Cats and renting
Me and my partner would like a cat, but we're renting. Getting the landlord's approval isn't the problem, it's the prospect of cat messes - we have (short) carpet everywhere you can feasibly have carpet.
What sort of messes and how frequently would you end up cleaning/fixing up after your cat?
I guess hair is one thing, scratching our own furniture I can live with, what else might we expect out of cat ownership that we should consider as renters?
Posted Jun 29, 2022, 8:20 AM UTC
31
The cat may pee or poo outside the litter box at first, as s/he is still getting used to the new environment, so that's something to expect. Not all cats do that.
Cats tend to like carpet from what I've gathered, so it's possible your cat will scratch and damage it.
Maybe you should be prepared to change your carpet when you move out, just in case. 😅
It may help adopting an adult cat, as kittens are very intense and even messier.
For the scratching furniture or the walls/doors/etc, it can help to have:
enough scratchers (horizontal or vertical placed near doors or sleeping areas),
a tall cat tree (or more!), it's better to place them near windows or to use them as "ladders" to access a tall cabinet for example,
circuits around your home, "cat highways"; basically you want to map out your home and create a 3D access for the cat from point A to point B, which can be done with specific cat equipment or just regular furtniture placed strategically,
beds or even boxes (one placed on the floor, another on a shelf, another on top of the couch, etc...),
perching areas (cat hammocks which can be placed not only on windows but on any smooth, glossy surface; it's even better to put several of them to again create a circuit); you want to place the perches near a window or in a passing area so the cat can watch what's going on,
two litter boxes (better than one), placed away from the food; clumping litter made out of wood fibres is really nice (it should be kept as clean as possible to avoid any mess); it'b best to put litter mats so the excess litter gets caught (though you WILL find litter all over your apartment).
Edit: aslo, be extra careful with open windows/balconies. Cats are believed to have impeccable balance and to never fall off... well that's not true. They can fall off and it can be dramatic. You can find nets on the web to protect the cat from falling (though you need to be careful with the solidity), I think there are options that don't require any drilling.
Edit #2: also also, they may throw up hairballs, so that's another thing to be aware of since you have carpet. And to answer your question about frequency: I live in a 32m² apartment and I need to sweep everyday, sometimes more. And I remove the soiled litter parts several times a day.