Cats

If you’re following us on Instagram, you’ll know that we recently decided to adopt two more kittens (bonded siblings) from a shelter and this meant that we had to introduce them to our existing three cats (also bonded siblings, also rescued from a shelter over a year ago) that already had made our house into their personal kingdom. So we set out to integrate these two sibling into one big happy family.

While our big cats are well-socialized, well-mannered, and non-aggressive, they were also naturally incredibly wary at first of the new little fur balls we brought home. The kittens were young (12 weeks) and at the age where they were very accepting of the world around them and were super chill about the whole thing. But the older kitty crew took some convincing before they accepted the newbies without any hissing. It wasn’t love at first sight, but we took several measures to help them accept each other, bond and to help them get comfortable around each other in the most gentle way possible… and it worked! All our cats and kittens are now fully integrated into one big happy kitty family. So I’m going to share our strategy here in hopes that it might help you too in a similar situation.

First, we have a designated “cat room” for our older three cats (click here for a tour). When we got the kittens, we turned our guest bedroom into a secondary “kitten room” for our new tiny kitties. We gave them toys, food, water, litter, comfy beds, scratchers and everything they could need to be happy, comfortable, and feel safe there. Eventually we’ll merge the kittens into the cat room, but I’m waiting until the kittens are big enough to stand up for themselves if needed (not even in a bad way but literally our cats are so much bigger that even if they play nicely they could easily overpower the kittens without meaning to, so I’ll keep the guest bedroom set up as the kitten room until they’re about six months old.

Two very important points to note before starting:

• DO NOT RUSH THE PROCESS. This process might take a few hours, more likely it will take a few days, but it could even take a few weeks -especially depending on your cats’/kittens’ background and temperaments. Just like humans, cats have personalities. Some humans make friends easier and faster than other people so just think about you’d feel being relocated to a new place, stuck in a house with other people and be expected to bond to them right away. Always try and put yourself in your pet’s shoes, it helps to gain perspective on what they’re going through. Your cats and kittens will tell you when they’re ready to move from one Stage to the next. If you rush the process, you risk making them feel uncomfortable or threatened so let them pick the pace. If you’re observing their behavior carefully, you’ll know when they’re ready for the next Stage.
• SUPERVISE EVERYTHING until such time as you feel confident that the kittens and cats are properly integrated. Just in case something happens, it’s good for you to be there to intervene and help whoever needs it (maybe an older cat feeling overwhelmed by rambunctious kittens, or a young kitten overwhelmed by a stronger older cat). If you’re unable to supervise, then limit the initial interactions (when they’re still unsure of each other) to times where you can watch them.

I’ve broken our Integration Strategy down into Stages below. Timeline will vary. Like I said, you might go through one Stage per day, maybe one Stage every two days, maybe two Stages in one day. Ultimately your cats and kittens will tell you what they’re comfortable with and that is the only metric you should use.

STAGE ONE: we put the kittens in their kitten room and just let the cats sniff the kittens under the door. This allowed for them to get used to each others’ scents without actual encounters. I also gave the cats one of the kitten blankets to sniff, and gave the kittens one of the cat blankets and some of their toys to share the scents. (Side note: when you first bring your kittens home, pick them up and put them in the litter box a few times to show them where it is. And don’t move the box so they can learn its location.)

STAGE TWO: I opened the door but sat in the doorway and allowed any one of them to come up and sniff or watch each other “over” me if they wanted. This put me in a place from which I could fully and calmly control the encounters. Again, the kittens were very accepting, but the older cats were wary. All the cats would hiss if the kittens got within about a foot of them (but only hissing, no swiping or ear pinning, so more of a “that’s close enough, little grasshopper alien” instead of actual aggression). They were sometimes too wary to even come up to the doorway and would get like 3-4 feet close then walk away, and come back in a minute or two and get a few inches closer, walk away, come back. It was a process and I just verbally reassured them but didn’t try to rush anything. I noticed that the best thing that helped our older cats was watching the kittens. Just watching, not interacting. It’s like by watching, they learned what the kittens were and how they acted and got used to the idea of them. One of our older cats (male) was the most accepting and the quickest to relax around the kittens. I think that was 50% his super chill personality, and 50% because I let him sneak in a few bites of their tasty kitten food. (Note: I was very careful though that he never pushed them away from their food, more on this below.) Also use verbal reassurances to help your cats understand that everything about this situation is positive. Your gentle calm voice can give your cats the extra reassurance they need to feel comfortable.

STAGE THREE: I kept the kitten bedroom door open but placed a barrier across the doorway that was too high for the kittens to realize they could jump over, but low enough that our cats could hop over IF they wanted. I also placed a stool on the outside of the barrier so our cats could climb up, sit on the stool, and “watch” the kittens comfortably to get used to them without having to physically interact with them until they were ready. This was a HUGE HELP! All three of our older cats took turns at this stool. Once they’d watched enough to get comfortable, each one would also briefly jump down into the kitten room for some VERY cautious sniffing (and still occasional hisses if the kittens got more than a foot away from them, but again more warning and not outward aggression). They never stayed long but that was progress. I’d also sit and work on the guest bed whenever possible with my laptop. Our cats usually like to sit near me during the day so this both encouraged the older cats to enter the room to be with me, but also gave the kittens good socialization time and snuggles. Again, a reassuring voice can be helpful here.

