iCatCare Advice: Making your Home Cat Friendly

This article first appeared on iCatCare here.

Your cat’s happiness is enormously influenced by the way you behave and what sort of way of life you supply – because the cat is a territorial species, the setting is the whole lot! First of all, due to this fact, it’s essential to get the cat-related tools and services proper, notably should you hold your cat completely indoors or give it restricted entry outdoors. Even should you haven’t made the choice to have a housebound cat, you’ll have to restrict yours indoors as a result of unwell well being or have one which chooses to solely exit often as a result of it’s nervous or getting previous. Having stated all that, there isn’t a cause why the next solutions for a cat pleasant house shouldn’t apply to all pet cats, even these with free entry to open air!

Your cat’s capability to decide on, primarily based on private likes and dislikes, is compromised if you find yourself in sole cost of creating the selections, equivalent to the place your cat feeds or the place it goes to the bathroom. If you base these selections on purely human concerns (or what you understand to be vital to your cat) then you might be making the cat’s life rather less than good.

Try to fulfill particular wants

As cats have such particular wants it isn’t sufficient simply to supply some meals, shelter and love. While these components are as vital as ever to your cat, it’s the high quality and amount of every that’s the key. There are sensible challenges concerning the provisions you make on your cat within the house: What form of cat mattress must you present? Where must you find the scratching posts? What form of litter services would your cat need?

A cat pleasant house takes into consideration the wants of the cat as a really totally different species to man. It supplies an setting that’s protected and stimulating.

Most houses should not essentially the best habitat for a home cat, so provisions should be made to cater for his or her particular wants. You might have heard the phrase ‘environmental enrichment’ with regard to retaining a cat joyful indoors. (Click here to see an environmental enrichment article) This principally means making provisions inside a cat’s confined setting that stimulate and problem and allow it to carry out pure behaviour. Living indoors nearly mechanically deprives a cat of the flexibility to behave naturally and expertise the problem and frustration that happens in an out of doors way of life. Indoor cats will adapt to their setting however can fall sufferer to a lot of bodily or emotional issues related to boredom and lack of exercise. In the absence of the problem of searching, exploring and social contact, cats will fill the void of exercise with these which can be available equivalent to sleeping, grooming and consuming. It is not any coincidence that indoor cats develop bodily issues related to a sedentary way of life, for instance, urinary tract illness, over-grooming issues and consuming issues.

A cat pleasant house

A cat-friendly house is about compromises you could make in order that the setting fits you each. However, in case you are a lover of latest minimalistic interiors you’re most likely going to have to regulate greater than most to supply the whole lot your cat wants. Open-plan dwelling areas with clear strains and an general lack of muddle could be the foundation of the fashionable type, however this couldn’t be additional eliminated out of your cat’s pure habitat. Although the home cat is very adaptable to most landscapes, it nonetheless requires a level of camouflage to allow it to roam comparatively inconspicuously. This camouflage may be discovered nearly anyplace aside from the modern dwelling area; it is extremely laborious to disguise a cat in an empty room! The barely extra cluttered house is a haven of prospects for a cat, providing excessive locations to sit down and loads of locations to vanish from view.

Keeping protected

While it’s important to stimulate and problem cats throughout the house there may be additionally an obligation of care to maintain them protected. There are many family home equipment, options and merchandise that might be probably harmful. It is vital due to this fact to ‘danger assess’ the house frequently to maintain these risks to a minimal. There is a contented medium nevertheless between overwhelming nervousness about all potential dangers and an off-the-cuff laxity. An proprietor’s fixed concern for the wellbeing and security of his or her cat may cause it to develop a way of helplessness and incapacity to operate usually with out the proprietor current. Equally, an irresponsible angle to security by the proprietor may result in a tragic accident. (Click here for information on household hazards)

The cat flap

While discussing security it’s value mentioning the best problem to the cat’s notion of safety within the house. If cats have any entry open air it might be facilitated through a cat flap. Cats typically see the flap as a susceptible level within the defences of their house the place any invader may probably acquire entry. This can result in a state of fixed vigilance and uneasiness and a particular compromise to the person’s sense of security within the house. (Click here for information on how to choose and using a cat flap) If your cat has restricted entry outdoors or chooses to enterprise out solely in your presence, it might be preferable to dispense with the cat flap altogether. Otherwise, it could be wise to find all of your cat’s vital issues properly away from this potential hazard zone.

In order to supply a cat pleasant house, it’s essential to perceive the objects or provisions inside it that your cat considers vital. These ‘assets’ needs to be obtainable in ample quantity and kind to attraction to even probably the most discerning particular person. ‘Resources’ throughout the house symbolize all these issues that present nourishment, leisure, stimulation and safety on your cat.

