Are animal beds optional?

[Squirting Elephant]

Because most animals sleep comfortably in the freezer lol. I mean sure if they need medical care then yes but otherwise? Also placement and such doesn't really seem to matter either. The Panthers sleep next to the cows and the cows on top of the chickens :D

[Giant Space Hamster]

Yes, but you cannot perform medical care on an animal that is not in a bed (IIRC). That's the important part.

I don't think comfort matters but if there's a healing rate buff that might potentially be somewhat slightly barely valuable on animals too maybe possibly.

[Squirting Elephant]

Since there is a fence around my base and the animals never leave it, I don't need beds I guess then... Weird... I guess I'll just restrict them to the grassy area + freezer to eat.

[Giant Space Hamster]

Just remember that if any of your animals get injured you will not be able to heal them unless there is an animal bed for them. For smaller animals you can just put down an animal "sleeping spot" instantly and that will do, but for larger animals you'll have to have an animal bed made for them. Otherwise they will have to heal naturally, which is always risky in RimWorld.

[Giant Space Hamster]

I suppose beds also reduce the amount of time needed to rest fully, even for animals (I think? I don't have stats in front of me). This means that technically you might get more time out of haulers if they have comfy beds.

[Squirting Elephant]

Mmm they indeed seem to rest a tiny tiny bit slower without beds.

[Daffy]

Yeah as others say they rest better and they only *heal* in animal beds .. tho my muffalos sleeps in the veggie freezer i have .. like to think it is becourse it is too hot outside :P

[Ashardalon]

without a bed you can still heal them when they are sleeping
but with a bed they will go lay down and rest as soon as they are injured and you dont have their master drafted
while animals do have something like 120% imunity gain they can get infections so its a good idea to have some sleeping spots at least
especially for bleeding wounds as they can still bleed to death wile walking around (also limits how much blood you need to clean)
its also a good way of keeping them somewhere around an area if you have a large animal area, that way they still come home no matter how far they went to hunt

[For_Science!]

One other thing: if you have a preference for what your animals eat, then it helps to give them a bed near their food supply. They'll usually be hungry when they wake up, so this way they'll have food close at hand, and are less likely to eat things you wanted to reserve for your colonists.

[GZstar]

I like animal spots to ensure my animals sleep on safe areas and it´s easier to rescue them if they are injured to have sleeping spots in different locations of the base. Boxes and leather beds are pure luxery. Just animal spots do their thing. But it also is great to leave a spot between. It prevents the animals to sleep on top of each other for better overview. 17 muffalos laying on top of each other are harder to heal after a hard fight with lots of bleeding wounds.

[Squirting Elephant]

if you have a preference for what your animals eat, then it helps to give them a bed near their food supply. They'll usually be hungry when they wake up

Ah good one