STAGE FOUR: the kittens figured out that if they took a running leap at the barrier between their room and the rest of the house they could scale it no problem but that was ok because by this point everyone was kind of used to each other’s presence (even if they weren’t best friends yet) so we kept the kitten room set up but opened the door and let the kittens explore one floor of our house. We blocked off the stairs but gave them full access to the floor they were on with the cats free as well. We found that since the cats were no longer surprised by the kittens, they were actually really nice to them while they explored around. They followed close behind them to keep an eye on them, but almost no more hissing. One important thing is that everyone wanted to try the other’s food. This is okay for a few nibbles but kittens and cats should not be eating the same food as a general rule (the formulas are different – kitten food is higher calorie, higher fat to promote growth so kittens need their own food for nutrients, and adults can gain weight on kitten food) so while it’s ok for them to have the occasional nibble, they should have distinctly separate food. It’s just important to not create any negativity around food so be very gentle in your corrections if someone goes to the wrong bowl. I would let them take a few bits then gently pick them up and walk them over to their own bowl and put them down with an encouraging voice. (Side note: I feed the cats and kittens the same brand of food, and the same flavor, just kitten vs cat formulas so even if they do sneak in a few mouthfuls of the other’s food it’s a very minimal difference.) All in all though, this stage worked well. I put the kittens back in their room for nap time to give the cats a bit of a break (kittens have a gazillion times more energy then cats so I didn’t want the cats to get annoyed with their antics). This allowed the kittens to have quiet nap/food/litter time on their own too, and it allowed the older cats to have their stair access back so they could patrol the rest of the house as they’re used to.

Litter box note during Stage Four: while kittens over 12 weeks should be litter trained (cats naturally want to do their business in sand where they can bury it so I use a sand-like self-clumping litter), because they’re exploring a whole new house, they might get confused about layout or so excited that they forget to go back to their litter box. So when they were first let out into the house, I’d pick them up and gently carry them over to their litter box every 15 minutes or so and I did this for the first day until they did their business, then I stopped bringing them back for an hour or so, and then started again after feeding them more wet foot. They got the hang of finding their way back to their room very quickly. The big cats were also very interested in the kitten’s litter box and I let them explore (and even use it) as long as the kittens were not around because I didn’t want the kittens to ever feel like they couldn’t have access to their box if they wanted it. I found the cats actually really liked to “use” the kittens’ box. I think somehow this helped with the bonding so I allowed that and just cleaned that particular box twice a day while all the exploring/litter sharing was going on. It’s important that you keep the litter boxes clean so that the cats are never put off by the box. Cats are incredibly clean creatures by nature so they’re not going to want to use a gross litter box any more than you’re going to want to use a filthy unkempt gas station bathroom. (Note: I clean the main litter boxes in our house every morning. Because we have one on every floor, their use is spread out so cleaning once a day for those litter boxes is enough.) It took the kittens several days before any of them even entered the big cats’ litterbox. I didn’t rush it or force them to use it. But I placed the litter boxes that were on the main floor of the house that the kittens were allowed to play in on opposites ends of the house so that if they were on the end of the house that had the cats’ box, that was really their best option to encourage them to use it, but I kept their kitten box accessible too. Again, don’t rush the litter box integration between cats and kittens. As long as they’re doing their business in “a” litter box, that’s enough to be happy with. The integration will just happen naturally over time.

• Big cat litter box: white version: Amazon | dark grey version: Amazon | pearl version: Amazon (I have one of these on each floor of our house, all our cats share the boxes)
• Kitten litter box: Amazon (I have one of these in the kitten room. I always start kittens out in this style of box because it’s very easy for them to enter. The style like the big cat’s box above has only one entry point which can be a little more confusing for a small kitten so I use the kitten box so they can easily identify it. I also always place it in a corner so that they don’t feel like they’re out in the open. If your kittens are particularly tiny, you can just put the pan out for the first week or two until they get bigger and then add the side rims when they’re bigger. The idea is that it is EASY for them to access. Do not expect them to use the big cats’ box at first, but give them access to both. We found that after about a week, when the kittens had really developed a comfort level with the big cats, they naturally started using the big cats’ litter box instead of going all the way back to theirs if the big cats’ box was closer. IMPORTANT NOTE: if you see a kitten using a cat’s litter box for the first time and your intent is for them to share it one day, quietly “guard” the kitten in the box so that the cat does not disturb them. Do this without making any sound or causing a fuss, just gently keep anyone away until they’re done their business to create A) a positive experience for the kitten, B) respect from the older cat.)