Food

Some of the important provisions are sometimes taken without any consideration however even meals may be supplied in a cat-friendly method. You have quite a few meals bowls to select from – ceramic or glass meals bowls are most likely probably the most good selection as plastic receptacles scratch simply and may give off a slight odour that your cat might not like. Stainless metal is hygienic and straightforward to scrub however, in case your cat wears a collar, the fixed clink of any disc or bell towards the steel may be very off-putting. The bowl measurement or form depends by yourself private style, though many cats may be messy if consuming from a flat plate and like to push meals round a bowl that comprises the meals higher. The solely exception to the plate rule is the Persian or any breed with a flat face that will want theirs as shallow as potential.

Cats would naturally spend as much as six hours a day foraging, stalking, catching and consuming prey. They would eat ten or extra mice a day, most likely involving about thirty makes an attempt at seize. Therefore the predictable availability of meals solely twice a day in a meals bowl within the kitchen doesn’t symbolize any sort of problem by any means and leaves the typical pet cat with a void of a number of hours that it could must fill with different actions.

Water

The majority of homeowners all the time present water in the identical location because the meals bowl. Cats naturally hunt for meals and seek for water on separate events to fulfill both starvation or thirst. The presence of water close to the meals can really deter some cats from consuming ample fluid, notably if they’re on a dry weight loss program. Finding water elsewhere may be extraordinarily rewarding and there needs to be not less than ‘one water container per cat within the family plus one further’ in varied areas away from meals. Some cats object to the chemical odor from faucet water so filtered or boiled water can be utilized. Pet consuming fountains and even glass tumblers are fashionable consuming vessels for cats however common bowls can be enticing if they’re offered appropriately and are giant sufficient that your cat can drink with out touching its whiskers towards the edges. Cats just like the bowl to be full to the brim in order that they will lap with out placing their heads down.

High resting locations

Cats are pure climbers and it’s important on your cat to have the ability to relaxation and observe its environment from excessive locations. It’s laborious to beat a staircase in a house as this offers entry to a ‘excessive place’ and perceived security. If your property is single-storey then your cat’s instinctive want to leap up excessive when in peril must be fulfilled with shelving, cabinets or different potential platforms. Any excessive resting locations supplied needs to be situated in such a place that the cat is ready to get down; it’s all the time simpler to climb up!

Here are some solutions for appropriate areas:

• Tall scratching posts can be found as modular items and they’re typically floor-to-ceiling constructions. Many present platforms and enclosures for resting and symbolize difficult climbing frames.

• Freestanding cabinets and wardrobes have giant areas the place a cat can relaxation or conceal in a excessive place. It could also be essential to position furnishings close by to present the cat a midway platform for ease of entry.

• Shelves may be constructed particularly for the cat’s use. It is vital to supply a non-slip floor as many picket cabinets are extraordinarily slippery. Bookshelves and different shelving also can present sanctuary if a small space is cleared on your cat’s use. Keeping costly breakable ornaments on cabinets or mantelpieces is just not advisable!

Private locations

Taking day out from social calls for is a necessary a part of on a regular basis life for a cat so secret hideaways are an vital facility. These may be created by making area obtainable below the mattress, inside cabinets or wardrobes or behind the couch, for instance. Your cat ought to by no means be disturbed whereas utilizing a non-public space except you’ve got any cause to consider that it will not be properly.

If you make your cat’s non-public place a heat one too, like the underside of the airing cabinet, you’re offering five-star lodging!

Beds

Cats spend nearly all of their time asleep so it is sensible to concentrate on what provisions you’re making on your cat’s relaxation and rest. Cats favour heat locations to sleep and lots of want them to have a robust acquainted scent of their homeowners to present a way of security and safety. Not all cats want the reassurance of their proprietor’s odor when they’re resting so they might have a number of sleeping areas that rotate in keeping with the place of the solar. An assortment of beds ought to, due to this fact, be supplied in heat, sunny, quiet or communal areas. These don’t should be particular beds designed for the aim as the typical cat is completely content material with its proprietor’s mattress, chairs or sofas, so chances are you’ll want to place some heat bedding in your furnishings in your cat’s favorite sleeping spot. Make positive any cat bedding supplied is washable however don’t clear it too ceaselessly, except closely dirty, as cats gravitate in direction of surfaces with a well-recognized scent. Radiator hammocks are nice for these heat-seeking cats (Siamese and Burmese for instance); they hook onto a radiator to allow the cat to realize the utmost profit from the warmth however do bear in mind to maintain the radiator on a reasonably low setting!

