Read the Move Before You Fix It
Spending the day on top of the wardrobe is a decision, and it usually has a logic. Height gives a cat surveillance without involvement: she can watch the room while no child, dog, visitor, or vacuum can reach her. The top of a wardrobe is also warm, since heat rises, undisturbed for long stretches, and often soft with stored blankets. A cat who has recently lost her usual quiet spot, because a room was redecorated, a new pet arrived, or building work filled the house with strangers, has not become antisocial; she has relocated her rest to the last place that still works.
Timing is the clue. A gradual drift upward over weeks, with normal eating and evening sociability, points to preference. A sudden retreat, especially with reduced appetite, hiding at floor level too, or changed grooming, deserves a vet visit first, because cats in pain or feeling unwell commonly withdraw to high, defensible places.
Make the Wardrobe Top Safe if She Keeps It
Fighting for the spot usually loses. If she is determined, make her chosen refuge safe rather than leaving her to improvise on a dusty, slippery surface. Clear stored items she could knock down or become tangled in, lay a washable blanket or low bed up there, and check how she gets up and down. The jump down onto hard flooring is the risky part; a chest of drawers or a sturdy cat tree placed as an intermediate step protects her joints, especially as she ages.
Dust the top before she settles in earnest. Wardrobe tops collect a thick layer, and a cat sleeping there breathes it and grooms it off her coat. A clean surface and washable bedding turn an improvised refuge into a legitimate one you can maintain.
Offer a Better High Place at Floor Level's Terms
Many cats accept a trade: a tall, stable cat tree or a wall shelf with a bed, placed in a quiet corner of a room people use, away from through-traffic. The new spot must be at least as high as she can reasonably want, completely stable under her full weight, and hers alone, not shared with storage or a child's toys. Put a blanket that smells of her on it and reward visits without ever lifting her onto it; a perch she is placed on is your idea, and cats can tell.
Position matters as much as height. A tree beside the television in the busiest room replicates the wardrobe problem at lower altitude. The quiet end of a bedroom or a study corner usually matches what the wardrobe was providing: elevation plus peace.
Fix What Pushed Her Up
Work through the floor-level changes honestly. A new dog who stares at her sleeping places, a toddler newly mobile and grabby, a litter tray moved somewhere she feels exposed, a partner working night shifts and disturbing her daytime rest: each has a practical answer, from baby gates that restore her dog-free zone to moving the tray back and adding a second quiet bed downstairs. When the pressure at floor level eases, most cats split their time again rather than living at altitude full time.
Do not lure her down constantly with treats or carry her down for company. Occasional coaxing is kind; a campaign teaches her the wardrobe is contested territory too, and she will find somewhere even less reachable.
Track the Pattern as a Household
One person's report that she seems fine can miss a slow change others have noticed. Agree as a household who feeds her, who has seen her drink, play, and use the tray, and compare impressions weekly while she is in this phase. Keeping those shared observations alongside her profile through KinsLe's Family Sharing means the whole family works from the same picture of her behaviour, so a gradual return to the sofa, or a worrying deepening of withdrawal, is spotted by everyone at the same time.