Advice on if/how to talk to roommates about cat-related issues
hi! my roommates (a couple) have two cats. they are really affectionate and cool so my gf and I (she’s also a rent paying roommate) like having them around. But we have some frustrations and want to ask some cat lovers if our frustrations are understandable, should be accommodated or not, and if/how to bring any of them up. Here are our frustrations:
- we live in a hcol city so space is at a premium. In the living room, there is a cat bed, a cat house, a three ended tunnel toy thing that is pretty massive (if you drew a circle around it, the circle would be over 3 feet across), a water tank thing, and six bowls—two per cat for soft food (why two, I’m not sure) and two bowls for hard food. So it’s like a lot of stuff, especially when my gf and I are paying more rent cause our rooms are bigger. Is it fair to ask them to get rid of/condense/put some of it in their (not very big) rooms?
- my girlfriend, who also pays rent as a roommate, is allergic to cats. They have the litter box tucked into a little nook in the hallway. It doesn’t bother me where it is but she suspects it’s location has made her allergies worse than if it was in one of their rooms. This couple knew of her allergy before we moved in together, for the record. And we bought some of that anti allergen solution to put on the cats which might alleviate my gfs allergy issues. Is it fair if we ask them to put the litter box in one of their rooms?
- the other couple has not been very mindful of the shedding. There are hairs everywhere—and my gf and I have done the bulk of the vacuuming and lint rolling. is it fair to ask that they vacuum the living room/lint roll the couch like every other day or so?
- the cats regularly have poop stuck to their butts. Like nonstop. And they are very lovey and always want to sit on our laps. I like that they are so social but the poop kinda grosses me out and now anytime there’s like a little black thing on our bed or couch or somewhere we assume it’s some of their poop. Is it fair to ask that they wipe their cats butts? (Side note: I’ve never seen this as a problem with cats in the past, I thought cats cleaned themselves or something? I don’t know, I grew up with a cat and it was never an issue and no one wiped her butt.)
my roommates adore their cats (and we love them too) so I figured this would be a good place to field some opinions/ideas from people who feel the same way. Thanks for any help!
Posted Aug 13, 2026, 8:29 PM UTC
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