cat’s body temperature when your cat lies on it. Lay it on the sofa, a window seat or in a bed your cat already likes. It has been on sale since 2008.

With no cord, for kittens and carriers: the SnuggleSafe Microwave Heat Pad is a hard, 8.7-inch disc that you heat in the microwave and slip into its fleece cover. SnuggleSafe says it stays warm for up to 10 hours. It suits orphaned kittens, a cat recovering at home, a carrier on a cold day, or an outdoor shelter with no power. Heat it exactly as long as the label says for your microwave’s wattage, because overheating can make it dangerously hot.

For the window: the K&H Thermo-Kitty Sill is a heated window perch, 24 by 14 inches, on a foam base that holds up to 40 pounds. It needs a sill at least 24 inches long and 2 inches deep, and fixes on with the adhesive strips or screws in the box. Cats get the view and the warmth together. For perches without a heater, see our guide to the best cat window perches.

How to Use a Heated Bed Safely

• Leave a cooler spot. Your cat should always be able to move off the heat. Don’t put a heating pad under the whole of a bed or crate, and keep an unheated bed nearby.
• Use a pet product, not a human heating pad. Pads made for people aren’t built to be slept on all night by an animal that can’t switch them off, and they have no protection against claws and teeth.
• Take extra care with cats that can’t move easily. Heating pads are one of the common causes of burns in cats and dogs, and the cats most at risk are the ones that can’t get up and move: very old or sick cats, and cats still drowsy after surgery. Use the lowest setting, put a layer of bedding between the pad and your cat, and check on them.
• For kittens, heat only half the space. Shelter fostering guides advise heating only half of the kittens’ space, with thick bedding over the heat source, so the kittens can crawl away if they get too warm.
• Protect the cord. Run it along the wall or behind furniture, and choose a chew-resistant or steel-wrapped cord if your cat chews. Plug it straight into the wall.
• Unplug it when you’re away for a long time. Certified beds are designed to stay on day and night, but K&H passes on MET’s advice to unplug them, like any appliance, when you go away on a long trip.
• Use outdoor products outdoors. In a garage, porch or shelter, use a bed or pad rated for outdoor use, and keep it dry.

How to Choose

For most cats, get the K&H Thermo-Kitty Bed. It warms to a cat’s own body temperature, uses 4 watts, and has been certified as a whole. If your cat likes to hide, the Thermo-Pet Cave does the same with a roof. If your cat already has a favorite bed, the Toozey pad adds warmth to it and lets you choose the temperature, as long as you keep it on the low settings. If you don’t want a cord, or your cat chews them, the K&H Self-Warming Pad costs little and needs no power. For a cat who lives outside, the K&H Outdoor Heated Kitty House gives shelter and heat together.

Wherever you put it, a warm bed works best somewhere quiet, away from the litter box and food bowls, with a cooler spot nearby. If you’re setting up for a new cat, our checklist of everything you need before adopting a cat covers the rest, and for trips to the vet on a cold day, see our guide to the best cat carriers.