STAGE FIVE: we’d pretty much reached a normal happy state by this point. The kittens had free run of the main floor of our house (with the stairs still blocked off) but I didn’t put them ‘away’ for any periods of time during the day. I always put all the cats and kittens away in their rooms at night though (I always have dont this ever since we moved in — this makes sure that they don’t destroy anything in my sleep and gives them a comfortable safe haven during nighttime). But by this point, our older cats had gotten used to the kittens and were fully friendly! The cats mostly watched the kittens play but even occasionally (lazily) joined in. They tolerated their tails being pounced on, and even joined in some of the games swatting toys back and forth. I’d still take the kittens aside 4 times a day for wet food feedings (I give them half a can per feeding between the two of them, and they have free access to kibbles at all times), but other than that, they’d learned the layout of our house and could find their way back to their room for the litter box and everyone had finally fully adjusted and even bonded!

One last note I’ll just add: please make sure you give your older cats adequate attention, snuggles, or whatever type of affection they like during this transitional time. I mean, you should do that anyways but it’s easy to focus on the new kittens, but it’s important not to forget that during this time, the older cats need your love and reassurance that they’re not being replaced or overlooked more than ever. So take time to give them that and it’ll make them a lot more accepting of this change you brought to their lives.

Regarding stairs, I still plan to keep them blocked off for at least 2-3 weeks. Because of our open concept house design, I want the kittens to be big enough that they can’t accidentally slip through our second floor stair balusters and fall. Right now they’re tiny enough that their whiskers barely brush the sides and they’re clumsy so I want to keep them safe and grounded for now. Once they’re a couple pounds bigger though I’ll open up the stairs to the upper floors to them. It will be a while before I let them into the basement as we’re currently mid-construction down there and there are all sorts of things they shouldn’t get into there. Our cats are mature enough to have basement access, but I’m going to wait at least a month or two before letting the kittens down there. Oh, and to block off the stairs, we literally just used a piece of 4×8 drywall I cut in half. One half blocks the stairs up, the other half blocks the stairs down. 4 feet is high enough that the kittens don’t even think to jump it. The drywall is white so it’s not too ugly to look at and kinda blends into our all-white house anyway so it’s not a point of interest to them.

For feeding, I free-feed all our cats and kittens dry kibble. None of them overeat because they’ve never felt threatened around food — they know it’s always there and it always will be there if they want it so they’re pretty chill about it, and also non-territorial. I feed them a meat mixture with no grains for high protein (I’ve heard this also helps them cause less allergies because their skin stays moisturized). The big cats get one can of wet food daily (shared between them all) at night, it’s part of our going to bed routine. The kittens get about 2 cans of wet food daily – I take them aside to feed them this so the cats don’t get jealous and I feed them 1/2 can in the morning, 1/2 at noon, 1/2 at dinner, and 1/2 at night.

Anyways, I hope that helps explain how we made the transition from a house of three kitties to a house of five! Also, PLEASE if you’re planning to get cats or kittens, always adopt, and spay & neuter!!

#adoptdontshop

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BONUS TIP #1: HOW TO ACCUSTOM KITTENS TO TV NOISE. We’re a family that doesn’t leave our TV on during the day at all – we only turn it on at night if we’re specifically sitting down to watch a movie or a show, but otherwise it’s off. Our TV also happens to be in the guest room (temporarily while we build our theater room downstairs), which happens to be the kitten room. So when we got the kittens, we tried the first night to watch a movie even super quietly but it scared them so we turned it off for several days and just let them get used to our house and the older cats without the extra noise and confusion. If you separate all the new introductions into stages for the kittens, it’ll make them acclimatize to each one better instead of getting overwhelmed. Once the kittens were fully integrated with our older cats and felt at home in our house, I decided to teach them that a big TV screen and its weird/loud noises were safe and ok and I was actually surprised by how quickly my method worked (it literally got them used to it in one night) so I thought I’d share my method.

Note: the reason I didn’t do this earlier was that since the TV was in “their” room, I didn’t want to create any negativity or associate anything scary with their room for them, especially since their room is where their litter box is so I wanted their room to be a completely safe space for them.

So I started by just sitting on the guest room bed with the TV off but with the TV remote beside me and just played with the kittens on the floor with a game I knew they loved (chasing tissue paper around the room). Once they were really into the game, I turned the TV screen on but with no sound. They both stopped and stared, ran away for a minute. But I verbally reassured them and continued shaking the toy and encouraging them to chase it, which they did. Once they were happily playing again, I turned on the volume on to the lowest level. Again, they stopped playing, stared, tried to hide. But I verbally reassured them again, and enticed them out with their toy they loved to chase, and just kept playing with them until they were totally happy and fine with the TV + noise. I also stopped playing every now and again so they’d focus on the TV, realize it was ok, I’d verbally reassure them, give them a pet, then continue the game. Each time they got comfortable, I’d raise the volume by just one tick. I was surprised that I was able to get about 20-30 ticks high with this method. Still about half the volume that we’d normally have it set to on movie nights, but that was a huge start. They actually got tired from all the playing and fell asleep nearby so I just kept the movie playing and kept ticking the sound up every few minutes and checking on them. If they woke up, I’d verbally reassure them and they’d fall asleep again.

