Cat-friendly apartments don’t have to be large to meet your cat’s needs.
Cat-friendly apartments packed with special amenities for pets can be hard to find. And they can be expensive.
Thankfully, almost any apartment can be transformed into a cat-friendly apartment. You just need to add a few key elements to make felines feel at home.
Fill out paperwork and pay fees
Before you go to the pet store or the shelter, read your lease or rental agreement to see if cats are allowed. If they are, reach out to your property manager to start the necessary paperwork, which might include an additional pet agreement. Most apartments also charge pet fees.
“Some apartments require a pet deposit or monthly pet fee. Some require your cat to be declawed,” says Melissa Palmer, who worked at a pet store and animal shelter before fostering cats with The Kitten League in Canton, South Dakota. “Any reputable shelter or rescue will require speaking to your landlord or rental company to make sure you are allowed to have a cat on the premise.
Creating cat-friendly apartments
Cat-friendly apartments include food and water and spots to sleep, scratch and use the bathroom. But enrichment is just as important as meeting a cat’s basic needs.
“Cats are fairly low-maintenance pets, however, they can’t be treated like they’re just background décor,” says Cam Roberts, who fosters cats for Urban Cat Coalition in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. “A bored cat can turn into a destructive cat fairly easily — especially kittens and young ones under five years. Keeping them active and engaged is key.”
Enrichment toys
“Every cat likes different kinds of toys,” says Palmer. “Some like ones with feathers, others enjoy crinkly sounding toys, others enjoy springs. There’s some really fun ones out now that are electronically controlled, where they’ll spin around or roll away for about 10 minutes until they shut off.”
Buy a few to see what your cats prefer. Many of the most affordable options also work well for smaller living spaces.
“Wand toys, laser pointers, puff balls, crinkle balls and small fuzzy mice are great for burning off energy,” says Roberts. “And they don’t take up much space.”
Hidden food toys
If your cat is making a mess while you’re at work, they’re probably bored. So give them an extra challenge to keep them busy while you’re gone.
Food is an excellent motivator. You can purchase food roller balls, spinning toys that dispense treats and stuffed toys with spaces to hide food inside. Or you can make your own.
“We don’t give cats credit for how smart they are,” says Crystal McLane, a cat owner and Licensed Vet Tech at Two Rivers Veterinary Hospital in West Fargo, North Dakota. “I’ll make little puzzles for my cats. I’ll put food in muffin tins. Or I’ll hide treats in stuffy toys and hide them around the house, so they’re not only hunting for the toy, but also for their meal.”
Snuffle mats are a great form of treat-based enrichment. It’s basically a mat with treats tucked inside so your cats have to work to get them out.
“You can get them in any size and they’re really easy to make,” says McLane. “You scatter the treats in there and they have to snuffle through it. It sounds really simple, but there have been lots of studies that say that 20 minutes of snuffle time a day is equal to one hour of walk time for dogs. We think it’s similar for cats.”
Cat TV channels
Cats love a view. But if your apartment is on an upper floor if you don’t have a lot of window space, turn to technology.
“Cat TV is great,” says Palmer. “Or Youtube Cat TV. There’s so many channels dedicated to hours-long videos showing squirrels and birds.”
Spots to sleep or hide
“Jackson Galaxy says there are two types of cats: cave dwellers and tree dwellers,” explains Palmer. “That means some cats will love to curl up in bed or cave-like environments on the floor. Other cats will want to curl up high up on the cat tree or on the top of your couch. After you’ve identified which category your cat falls into then you can start strategically placing their cozy spots.”
Cat-friendly apartments contain plenty of spots for cats to hide and rest. You can purchase cat beds at almost any major retailer. It’s also easy to make your own.
“Put a bed or folded up blanket or towel underneath your bed for a cozy cave,” suggests Roberts. “If you have radiators, put a soft surface on top of part of it or if you have forced air, put a bed near that. Crack a closet door and put a bed in there.”
You might not even need to create a bed or hiding spot. Many cats claim the spots they want. But the locations they like might surprise you.
“One thing I didn’t anticipate was the drive to get into my dresser drawers,” says Roberts. “So if you can spare a drawer for them to make themselves a cozy bed inside, it may save the edges of yours from claw marks.”
If floor space is a concern, move the beds off the floor entirely. Kat Kash, who also fosters with Urban Cat League, used a space-saving loft system to add additional nesting nooks to a 2-bedroom apartment.
“I put both beds on lifts to give kitties more spaces to explore and hide out,” Kash explains. “I had comfy rugs and self-warming pads under the beds too.”
