Tips to Catify Your Home
Are you ready to catify? Take a look around your home, and evaluate what spaces need to be created or improved to make a feline friendly environment. Think about your personal aesthetic, we want you and your cat to be happy with the results. You also want to make sure the changes you’re making are catering to their deep rooted instincts, replicating areas of their life in the wild. There are many creative and inexpensive ways to catify your home. Below, are guidelines and ideas to get you started.
Space they can claim and perch. Map out a space that will get your cat up off the floor, and create a continuous path that takes them all the way around the room without ever touching the floor (the cat superhighway). Now they have space they can claim as their own. Get creative. You can use cat shelves, your own furniture, odds-and-ends you might find in your garage (a nice trunk, wine crate, etc.). When they have spaces to leave their scent, this reinforces the feeling of “this space is mine,” which fosters a feeling of confidence, security, and comfort.
Areas to climb and jump. Outdoor cats love to race-up trees so if you don’t want them climbing on your furniture, you have to give them other places to do so. There are a variety of great cat trees and lounges to choose from. You can also create your own. Try natural objects — a nice arrangement of large branches, scrap wood, or wood planks from a hardware store. Besides cat shelves, try an antique or natural wood ladder, an assortment of decorative stools, or other visually pleasing objects that are different heights.
Play and Hunt. It’s so important for this energy to be released. Guardians need to schedule dedicated time for one-on-one play to get their mojo going. Toys that mimic the hunt (air prey and ground prey) are essential. If you’re out of the house for long periods of time, try adding remote interactive toys.
Rest and Sleep. A soft cat bed does the trick but it’s nice to give them a few more options. If your cat likes to burrow under your blanket or in a laundry basket, adding a soft cocoon is a good touch. Does your cat prefer the ordinary cardboard box? If so, creating a cat hammock is as simple as making a few cuts in a box and adding fabric, or simply placing a small chair cushion or a throw blanket in it.
Food, Water, Litter. Make sure food, water, and litter is located in accessible areas.
It’s a good idea to put water and litter boxes in multiple places (If you’re having issues around litter boxes, please visit our “litter” post for more information).
Check-out our store! It has everything you need for total catification!
In addition, Jackson’s Book “Catify to Satisfy,” is filled with wonderful suggestions and ideas that will make you and your cat very happy.