Side note: the movie I picked for to use for this was Mary Poppins Returns because it was a movie without much violence or scary stuff. I tried Planet Earth first but they didn’t really like the animal sounds so I stopped that and switched to Mary Poppins and that worked. And after that I put on The Incredibles 2 because it had action in it but no gunfire or sharp scary sounds. It’s about slow escalation of sound.

So this took a bit of my time one evening but it was worth it because now the kittens are no longer scared of the TV and its sounds!

BONUS TIP #2: HOW TO ACCUSTOM KITTENS TO LOUD HOUSE NOISES. Around our house, we have a few things that naturally make louder noises: two examples are the vacuum and our coffee bean grinder. Both noises happen every morning so we needed these to be sounds our kittens accepted as normal, and not scary.

To put yourselves in their shoes for a minute, imaging you’re happily sitting on your couch minding your own business and then you suddenly hear this LOUD grinding outside your house, or a LOUD fan sound. Tell me you wouldn’t be worried? But as a human, you’d immediately make a lot of rational explanations. Maybe someone’s using a new gardening tool, maybe there’s a helicopter/plane flying low, maybe someone’s having car trouble, etc. You have base of explanations based on the fact that you understand the human world. Cats DON’T have this. They have no idea why someone would need to cut grass with a machine or hurtle through the sky in a noisy metal tube. They don’t understand our world, so when they hear a loud sound with no explanation it can be genuinely scary to them so what they need is reassurance that this noise is not connected to something that will affect/harm them in any way. Once they understand this, they won’t be bothered by it because it’ll no longer be a possible threat.

So, the first couple times you make that sound, you might notice them run away a little, or hide under something. Even if they’re not terrified, they’ll likely be wary. Turn it off after a few seconds and verbally reassure them. Do that a few times. If the situation allows, maybe give them a pet or some physical reassurance. DO NOT bring them closer to the sound. Let them feel safe. Ours got used to these sounds after about two days because we reassured them. (Also side note: with the vacuum cleaner, I’m extremely cautious to never ever run it too close to them, and never follow them with it so that they basically accept it as a noisy weird thing that doesn’t affect them at all.)

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More cat-related posts that might help:

• Cat Room Tour: click here
• Cat-related Sources & Cleaning Tips: click here
• How to Stop Cats from Scratching Furniture: click here
• Cat Training Tips: click here
• How to Introduce New Kittens to Older Cats: click here
• How to Cope with Cat Allergies: click here
• Cats & Decor Tips: click here

Follow us on Instagram to keep up with our cats and kittens and home!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave me a comment and I’ll try my best to help!

Ever since we got new kittens, we’ve had to teach them things our big cats already knew like not to go on food counters and food tables, not to chew on furniture, not to use decor as a toy etc. so I thought I’d share my tips:

REPETITION IS THE KEY TO EVERYTHING. Calm, firm, consistent repetition. Cats are not like dogs (I’ve had and trained both cats and dogs successfully so I’m speaking from experience), their response time is a little slower, but the goal is to create good habits in them. And habits are formed by repetition.

• STEP 1: Verbal discipline. I believe the best way to discipline a cat/kitten is verbally. Do not yell at your cat! The goal is to teach them, not scare them. I personally use a particular “No!” that I say in a loud, firm, non-emotional, warning tone of voice. I use the SAME tone each time I say it. Cats don’t understand our language so if you say “No” twenty different ways it’s not clear to them that it’s the same word and teaching them one word is much easier than teaching them many different commands — so stick to one consistent word for all activities you want them not to do. So I make the way I say “No” sounds the same each time so they can easily recognize it. Also a one-word “No!” is a lot easier for them to understand than actually speaking to them like “Omg don’t do that that’s my favorite vase!” because that’ll just go over their heads (understandably). I also sometimes accompany the “No!” with a sharp clap of my hands. This “No!+Clap” is what I use to discourage an action I don’t want my cat to take. For an example: let’s say they’re chewing on a basket and you do the No+Clap thing, they stop for a minute, then resume the chew. You have to do it again. Repetition is key. Chew, no+clap, pause, chew, no+clap, pause, chew, no+clap, etc. This might repeat 6-7 times. But eventually they’ll likely move on to something else. If they don’t, then rattle a toy to encourage them to leave the site of the issue and then that’s enough for that lesson. Remember: you’re not going to teach them something in one sitting, so be patient and kind.
• STEP 2: Physical intervention. What this means is simply you stepping in, and gently stopping them from doing whatever it is they shouldn’t be doing, or possibly even gently picking them up and walking them to a different part of the room/house away from the trouble area and giving them something they CAN play with. “Step 2” should only happen if “Step 1” has been tried and didn’t work EACH TIME you do the correction. Verbal correction should always be tried first. Not just one time, but every time you correct them both during training and forever after. NEVER HIT OR CHASE your cat. This will only teach them to fear humans and will not resolve the issue or teach them better behavior. You’ll get a lot further with calm, gentle, kind corrections. The reason why I generally don’t believe physical intervention works as well for training specifically is that it introduces another “action/element” into the situation — simply the act of physically stopping them literally changes the dynamics of situation you’re trying to train them not to do and it confuses the entire situation making it hard to learn from. However, it is usually pretty successful though so it’s a “quick fix” rather than a teaching moment. But if they’re really not listening to my voice/claps, I will gently and calmly pick them up (no snuggling or rewarding, just picking them up) and move them to another part of the house with a toy they *are* allowed to play with. You MUST do this kindly because you don’t want your cat to associate anything but good things with physical contact so don’t stomp over and don’t show any anger or aggression, just be quiet, calm, and firm. They will learn.
• FOLLOW UP: Don’t give up and don’t stop and be consistent. At first, it might not feel like your corrections are making any impact on the cat/kitten. But give it a few days or weeks, stay absolutely consistent with your corrections, and you’ll likely start to notice that they begin to understand. It will probably take a few days of constant corrections but they WILL learn if you’re consistent. Now, it’s important to understand that just like people, they’re going to make mistakes over time. They’re not perfect creatures – none of us are. So I will occasionally (like once a month or something) have to correct one of our older cats even from jumping on the table, but for the most part they understand and know the rules. Be forgiving – you make mistakes in life too – but be consistent so that they understand. Remember, if you’re constantly varying your correction or only correcting them sometimes, that will just confuse them. They have no understanding of why you’re asking them to do whatever you’re asking them to do and you have no way of explaining to them the logic of it so if you think about it it’s actually a pretty big ask of us to tell them that they arbitrarily can’t do something. So be patient, be gentle, repeat repeat repeat, and they will learn.

