Cats

We turned a spare bedroom of our house into a “cat room” for our 3 kitties right after we moved in. My original intention was to create a small environment with all their favorite things that were familiar to them to help them acclimatize to our new house after our move (since prior to this house the only home they had known was our rental house during our build so moving to this house was a big transition for them) and it was actually hugely helpful to them during that time.

The first day or so I kept them only in here to allow them to get familiar with the sounds and smells of this new house, then every day after that I’d let them out a couple hours, increasing the time each day to strengthen their familiarity with the new house while giving them the confidence of having a safe familiar space to return to (which they often did) if they weren’t sure what to think of the new place. After a week or so they were fully acclimatized to the new house and very happily adjusted.

But I kept this room fully set up with all their favorite things and I still put them here at night to sleep because a) they feel safe and happy here, and b) I also know they won’t go suddenly get a case of the zoomies and damage anything while I’m sleeping. They actually love it and something I started doing every night when I put them “to bed” was always give them their can of soft food at the same time so they love the routine of going to bed and it’s definitely always a positive experience.

NOTE: I did not “decorate” this room — actually, the cats decorated it in a sense because they chose all the things inside it. So I didn’t try to make it look pretty, I just kept it full of all the things they love most.

We keep fresh water and bowls of dry kibble always available for them. I free-feed them dry food because since they’ve never known what it’s like to go hungry, none of them overeat so I have bowls of dry food on every floor along with water and they can go and eat anytime they want. I do also have a continuous water fountain (Amazon | Walmart) available for them in our mudroom but I keep it there only because it’s a tile floor so it’s easier to clean spills since Chai loves to play in the water stream with his little paws lol.

The cardboard boxes and paper items in this room rotate all the time depending on what we have on hand at any time. Whenever we get a delivery I put the boxes out for them to play with and if I notice a particular one they really love to play with, then I put it in their room until they get tired of it. This makes sure that they always have one thing in there that’s new and different and fun.

Their “cat tree” was a DIY we built right after we adopted them out of lumber, plywood, and carpet. They love it and play/climb on it all the time and it’s a great place for them to scratch. If you’d rather buy one, here are some options: Amazon | Amazon | Amazon | Amazon | Amazon | Amazon | Amazon | Amazon.

The cat carrier (similar: Amazon | Petco) to the left of the cat tree has a little fuzzy blanket inside and I just leave it open all the time because it’s Mocha’s favorite sleeping spot.

The metal tree collar (Home Depot) is something we actually never used for Christmas and I was originally intending to return it but Chai fell in LOVE with it so I gave it to them and he loves to sleep inside it. I think he feels like it’s his little castle.

The closet in this room is Matcha’s favorite sleeping spot. I keep one door permanently shut to create a little nook and the other door open. Inside I have a decorative bowl she loved to sleep in as a kitten and still loves but she kinda can’t fit into it anymore because she’s a big kitty now so I also have a plastic storage bin with a blanket in the closet nook that she inevitably actually sleeps in after realizing the bowl isn’t comfy enough. She picked the storage bin herself from the basement. She just started sleeping in it so I gave it to her. But I leave both the bowl and bin for her because I know she loves them both.

Their litter box (white version: Amazon | dark grey version: Amazon) is the same style I use everywhere in the house. They have one on each of the floor of the house. It looks quite a bit lighter in person than it seems in this picture (I forgot to turn the lights on in the room before taking these picture so please just use your imagination) but I really love these ones. They’re minimal and simple looking, they’re domed so they contain any litter spray, and the top lifts off so they’re very easy to clean. I clean all of their litter boxes every morning. It literally just takes 2 minutes.

Finally I keep 2 cardboard scratching pads (Amazon) in here and have 2 on every floor in our house. They love them and usually opt to scratch these over other things in our house as long as they have access to them.

Anyways, I hope that helps answer your questions on the kitty room!

For a full list of our cat-related sources, just click here for the post.

Cat-related sources:

• Couch leather conditioner: Amazon
• Litter box: Amazon
• Scratching pads: Amazon
• Water fountain: Amazon | Walmart

Cleaning sources:

• Main vacuum cleaner: Amazon | Walmart (ours is the slightly older version of these)
• Cordless vacuum: Amazon | Walmart
• Hand vacuum: Amazon | Walmart
• Floor mop: Amazon | Walmart

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!!

