Cats

Cat-related sources:

• Litter box: Amazon
• Scratching pads: Amazon
• Water fountain: Amazon
• Vacuum cleaner: Amazon (ours is the slightly older version of this)
• Leather conditioner: Amazon

They have one litter box on each floor and I clean them all every morning. This and using clumping litter keeps our house odor-free.

They share one water fountain which lives in our mudroom. Even though they have a cat room, I like to keep it on tile floor so they have regular water bowls in their room too.

We keep these scratch pads on every floor (we have 2 on each floor and they move around a lot). This keeps them from scratching our furniture. Sometimes I even sprinkle cat nip in them.

Finally, I use this leather conditioner to buff out any scratches that appear on our leather sofa. It actually works! I’m not sponsored by them or anything. But it legit removes scratches if you apply it as per the package instructions. I just use a clean cloth and rub a little of it into the leather. It works miracles!!

One of the most common questions I got on our Instagram page right after we showed our new leather couches was “How do you keep the cats from scratching the leather sofas?!” and I’m no expert but these are some steps we’ve taken to help prevent damage.

1. I keep the cats’ nails trimmed weekly Pro tip: if you do it while they’re sleeping they don’t even notice.
2. We have lots of scratchers around the house for them as alternative things for them to sink their little claws into. I use mobile cardboard scratchpads which are easily to tuck away. These are the ones I use: Amazon
3. I use a lot of verbal cues. Contrary to popular belief, cats *are* trainable. They’re just stubborn. But if you’re consistent and firm but gentle with your verbal cues, they do learn.
4. When introducing anything new and special (like our couches), I always try to have something else in the room that is even more attractive to the cats. In our case, I kept some of the fabric wrapping the couches came in pooled on the floor and the cats were way more interested in that.
5. I consciously choose leather that looked “worn” so that it would weather well over time and wouldn’t show scratches as much just in case. I also ordered this conditioner to use: Amazon.
6. Finally, when we first moved in, we use a spare bedroom as a “cat room” where we let them acclimatize to our house so they wouldn’t get overwhelmed. I still put them away there at night because they love that room (it’s a kitty haven!) so I don’t worry what they’re sinking their little claws into at night.

I hope this helps!!

And if you don’t have cats, please just enjoy the cute picture instead!