The problem is that cats can flawlessly detect when something was made for them to use, and then will not deign to use it.
Meanwhile, the cardboard box you have forgotten to take to the recycling for three weeks will become their palace.
Meanwhile, the cardboard box you have forgotten to take to the recycling for three weeks will become their palace.
There is definitely an attraction aspect related the "freshness" of the box, as there are squabbles over which cat gets to use the new box. These squabbles wane over time, until the new box arrives.
Also, their brown paper filler is loved by my cat. He doesn’t like Amazon packaging paper, but is all over Chewy paper. I wonder if they add a scent.
I have a USB keyboard and external monitors, so the laptop sits off to the side, and is warm, so they loved to sleep there. Particularly a problem since it also has a button that powers off the laptop. I made a keyboard cover, but even then it was problematic with them sleeping on it (thermal throttling).
Putting a box on the desk solved that, they prefer it, until a second cat wants to join the party, which is thankfully rare.
The exceptions to not pandering to cat overlords are scratching posts and litter boxes.