A few more notes and tips on this subject:

• Avoid problems. Sometimes if I see one of our cats going towards something they shouldn’t do (like if I see one of them eyeing our kitchen counter but they haven’t actually tried to jump up yet), I’ll intervene and distract them entirely. I might scoop one of them up and give them a little snuggle to distract them, then walk to a different place in the house and place them down there. Or if I see them thinking about swatting my decor, I’ll just rattle a toy. If you watch them closely, you can anticipate a lot of their actions and over time you’ll just learn their mannerisms and “know” what’s coming. Sometimes avoidance is just the easiest answer.
• React in levels. Once you’ve completed the basics Step 1 and Step 2 and your cat understands what it is you don’t want them to do, you can have levels to how you react to things in the future. What I personally do is this: as soon as the cat goes to do something they’re not allowed, I’ll verbally say “No!” in the same warning tone of voice I always do when correcting them. I’ll do this once or twice. Usually, the “No!” makes them pause each time. But sometimes they’ll continue. Then I’ll escalate and ADD in a loud clap (without physically moving towards them). So “No!” + clap. Again, I’ll give them 2 chances to listen. If they really don’t listen, I’ll calmly walk over (without scaring them, because learning is the goal, not fear), pick them up (again, gently but firmly), and taken them to another room and put a toy in front of them. This removes them from the situation and offers them a “yes” toy. Also interestingly, no matter how many cats are around me, if only one of them is doing something they shouldn’t and I say the “No!” they always know who it is and that tells me that the cat who is doing the action they’re now allowed understands deep down that their action is not allowed and the other cats who are not doing anything wrong know they’re not doing anything wrong and they (rightly) ignore my “No!”.
• Train your humans if there are many people in your household around your cats, take the time to train them in this method so that the cats are getting the SAME FEEDBACK from everyone. Make sure you’re all saying the “No!” in a similar manner, make sure you all understand the steps for training, and make sure you’re all on the same page. This is important because if your cat is not allowed on counters (for example) and you’re correcting them but your spouse lets them get away with it, then the training simply isn’t going to work effectively. So teamwork is key if you’ve got many humans in your house.
• Never use your hands as toys. I know it’s tempting to want to use your hand to tap the floor/bed/whatever to get a cat’s attention, never do this. Hands should never be viewed as toys – this will help your cat never learn to scratch. Also, if they try to bite or scratch at your (often this is done accidentally in play), just make a sharp, high-pitched “ow” or “yip” sound that makes they know they caused pain. Do this even if they didn’t actually hurt you. Anytime their claws or teeth make contact with skin, make this high-pitched sound and they will learn never to bit or claw at people. This is how they learn with each other when they’re babies (cats and dogs both) so it’s a method they naturally understand and respond to.
• Never let your kitten play with “found objects” from your house. They should only play with things that you give them as toys. This helps them learn the difference between their stuff and your stuff. Once the cats are older they’ll generally know what to do if you teach them this from when they’re small. Like at this point, all our older cats can go into our basement without supervision and literally rifle through our construction materials and they won’t mess with anything they shouldn’t. They’re really very good about it. But it’s because we were consistent when they were kittens and formed this as a habit in all of them. Of course sometimes they might play with something they find but you’ll have to judge that case by case. Don’t allow something just because it’s cute. Like in the basement, if they play with a piece of wood that’s on the floor, that’s fine. If they go into one of our open storage boxes and rifle through it, that’s something I’d say “No” to.
• You can only correct what you SEE happen. If for example, you come into the bathroom and find your toilet paper roll in shreds but this was clearly done a while ago and your cat has moved on and is playing or sleeping elsewhere and you didn’t see it happen, you cannot go to the cat and communicate to them that this was not okay. They don’t understand our language and they don’t share our human logic. If you go and get mad at them for it, they’re not going to associate your reaction with their action and they’ll just see it as you being upset at them for no reason. So in order not to create confusion, only correct what you see happen BUT create scenarios where you are able to see most of what happens or simply avoid the problem. In this example: maybe keep your bathroom doors shut to prevent the cat from entering without your supervision.
• Put them in their cat room at night or whenever you leave the house. This will ensure that while you’re sleeping or away, they won’t do all the things you’re trying to teach them not to do and get away with it. It is VERY IMPORTANT that your cat/kitten rooms be properly set up with food, water, litter box, cozy beds, and be cat-proofed so that they can’t do anything dangerous while you’re not looking. We still put our big cats in their cat room both at night and if we go out even though they’re responsible adult kitties who know all the rules. It never hurts to be cautious and this avoids problems you can’t see! You can click here for a tour of our cat room (right now the cats have their own room, and we temporarily turned our guest bedroom into a kitten room until they’re old enough to be integrated into the cat room, more on that in my post on How to Introduce Kittens to Cats).