If you need to buy a cat mattress then positioning it appropriately could be the key to its attraction. Place it in a raised place (many cats really feel slightly susceptible sleeping on the ground) close to a supply of warmth or an space in daylight. If your cat likes its personal area then guarantee beds are supplied in quiet areas away from thoroughfares. Those with three excessive sides that encompass the cat will hold draughts away and provides a way of camouflage to keep away from attracting consideration (even a cardboard field with some thick bedding would additionally do the trick).

Your mattress is probably the last word delight on your cat – with the heat of a cover and a robust odor of you! This supplies an incredible sense of safety and permits your cat to sleep deeply within the information that it’s protected. If your bed room does turn out to be an vital useful resource nevertheless it can be a spot of battle if in case you have a multi-cat family as people compete for the perfect spot. Providing heated pads or raised cat beds in different bedrooms and even allocating area in your individual room for such additions might go some approach to discovering a wise compromise.

Litter trays

Litter trays are a essential evil, completely important in case your cat is housebound or has restricted entry open air and extremely really helpful even when your cat is free to roam. (Click here for information on how to choose and use a litter tray and litter).

The place of the litter tray is vital. It needs to be situated in a discreet nook, away from meals and water, full-length home windows and busy thoroughfares. Cats might even see exterior doorways and cat flaps as probably harmful locations so finding them as far-off as potential from these aggravating areas could be very best on your cat.

One tray for each cat in your family, plus one further ideally needs to be positioned in several discreet areas away from meals. This doesn’t imply that every cat will mechanically select their very own tray however it can give a basic sense that there’s loads of alternative. These trays may be coated or open however it can be crucial that the areas they’re situated symbolize a spot of security the place the cats don’t really feel susceptible. A daily cleansing regime is important, eradicating faeces and urine dirty litter not less than as soon as a day and cleansing the whole tray weekly. Some cats discover polythene tray liners disagreeable, notably in the event that they spend lots of time scraping within the tray, as this might end in them getting their claws caught within the liner. Litter deodorants also can introduce a robust alien odor into the tray, so chances are you’ll discover your cat prefers a well-maintained tray with none added perfume.

Scratching posts/areas

Cats must scratch to take care of their claws and mark their territory. If provisions should not made for this then cats will scratch gadgets of furnishings. Scratching posts needs to be as tall as potential to permit your cat to scratch vertically at full stretch. Panels may be hooked up to partitions on the applicable peak if area is at a premium. Some cats want to scratch horizontal surfaces so a wide range of scratching areas needs to be supplied.

Social contact

Many cats benefit from the firm of their very own species, below the suitable circumstances, and a few sources of recommendation actively encourage homeowners to accumulate multiple cat when retaining them indoors. However, issues can come up when the people attain social maturity (normally between the ages of eighteen months and 4 years) and discover themselves competing for restricted assets inside a territory that’s comparatively small. These issues can probably be minimised by offering plentiful assets within the house and retaining the suitable variety of cats for the scale of the property. A generally quoted components to calculate the suitable variety of assets is ‘one per cat within the family plus one further, positioned in several areas’. There is not any components for the really helpful variety of cats per sq. metre ground area however frequent sense ought to prevail. Keeping seven cats in a two-bedroom flat, for instance, is asking for hassle! Townhouses additionally symbolize a uniquely difficult setting for cats with the slim staircases main to every ground turning into areas the place battle can typically happen.

Social contact with people is vital however the stage will differ in keeping with the persona of the cat. It is greatest to permit your cat to dictate the extent of interplay and to provoke many of the contact. Owners which can be continually approaching their cats for petting may cause irritation or, often, misery. Predatory play, grooming and verbal communication represents vital social contact between proprietor and cat and is commonly higher obtained than ‘kissing and cuddling’. Some cats benefit from the firm of canines, so firm can come in several kinds!

Predatory play

Every cat is a person however most want toys and video games which can be as near the pure searching expertise as potential. Toys that transfer randomly are nice; these which can be immobile and left mendacity round quickly turn out to be predictable and boring. Toys created from fur materials or feathers which can be of an identical measurement to prey animals are fashionable, as are these impregnated with catnip – a herb that cats can discover notably enticing. All needs to be saved away and introduced out every so often to take care of their novelty. Many cats take pleasure in retrieval video games and this may symbolize a chance for social contact in addition to play. (Click here for more information about playing with your cat)

Vegetation

A supply of grass is important for the home cat to behave as a pure approach to clear hair from the intestine that has been ingested throughout grooming; some cats might vomit after consuming grass however that is completely regular. It may be bought as commercially obtainable “kitty grass” or pots of grass and herbs may be grown particularly for this goal. (Click here to find a list of poisonous house plants)

Scent stimulation

About two-thirds of cats reply to the odor of catnip (dried catmint Nepeta cataria) which might produce a short lived euphoric state in cats. If it’s used sparingly it’s a enjoyable distraction. Catnip toys can simply be made at house and used to good benefit for ten minutes a day or each different day, for instance. Bags of dry catnip may be bought which tends to be stronger than catnip sprays or treats.

