As a follow up to our recent post about making your living space more cat-friendly, here are more cattification suggestions!
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Pop-up cubes or tents like this Kitty City Pop-up Cat Cube are one of our cats’ favorites. They can “hunt” toys from inside the cube, dive into it, and roll around all over the place. They’re fairly sturdy, although after a year of use, they’re definitely full of claw marks and frayed around the openings. They can be folded flat for storage when not in use, or when traveling so they’ve got a cozy hidey-hole at your destination. We have used different brands over the years, and they all seem to wear out in the same way: claws, frayed seams, and wearing out the fabric over the wire frame. We inspect ours regularly, and as soon as the metal starts to show through the cube’s edges, we replace it with a new one for safety reasons.
The Scratch Lounge has been the best of both worlds for Kepler: he can lounge in it like a cardboard box, and he can scratch the heck out of it when the urge strikes. Cardboard scratchers are nice option because they’re reversible so you’ll get twice the life out of them (just flip over when one side is sufficiently shredded), they’re lightweight, and they’re completely recyclable.
Pet screen: If you’re lucky enough to live somewhere where you can enjoy opening your windows on a nice day, your cats might love to hang out, and on, your window screens. We have replaced our screens with PetScreen many times, which is tear- and puncture-resistant. Not only does it keep your window screens looking nice, but it keeps the bugs out! If you’ve never replaced a screen before, it’s actually easier than we expected (but still involves a little elbow grease), and you might want to just grab a whole pet screen installation kit that has everything you need for a single window.
Window treatments: Windows are like magnets for cats. Letting your cats watch “Kitty TV” is cheap entertainment and lets them view the outside world from the safety of their home. But cats can be pretty rough on blinds and curtains. Horizontal blinds don’t last long against window-loving kitties, and fabric curtains require regular lint-rolling or laundering, but vertical blinds are more forgiving when it comes to cats. They’re fairly inexpensive (about $40), and the slats can be replaced individually and affordably, if one should break off (and you can’t or don’t want to repair it with tape). They come in a variety of sizes (or you can cut them to fit), with subtle patterns and embellishments to match your home.