Anyways, these are just my methods and they’ve worked for me so I hope they help you!

Also side note: our cats are NOT declawed. Declawing is a horrific, barbaric, inhumane practice that is banned or illegal in many places. NEVER declaw a cat. If you trim your cat’s nails weekly (I use this tool), offer them proper scratchers/scratch pads (I use these ones that are super mobile), and train them to be kind and gentle, that’s all you need.

More cat-related posts that might help:

• Cat Room Tour: click here
• Cat-related Sources & Cleaning Tips: click here
• How to Stop Cats from Scratching Furniture: click here
• How to Introduce New Kittens to Older Cats: click here
• How to Cope with Cat Allergies: click here
• Cats & Decor Tips: click here

My husband is allergic to cats and yet we have five cats and are quite successfully able to manage his allergies so I thought I’d do a post explaining the measures we take to make him as un-allergic as possible and of course comfortable in his own house.

I should note that it is pure lucky coincidence that the design choices we personally love (minimal decor, clean lines, no clutter) perfectly align with the most allergen-free type of household so we do not sacrifice these things for the allergy situation, but rather we don’t feel we’re missing them because even without allergies, we’d choose these same choices anyways.

Note: I’m no scientist or medical professional so everything here is purely my opinions, nothing more. Also it’s worth noting what type of allergies my husband has: he basically starts sneezing when around cats and gets the symptoms of a cold. He does not have asthma or trouble breathing and he doesn’t have a physical reaction either. So we were already starting with something manageable, it was just about going the extra mile to make his day-to-day “normal”.

