Living with any roommate can be a struggle. But furry, four-legged roommates can take your frustration to a new level. Those claws, teeth, and destructive habits can wreak havoc on any living space, particularly a small apartment.
If you’re really hoping to keep your apartment and belongings intact while living with a cat in a small space, you’ll have to take some steps to prevent your kitty from destroying things in an attempt to amuse themselves.
Try some of these tips to keep your sanity and your security deposit.
Set Up A Scratching Post
If you’ve got a cat, don’t even bother trying to teach them not to scratch. It’s going to happen; it’s in their nature.
Instead, try to provide places where they’re allowed to scratch to their heart’s delight so you’ll both be happy.
Place a scratching post — or several — near places your cat already scratches or where they spend a lot of time. If they don’t take to it immediately, rub or spray the post with catnip, or consider getting a taller post or one made with a different material.
Take Care Of Your Cat’s Claws
If scratching posts don’t work, you might consider doing something with the claws themselves. Trimming them regularly may keep damage at a minimum, or claw caps — small plastic caps that go over a cat’s claws — can also prevent scratching damage.
Redirecting is one way to “teach” a cat what not to scratch. Forget about declawing — it’s cruel and the equivalent of cutting off a person’s finger to the first knuckle.
Protect Your Blinds
Curiosity is an unavoidable feline characteristic, and many indoor cats love looking out windows to see what’s going on in the world outside. If you’ve got horizontal blinds, this habit isn’t as charming as it sounds.
Cats who try to get to the window often snap blinds in half or break off ends, leaving you with damage your landlord won’t ignore.
If you don’t live on a ground floor, you should consider raising the blinds a bit in a window or two and giving the cat an easy way to access the window.
If raising the blinds isn’t an option, try to keep your cat off the window sill with foil or specialty double-sided tape sold at pet supply stores.
Spay Or Neuter Your Kitty
Spraying is a problem with unneutered male cats, and once you’ve smelled sprayed urine, you’ll never forget it. It’s far from pleasant, and can stink up your whole apartment.
Neutering your cat, though, typically eliminates this territorial spraying and even makes the urine smell less strong.
Spaying your female cats can help prevent problems and messes that sometimes happen when a cat goes into heat several times without mating, including diarrhea and vomiting.
With these tips and a little patience, you’ll have fewer messes to clean up, and you and your kitty can live in peace with each other — and not have an angry landlord to deal with.
Do you live in a small space with a cat? Do you have any other tips or tricks to share with other readers? Please share in the comments below!