Novel/difficult gadgets

It’s good for home cats to be uncovered to new issues every so often, in any other case, a relentless, unchanging setting can turn out to be too predictable and a few may then discover new experiences or conditions aggravating.

New gadgets may be introduced into the house frequently to problem your cat’s sense of odor and want to discover novel issues. Wood, stone, vegetation, cardboard bins or paper baggage, for instance, may be positioned in varied areas and left on your cat to resolve whether or not or not they’re value exploring. Even for these cats that don’t go outdoors, it’s nonetheless vital that they’re usually vaccinated and handled for parasites, as gadgets may probably have been in touch with different cats. Stimulating your cat’s senses is extraordinarily vital and this additionally contains novel sounds however watch out for enjoying loud music; a cat’s listening to is extraordinarily delicate and this might be distressing.

Windows to the surface world

Windows are a big viewing level for the good open air however, opposite to most individuals’s understanding, cats normally want smaller home windows in darker rooms if given the selection. Large expanses of glass seem like complicated to cats; they see the backyard or the road outdoors and all of the potential risks that they harbour however fail to know that they’re protected indoors. It all comes all the way down to camouflage. Glass doesn’t give the cat any alternative for concealment whereas it checks out the territory and whether it is full-length then the last word horror might happen and a cat might come nose to nose with next-door’s tomcat on the opposite facet.

If you suppose this might be an issue on your cat you then may need to think about attaching sheets of ornamental static movie (no adhesive wanted) to the decrease portion of full-length glass that opaque the view however nonetheless allow the room to stay mild. To your cat, this can seem like a extra stable defence. In conjunction with this, you possibly can guarantee your cat has a excessive perch someplace close to the window from which it could actually view the outside from a place of comparative security. If you don’t fancy placing any movie over a full-length window then the strategic positioning of potted home vegetation close to the glass could be sufficient camouflage on your cat to really feel slightly safer.

Fresh air

Don’t underestimate the worth of contemporary air, notably if there’s a smoker in the home. Grills over your home windows, both home-made or bought particularly for the aim, will permit contemporary air to enter your home. This alone will carry difficult and attention-grabbing smells from outdoors and be a spotlight of consideration for a bored home cat.

Synthetic pheromones

Feline facial pheromones are vital alerts of familiarity and safety secreted naturally from glands in a cat’s face. An artificial model of part of these pheromones frequent to all home cats is accessible. Feliway®, manufactured by Ceva Animal Health Ltd, may be bought in spray and ‘plug-in’ diffuser kind. This can have a helpful calming impact in your cat should you transfer home, beautify, add furnishings, go to the vet and even should you think about introducing a brand new cat. The presence of a Diffuser might even calm down your cat sufficiently to advertise play, notably if there are different cats within the family. It is vital to not rely too closely on the presence of Feliway® in case your cat turns into anxious. There could also be an underlying trigger for this emotion that needs to be investigated by your veterinarian.

‘Cat TV’

Some tv programmes may be attention-grabbing on your cat however don’t presume that it’s going to discover the whole lot you watch equally enthralling. A current examine discovered that cats’ consideration to tv was at its best when small prey animals or different cats in pleasant conditions have been proven. While cats definitely watch the display and sometimes seem very within the squeaks and tweets of wildlife documentaries, it might trigger frustration if they’re unable to catch the prey that they’ve noticed. Dedicated cat DVDs have been produced that put collectively a sequence of all of the sights and sounds that entice cats, to attraction to the housebound, however extra proof is required to verify that they’re genuinely enriching they usually shouldn’t be relied upon as a sole supply of leisure.

The ways in which an setting may be enriched for a cat are many and various primarily based on the rules described; you’re restricted solely by your creativeness! An understanding of the provisions essential for a cat pleasant house will be certain that your cat stay as joyful and wholesome as potential.

I’m the feline behaviour specialist at feline charity ‘International Cat Care’. We are about partaking, educating and empowering individuals all through the world to enhance the well being and welfare of cats by sharing recommendation, coaching and fervour.