Home Setup

A cat-friendly home starts with one room the cat can call its own and grows from there. Everything a cat needs within a few steps — food, water, a litter tray, a bed, a scratching surface and somewhere to hide — is a setup a new or nervous cat can actually use, and it is the same layout International Cat Care recommends when a cat moves into a new household.

From that base, three substitutions do most of the work. Vertical space replaces floor space, because height is security for a cat: a perch by a window, a shelf the cat is allowed on, or the top of a sturdy bookcase. Separate locations replace grouped resources, since a cat that has to pass a competing cat to reach the water bowl may simply stop drinking as much. And ordinary furniture replaces purpose-built equipment — a carrier left open with the door tied back stops being the box that only appears before a vet visit.

Cat-proofing is the other half of the setup, and plants need checking by name rather than assumption. The ASPCA's plant database lists species reported to cause systemic effects or intense gastrointestinal upset in animals, and it warns plainly that eating any plant material can cause vomiting and digestive upset in cats. Set up with a cat-friendly home, cat-proofing, and the litter and home category.

Sources: International Cat Care — Making your home cat friendly, ASPCA — Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants.