It can be difficult to live with a roommate. Furry, four-legged roommates are a great way to express your frustration. These destructive habits, including claws and teeth, can cause havoc in any living space, especially a small one.
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.
These tips will help you keep your sanity, your security deposit, and your mind healthy.
Make a Scratching Station
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.However, neutering your cat will usually eliminate this territorial spraying and make the urine smell more pleasant.
Spaying female cats can help to prevent the problems and messes that can sometimes occur when a cat goes into heat multiple times without mating.
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? Do you have any other tips and tricks that you would like to share with others? Please leave your comments below!