1. HEPA FILTER. This is the biggest thing we did. We have a whole-house HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filter installed as part of our furnace set-up that filters all the air in our house and one of the things it traps is pet dander which is the cause of most allergies.
2. HEPA FILTER VACUUMS. This cordless vacuum (Amazon | Walmart) is what I use every day in our home. It also has a HEPA filter in it which again, helps weed out allergens from our home.
3. REGULAR GROOMING. I groom our cats every other day, with no exceptions. I use this tool and it takes very little time, probably about 3-5 minutes for all 3 cats total (our kittens don’t shed yet but when they start it might take 6-7 mins total which is still not too much) and the way I remember to groom them is that it’s the last thing I do before bed. I also groom them in their Cat Room so that I’m not releasing a bunch of fur fluff into the house air. This makes a HUGE impact — like seriously, if I miss a day, my husband will start sneezing the next day. If I stay on top of my every-other-day routing, no sneezing. Very important: do not hold your cat down to groom them and make sure they’re in a quiet state (after a play) and in a non-stressful, quiet, but smaller environment they’re comfortable in. Let them move around and just follow them. I usually just sit in their cat room and they alternately come up to me and I groom whoever is in front of me. Sometimes, one cat gets groomed a bit more than others in one session but over time it evens out so I don’t worry about it. But this regular grooming just gets the loose hairs off them and keeps them off your floors and furniture and out of your air.
4. REGULAR VACUUMING. I have vacuuming routines in place that cover our whole house and help keep it free from hair and dander. I do our stairs every other day, I do a quick vacuum around our the main floor every day (they spend most time here) and I do the rest of the house (we have 4 floors) on rotation. Note: we do not have a cleaning service, I do everything myself and I don’t spend more than about 10-15 mins daily cleaning so as long as you’re efficient with routines, it doesn’t have to be a big deal.
5. HARD SURFACES. We have almost no fabric material in our home. Luckily we love a minimal aesthetic so this styling falls directly in line with what we would choose even if hubby wasn’t allergic, but basically we have leather furniture, no curtains, no rugs, no carpeting, etc. Fabric, rugs, and carpets trap and hold allergens and eliminating these from the home make a space where allergens can’t just sink in and hang out. We do have fabric barstool seats and decorative pillows etc so it’s not like we’re insanely strict about this but the no rugs, no carpeting, and no curtains is a really big help. For our Living Room Sources, click here.
6. MINIMALISM. We’re naturally very minimal by nature. We intensely dislike clutter and this luckily is perfect for keeping a house allergen free because it makes it very easy to clean the house. It’s so much easier to vacuum or dust if you’re not moving around a bajillion items. I naturally do decorate our home seasonally but I’m very intentional about the items I pick and I rotate them so that I never have too much “out” at once.
7. HAND WASHING. My husband rarely touches our cats and never holds them. He doesn’t have a physical allergic reaction to them but if he touches them then touches his face, it’ll trigger sneezing so he’s careful to wash his hands anytime after he touches them and, because that can get annoying, he just doesn’t touch them much. This doesn’t stop him from interacting with them. He’ll play with them with toys and they can lie down beside him for side-by-side no-touching snuggles which honestly makes most cats pretty happy. One of our cats literally spends most of her day sitting under his desk and they’re both cool with that.
8. BOUNDARIES. The one place in our house our cats are not allowed is sleeping bedrooms. It’s really important to keep where an allergic person sleeps as a safe haven. Plus in all honestly, I just don’t have the energy to keep on top of the level of cleaning I’d need to do if the cats were allowed in there. So we keep them out of these spaces and they really don’t mind at all. The guest bedroom is the exception to this rule in our house and see the next step for how I deal with that:
9. BED COVERS. I use these light-weight quilts (Overstock) as bed covers that go over all the bedding. They’re pretty, minimal, and light and act as a protective shield keeping the cats and their dander away from the actual duvet etc. I do this because it’s so much easier to just toss this quiltlet in the wash than it is to do all the bedding every time a cat jumps/sleep on the bed. I use these in our sleeping bedrooms as well just as an extra protection. I mean, it can’t hurt, and they’re beautiful too. Win win!
10. LAUNDRY. I’m careful never to wear any clothing I’ve touched the cats with to bed. I have a separate drawer for sleeping clothes and this prevents any transfer of allergens from clothing to sleeping area.
11. NETI POT. Sorry if this might seem gross to some of you but it’s real life so I’m sharing. My husband does a nasal rinse twice a day. He finds it helps him a LOT and he just uses salt water. I think this is the neti pot he has: Amazon, but as you can see there are a ton of different options: Amazon.
12. MEDICATION. Finally, my husband has allergy meds which he does NOT take regularly but he has it on hand so just incase he does start sneezing, he can take one and it’ll clear up his symptoms for 24 hours. It’s a last resort but I’d say he takes about 1 or 2 per month. It’s just good to have them on hand just in case, however, the measures we take listed above usually eliminate the need for any medication.

So these are basically how we deal with having a house full of cats and someone who is allergic to cats living in the same space. It’s taken a lot of trial and error but I’m happy to say that we’re finally at a place where we’ve created a home in which an allergic person can live with cats without issues!

NOTE: this is only what has worked for us. This is not a guarantee that these measures will work for a different person in a different situation. No two allergies are the same so no two solutions will be directly transferable. But these are definitely tips to consider or try!

Given everything you’ve read above, if you’re curious about the types of furniture we chose to use due, check out the following links:

• Whole house sources: click here
• Living room sources: click here
• Kitchen sources: click here
• Master bedroom sources: click here
• Guest bedroom sources: click here

More cat-related posts that might help:

• Cat Room Tour: click here
• Cat-related Sources & Cleaning Tips: click here
• How to Stop Cats from Scratching Furniture: click here
• Cat Training Tips: click here
• How to Introduce New Kittens to Older Cats: click here
• Cats & Decor Tips: click here

*** EDIT *** Our 2 new kittens currently have a separate “kitten room” with their own food, water, litter, toys etc. Once they get bigger (around 5-6 months old), they will end up sharing this room with the big cats, but while they’re still little and eating different foods we’re giving each set of siblings their own room.

We turned a spare bedroom of our house into a “cat room” for our 3 big cats (the ones we had when we moved in) right after we moved in to create a small environment with all their favorite/familiar things to help them acclimatize to our new house after our move and it was hugely helpful to them during that time.

The first day or so after we moved here, I kept them only in this room 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 with supervision, 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 they were fully acclimatized and adjusted to the new house.

But even after they were acclimatized to our house, I kept this room set up with all their favorite things and I still put them here both at night to sleep and if we go out because a) they feel safe and happy here, and b) I also know they won’t damage anything while I’m sleeping/elsewhere. They actually love it and something I started doing every time I put them in the room was always give them some soft food at the same time so they love the routine of going to the room 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.

LITTER BOXES.

I have the same style litter box everywhere in our house. This is the one I use: white version: Amazon | dark grey version: Amazon | pearl version: Amazon. We love this litter box style because it’s small, minimal and simple, domed to contain litter spray, and the top lifts off so they’re very easy to clean.

