If you live in an apartment and are thinking of getting a cat (or two), the answer is a resounding "yes": the advantages of cat ownership are many, including a number of claims about the benefits to your mental and physical health. They are quite independent, so if you need to go away on business or for a holiday, a neighbour popping in once a day to check on the food and water supply is usually sufficient. I have only had the briefest spells of no cats in my life, but always the "cat redistribution system" has come through for me as soon as I moved out of each of the apartments I lived in where cats were not allowed.
I recently had to put down my older cat, of the quintessential "rescue" breed, and decided to wait a couple of months to see whether my younger cat enjoyed being an only child. As at least one day per week I am out for the whole day, I was concerned that he was becoming lonely, so enter Willow, a Friday cat made from all the leftover scraps! |
| Willow and Maccie: at night they "allow" me to sleep on the bed too! |
So if the answer is "yes", what does one need to know when making this fateful and lifelong decision, especially if you live in an apartment? The first thing is to find out from your building management whether pets are allowed, and what the rules are, such as use of the public spaces and maximum number. I would suggest, unless you have one of those multi-roomed penthouses with its own garden on the roof, two is probably the limit (if only for your sanity).
Then you need to think about the cat's safety: is she "chipped" with a trackable microchip? This will be registered on the system, so if she goes missing, your closest vet or animal hospital will be able to track her. All the cats in my family have airtags, which have the added advantage that you can trace their location with great precision when they have snuck into a cupboard or are hiding behind the books in the bookcase. Also, you will need to secure the apartment itself - when newly introducing an animal, you will need to keep him indoors for at least a couple of weeks, so check all open windows, especially fanlights. I was fortunate to have a cat-proof gate to my front door, allowing good ventilation in summer, while keeping the cat secure. |
| My security gate with 5cm spacing of verticals: cats are real Houdini escape artists |
The next consideration is hygiene: in an apartment, the bathrooms are often quite small, but these tend to be the ideal spot for the litter-tray. I am lucky to have a shower and a bath, so the cats have the shower except for those relatively rare occasions when showering is essential. I have two trays, as they can sometimes "block" each other, potentially resulting in accidents in other rooms. I always keep a bottle of odour eliminator for those rare smelly events. |
| The cat litter trays in the shower cubicle tend to reduce the amount of litter migrating into the rest of the home |
The choice of cat litter is quite big, including silicone in varying grades (my preference is for ultra-fine), traditional vermiculite, and a range of new environmentally responsible products. The best is to experiment for a bit to find the optimal for your felines and yourself in terms of convenience, price and odour management.
For food, I prefer mine to use the kitchen, again for hygiene reasons: fortunately mine both eat the same food and neither is on a special diet, which may require multiple feeding locations and regimes. I always ensure a supply of dried "kibble" and some fresh water (I clean out and replenish the bowl every day or two). Depending on your cats, this may be a bit of a messy area: I tend to sweep up the spilled dry food a couple of times per week, and occasionally there is a water spill. You may want to put down a mat here if your floors are vulnerable. |
| Time for an afternoon snack in the kitchen, with the shared water bowl |
When it comes to sleeping, I find that cats just don't use the expensive basket, but prefer your bed, a cardboard box or any number of options other than the bespoke kitty bed. Willow has a number of favourite spots, including a chair with a throw that is mainly there to disguise the clawed arms. |
| The throw that was given to my previous cat: a favourite sleeping spot |
This brings me on to some antisocial (and anti-decor) habits that many flat cats share, especially clawing furniture. They tend to go for fabrics that have a bit of texture, but cats can be quite idiosyncratic, preferring curtains and other random targets. |
| My clawed ottoman, fortunately in a less visible spot |
One of my daughters has tried various approaches, including Sellotape and deterrent sprays, but I have found that providing more tempting alternatives, such as climbers with a variety of textures that I pep up when the furniture clawing is particularly bad - no cat can resist catnip spray! |
| One of the climbers, with its clawed rope columns, also used as a repository for all the cat toys |
The last word of warning, when you take in a cat, she or he will become the boss of the house - dictating wake-up times, food choices, sleeping spots and other aspects of your new routine - but I would not trade mine for the world!
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