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.

And to keep our floors clean I use a combination of the cleaning sources listed above. The main vacuum cleaner is the ‘whole house’ one I do twice a week. The cordless vacuum lives on our main floor for daily cleanup. The hand vacuum lives in the cat room for daily cleanup there (it’s also great on the stairs actually). And the floor mop is for whole house use. Links above.

For a tour of their cat room, click here!

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 not only to leather but all furniture.

NOTE: our cats are not declawed. Declawing cats is a cruel, barbaric, and outdating tradition that is now thankfully banned or illegal in many places. There are many humane ways to stop cats from damaging furniture and declawing should never be considered as an option. #adoptdontshop #pawsneedclaws

1. I keep the cats’ nails trimmed weekly. Pro tip: if you do it while they’re sleeping they don’t even notice. I use a nail clutter similar to this one (Amazon) and a tip I have is that when they’re awake and snuggling with you, make a point to very gently handle their paws — just calmly while you’re giving them scritches and pats, run your hand down their paws too. Be gentle and soothing and totally chill about it so don’t draw attention to what you’re doing but rather just let it feel like a natural part of their petting. This way they’ll get used to you touching their paws and when you go to cut their nails while they’re sleeping it doesn’t bother them because they’re used to you handling them and feel comfortable and trusting about the whole experience.
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 and I just keep one on each floor or zone in our house. You can even get some catnip (Amazon) to sprinkle on it if you want to draw their attention to using them! A little goes a long way so even just a cup of it should last you a while.
3. I use a lot of verbal cues. Contrary to common belief, cats *are* trainable. They’re very smart, just also stubborn. But if you’re 1) consistent, 2) firm, 3) gentle with your verbal cues, they do learn. It is absolutely vital that all 3 elements I just mentioned in order for it to work. Consistency is key. They’re not human and they’re not mind readers so they don’t intrinsically understand the concept of a special piece of furniture that shouldn’t be destroyed so you have to be consistent in telling them a firm but gentle “No” with the same tone in the same manner for several times before they start to understand it on their own. Do not spray them with water, yell, or lunge towards them. That just scares them without actually teaching them anything and turns them sour towards you. Instead be consistent, firm, and gentle in your verbal cues and before you know it you and your kitty will come to an understanding. But it is important that this tip is paired with the one above it (having scratchers) around because if you tell them they can’t scratch your couch but you don’t offer them anything else to scratch instead, then it’s not fair. Try to understand where they’re coming from. Scratching is an innate instinct for them so the goal is to try to give them a safe, non-furniture-damaging way to do what they were born to do.
4. When introducing anything new and special to your house (like our couches, or new table decor, or really anything), I always try to have something else in the room that is even more attractive to the cats to draw their attention away from whatever I’m adding. 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. It’s also important to note that cats are curious by nature. If you try to keep them away from something, it’ll only make them want it more. Let them sniff and inspect things and by you not making a big deal out of it, chances are they’ll move on pretty quickly too.
5. For our couches, 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. Also anytime they may accidentally scratch the leather, I use this leather conditioner (Amazon) and put a little on a clean towel and rub it into the spot vigorously for about 10 seconds and it practically removes the mark (especially after a few coats). Be sure you test any conditioner first in an unseen area of leather to be sure it reacts with your couch. I also fully condition the couches every couple months with the same conditioner (Amazon). I swear this stuff works miracles!!!
6. As a side note, I’ve been around dogs my whole life (these are our first cats) so I feel like I’m mentally used to training pets so I’ve also kinda trained our cats not to destroy our stuff just using the same firm but calm methods you’d use to train a dog, as mentioned above. They’re pretty good about generally listening to verbal cues — they understand the difference between a firm “no” and warm praise so I’ve used that with a lot of calm repetition to train them away from our furniture.
7. Finally, when we first moved in, we use a spare bedroom as a “cat room” (room tour here) 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. Remember cats are very active at night so keeping them in a separated room they feel safe and happy in at night might also help save your furniture.

I hope this helps!!

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