• We have one litter box on every floor of our house. It’s important that litter boxes be placed somewhere easily accessible for the cats (the easier to access, the great chance of preventing accidents) so be sure it’s somewhere logical, consistent, and easy to access for them. The rule should be one on each floor, unless you have a large ranch-style house, then maybe do a few.
• I clean all the boxes once a day (occasionally twice, but that’s rare). Cleaning all 4 litter boxes across 4 floors of our house takes less than 5 minutes and in combination with using a clumping litter that sticks to their business as soon as they do it, that eliminates any odor. Ultimately, the cleaner you keep the box, the less odor there is. I don’t use self-cleaning boxes though because it’s so easy to clean them in person and also the litter boxes I chose are visually prettier to my eye.
• I don’t try to hide them. I just tuck them into corners where they won’t be noticed too much. Again, it’s important that the cats are able to find them easily, so I keep them accessible and unhidden. I’m not sorry or ashamed of the fact that they’re there and I don’t try to hide them. The simple fact of life is that we have cats, and they have to do their business and that’s just that. My way of minimizing it is by choosing such a simple style of litter box (Amazon) that is a similar color to our walls, is small in size, and is minimal in it’s appearance. Seriously, even if it’s right there, you barely notice it.

*** EDIT: right now the kittens have their own litter box in their kitten room as well as access to the big cats’ domed litter boxes on every floor of our house. The cats and kittens use each other’s boxes though so once they start using the same room at night (which is when the kittens are bigger), I’ll transition their kitten litter box out and have only one litter box on each floor as none of our cats are territorial about them.

FOOD AND WATER.

We keep fresh water and bowls of dry kibble always available for them both in this room, and also on every floor of our house. I free-feed them dry food because since, because they’ve never known what it’s like to go hungry, none of them overeat. They get a grain-free kibble. 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.

CARDBOARD BOXES.

The cardboard boxes and shipping 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.

Be very careful that you always remove any tape, staples, twine, string, or small bits from anything you give cats to play with. Also, never give them normal paper. I only give them the soft crinkly paper used to stuff shipping boxes, and only if it’s in a large piece.

CAT TREE.

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.

SCRATCHERS.

I keep 2 cardboard scratch pads (this is the one that I like best because it’s so simple: 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.

CAT CARRIER.

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.

TREE COLLAR.

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.

CLOSET.

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.

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

More cat-related posts that might help:

• Cat-related Sources & Cleaning Tips: click here
• How to Stop Cats from Scratching Furniture: click here
• Cat Training Tips: click here
• How to Introduce New Kittens to Older Cats: click here
• How to Cope with Cat Allergies: click here
• Cats & Decor Tips: click here

Here are a few tips I’ve found help me when it comes to cats and decor:

1. If you’re changing out the decor in a space (like table decor, for example), do it when the cats are not around. They have no understanding of decor, so to them, all the things you’re picking up, moving around, fluffing etc is just one giant game. We have no way to properly explain to them that this is decor and not a toy, so the best thing is to make the whole thing uninteresting to them. So just put them away in their cat room, or another zone in your house (somewhere they feel safe and happy so that it’s not stressful for them), change your decor, and then when they come out, don’t make a big deal of anything. If they notice it, let them sniff it and understand it (cats are very curious and need to catalogue everything that’s in their space), if they try to play with or nibble it, just firmly but gently say “no”. You might have to do this a few times but firm and gentle is the key. Never yell or spray them with water as that only creates a negative situation that now has no connection to the actual thing you’re trying to stop for them. So just keep things calm and firm.
2. If you have decor that’s at “cat level”, make good choices as to what types of pieces you have. For example, I have this clear glass vase on our living room coffee table. I chose it because it’s big, heavy, has thick glass, and is weighted in a way where it won’t tip even if the cats are leaning right on it with their paws. It’s safe to have in their space, but it’s also pretty which serves my decor purposes as well. Another example, I have this white vase on our entry way table and while it’s taller which makes it a little easier to tip than the previous case I talked about, it’s extremely heavy which makes it weighted down and unlikely to tip. One last example is in our laundry room where I use these glass canisters as part of our functional decor. They’re basically cat-proof so again, they’re safe to have in “cat space”. So it’s about making good choices that give you the look you want while creating a space where your cat can coexist without issue.
3. If your cat is really, really, really curious about something new you added, I find it sometimes helps to just let them sniff it. Some cats just like to ‘catalogue’ everything in their space and if they can ‘know’ the piece, sometimes that’s enough for them. So even if it’s a piece that I won’t let them play with, I’ll often let them sniff it to ‘learn’ it if they’ve already discovered it and will keep trying to access it.
4. In regards to beds & bedding, I use these lightweight quilts on our beds _over_ our regular bedding. They’re pretty to look at, but also quite light so they’re super easy to throw in the wash on a more regular basis than I would want to do all the laundry from the bed. This keeps cat hair off the bed and makes my life a lot easier.
5. If you’re curious about how to keep cats from scratching furniture, I have a whole separate post about that that you can read here: Cats & Furniture Tips.

More cat-related posts that might help:

• Cat Room Tour: click here
• Cat-related Sources & Cleaning Tips: click here
• How to Stop Cats from Scratching Furniture: click here
• Cat Training Tips: click here
• How to Introduce New Kittens to Older Cats: click here
• How to Cope with Cat Allergies: click here