If active cats interrupt your sleep, McLane has another bedding option. She trained her kitten to spend his nights in a comfortable kennel in her one-bedroom apartment.
“If you can’t sleep, kennel training your kitty is very possible, especially if you train them early,” she says. “It took him about a week.”
A place to perch
If your cats prefer to be up high, think vertical. Cat-friendly apartments utilize this unused space in a variety of ways.
Most cats like looking down at the outside world, so let your cat claim a chair, couch or ottoman by the window. Placing a cat tower here works too.
“They also make skinny kitty towers that are spring loaded and go from floor to ceiling, which was an easy way to give them more to climb and play on, see out the window and not take up much room,” adds Kash.
If you have a window seat or a wide window ledge, add soft bedding to make it a comfortable place for your cats to chill out. If you don’t, use the window itself.
“Those window ledge or suction cup mounted perches are great too, if you live on a floor at tree level,” says Roberts. “Live bird and squirrel watching is prime-time TV for cats!
If window space is limited, there are other options. Shelves are a simple solution for cat-friendly apartments.
“Wall-mounted shelves specifically designed for cats are a great way to give them room for zoomies at 3 a.m.,” says Roberts. “Giving them their own cleared spot on bookshelves may keep them from making their own space by displacing your stuff.”
Warm and sunny spots
Cats love to be warm. Window beds and cat beds located in warm and sunny spots quickly become cat magnets.
“I have two of my window beds right above heat vents and there’s almost always a cat curled up there,” says Palmer. “I also have a bed right in front of a floor-length window that you will almost always find a cat sleeping (in) because the sun shines heavily on that spot.”
Something to scratch
“Don’t neglect some kind of scratching surface either,” adds Roberts. “It’s only natural for them to scratch, so give them something of their own to go to town on or don’t complain if they scratch your furniture. I’ve found it really easy to train cats to use cardboard scratchers or posts. There are cardboard and sisal scratchers that hang from doorknobs to save space as well.”
Roberts recommends spraying the items you want the cats to scratch with a catnip spray so they’re attracted to them. Place posts or scratchers next to items cats typically scratch (like carpets or the side of the couch). Redirect them to the scratchers if they claw something they shouldn’t. Palmer has some additional suggestions that are alternatives to declawing, which is a form of amputation and can cause pain and health risks.
“Many people have success using Soft Paws, little silicone caps you glue on your cat’s nails,” she says. “Or I trim their nails every two to three weeks and make sure they have plenty of appropriate things to scratch. You can also buy Sticky Paws. It’s clear, double-sided tape you can put on things, like furniture, you don’t watch scratched.”
Fresh water
Hydration is important for cats. Make sure plenty of clean water is available.
“It’s important to give access to water all the time since cats generally don’t drink enough,” says Roberts. “A small pet fountain is the best choice to get them to drink more, as it mimics the flowing water in nature that is the best source for them.”
Flowing water also deters mold. Filters help keep water fresh.
A food bowl
A cat feeding station doesn’t have to be fancy. A simple bowl will do.
If square footage is limited, the bowl doesn’t even need to be out all day. Just feed cats in the morning and at night and tuck the bowls out of sight in between.
Ample litter box space
“The biggest thing for me was litter box placement and smell,” says McLane. “I didn’t want you to walk into my apartment and say, “You have a cat.'”
Controlling the mess and smell of a litter box is a major concern for most cat owners. Creating a space your cats actually want to use is another. For best results, consider litter box placement, size and your litter box routine.
Choose a spot that’s out of the way for humans, but accessible to cats. McLane tucked her cat’s litter box into an entryway closet and left the door open. The best option for you depends on your floor plan.
“I used to keep my litter box near my garbage cans, tucked in a corner,” says Lesley Grider, another Urban Cat Coalition foster parent. “Every morning I would feed my two cats and then go scoop the litter boxes into the garbage. I took the garbage out pretty often and this kept my apartment from smelling.”
If you always forget to clean the litter box, try an automated one. Allowing plenty of litter box space helps too. The general rule is to use one litter box per cat, plus one more.
Traditional, open-top litter boxes are cheap. But the design means cats can track litter around the apartment. Choosing a different litter box style can help reduce the mess.
“We found a top entry litter box really cuts down on the amount of litter tracked around the floor,” says Michelle Smith, who also fosters through Urban Cat League. “(We) had it in our kitchen when we lived in a one-bedroom apartment and it didn’t bother us at all.”
“Covered boxes are great if your cat will use one,” adds Roberts. “Also, use a mat designed to capture stray crystals and dust to keep things more tidy.”
Cat-friendly apartments aren’t hard to create. Just add a few key elements and your cat will feel right at home.
Source: rent.com