Everyone knows the importance of puppy proofing. But did you know that our feline friends also demand the same attention before their arrival? As independent and intelligent as cats are, cat-proofing your house is a must.
Good cat proofing means taking proactive measures to prevent destructive behaviours, plus offering lots of environmental enrichment. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with everything you need to do to ensure the safety and wellbeing of your new kitty roommate.
With expert insights and practical tips from feline behaviourists Joey Lusvardi and Albert Colominas, we’re here to arm you with actionable steps, achievable goals, and easy ways to make your house cat-friendly.
How Can I Make My House Cat-Friendly?
Making your house cat-friendly starts with setting up your home to meet your new feline friend’s basic needs before you bring them home.
“Many destructive behaviours are the result of cats not being able to engage in natural behaviours, boredom, or stress,” explains Joey Lusvardi, certified cat behaviour consultant and founder of Class Act Cats. He advises new cat parents to start things off on the right foot by having all the new cat’s essential resources in place.
That includes a litter box, food and water bowls, and enrichment like cardboard scratchers, play tunnels, and cat towers spread throughout your living space.
Some cat-friendly house suggestions include:
- Multiple scratching posts. Scatter cat scratchers around various rooms in your home. Try to include a variety of types of material (cardboard, sisal rope, carpeted), positions (vertical, horizontal), and shapes (a single post, a ramp, or even a mini house).
- Prevent access to cords. Cats can suffer electrical shocks and burns from nibbling on electrical cords and wires. Cover them with cord protectors or put them in organisers in areas your cat can’t easily reach.
- Use baby-proofing kits. Child safety latches are very useful for keeping cats out of cabinets, cupboards, drawers, and even trash bins.
- Be picky with plants. Many plants and flowers are toxic to cats. You might need to consider taking them out of the house and potting them outside or rehoming them. For cat-safe plants, you can consider putting them in a terrarium or moving them to a separate area your cat can’t reach.
- Secure screens and exits. If there are any weak spots in doors or windows, repair, replace, or secure them to ensure your cat doesn’t escape or get injured.
- A simple litter box set-up. Many cats prefer extra large, uncovered, low-entry litter boxes filled with unscented clumping clay litters. Don’t forget the magic formula: one litter box per cat plus one extra.
- A cosy window perch. Window perches—especially if they’re paired with a bird feeder directly outside it—are entertaining and provide environmental enrichment.
- Age-specific gear. Senior cats are more likely to have mobility issues and may need help navigating their new environment with ramps and pet stairs. A heating pad or heated bed can also help soothe arthritic aches.
- A variety of toys. You can’t go wrong with a wand toy, catnip stuffed mice, and feather teasers. While kittens can amuse themselves for hours on end with solo play toys, these three classic toys appeal to cats of all ages.
kozorog via iStock
How To Cat-Proof Room by Room
How to make your house cat-proof becomes a whole lot less complicated when you distil it down to the basics.
Albert Colominas, a cat trainer, behaviourist, and founder of Outdoor Bengal, focuses his cat-proofing on three main pillars: “Keeping the cat safe, keeping the property safe, and providing the cat with the environmental enrichment.”
When all three are in sync, it can lead to a happier, more confident, and well-adjusted kitty. It also minimises the risk of accidents.
Here’s how you can do that without breaking down or breaking the bank.
Living room
There are all sorts of cat-attracting temptations lying in wait in your living room. Limiting access, securing what’s already there, and offering cat-appropriate alternatives (especially ones with a reward) are key to a cat-safe living room.
Here’s how to secure the living room:
- Fix bookshelves and free-standing shelves to the walls
- Place cords on curtains and blinds out of reach or consider removing them entirely
- Use cord protectors to hide wires from tech
- Consider covers for couches and furniture
And here’s how to redirect your cat to cat-appropriate alternatives:
- Add scratching posts around the room, especially near the entryway
- Sprinkle catnip on corrugated cardboard scratchers to entice your cat to sink their claws elsewhere
- Add a multi-tiered cat tower with carpeted shelving for your cat to jump and climb on without the risk of heavy furniture falling on them
- Keep a basket of toys at the ready with kicker pillows, catnip-stuffed plush toys, and chew toys that they can safely gnaw on without risk of electrical shock or burns
Kitchen
The kitchen is one of the most irresistible rooms for cats. It has jumpable and climbable counters, holds a buffet of food and treats, and is often where all the action goes down. The attention your cat gets from you can cause them to redouble their kitchen prowling antics and stick around—even if that attention is you trying to shoo them away.
Adding a door is a first line of defence when it comes to cat-proofing a kitchen. If that’s not an option though, don’t worry. Keeping your kitty safe from all of your culinary adventures is very doable!
Here’s how to secure your kitchen:
- Physically block your cat from a hot stove (a tall baby gate can help)
- Put away sharp objects like knives and breakable glass items when you’re done with them
- Put food away when you’re done cooking and eating
- Put dirty dishes and utensils with things cats are attracted to (like butter!) out of reach in automatic dishwashers or dishpans full of soapy water in the sink
- Make sure your trash can is not easily opened, and take any potentially poisonous trash outside right away
- Consider installing child safety latches if you have an especially ‘paw-sy’ cat on your hands
- Keep cleaning chemicals out of reach in a child-proof cabinet
And here’s how to redirect your cat to cat-appropriate alternatives:
- For notorious counter surfers, Lusvardi and Colominas suggest putting a cat tree near those high surfaces as a more attractive and cat-friendly place for your kitty to perch
- Offer food puzzles to curious kitties obsessed with watching you cook, ideally away from but in view of the kitchen
Nils Jacobi via iStock
Bedroom
Some cats are fixated on making the section under your bed their own personal den. This dark, hard-to-reach space makes for the perfect secret hideout, especially for anxious kitties. However, the inability for us to access that part of our bedrooms is exactly why it’s so problematic. In an emergency like a natural disaster or a cat who eats something toxic, it can be too hard to get them out.
Closets can also be an alluring place to hide and just as filled with potentially harmful items: tight spaces, knickknacks, and clothing with parts that might pose choking and strangulation hazards.
Here’s how to secure your bedroom:
- Block off access to under your bed
- Keep your closet closed when not in use
- Secure easily climbable furniture like bookshelves, dressers, or nightstands
- Keep curtains and any décor that has tassels, cords, or strings out of reach
- If you keep medications by your bed, always make sure the cap is secured and put them away after you take them
And here’s how to redirect your cat to cat-appropriate alternatives:
- Give your cat a cosy hiding spot that’s safer for them—but with all the same perks they’ll get from burrowing under the bed
- Make sure their new spot is somewhere you can easily reach them if you need to evacuate or get them medical help fast
- Try a cardboard box with a warm, fuzzy blanket inside of it, or a cave-style plush cat bed
Bathroom
One of the most straightforward tips for making your bathroom cat-safe is the simplest: always keep your toilet seat down. This isn’t to keep your kitty from turning your toilet into their personal litter box, but because Lusvardi says cats of all ages can end up with serious injuries. The most deadly toilet trouble is that kittens may be at risk of drowning.
Playing with toilet paper isn’t a death sentence, but it can cause issues, especially if your cat actively ingests it or if it’s attached to a freestanding or loosely attached toilet paper holder. They’re often heavy, and if they go crashing down onto your kitty, they can cause injuries.
Here’s how to secure your bathroom:
- Always keep the toilet seat down
- Attach a toilet paper stand to the wall
- Get a cover for your toilet paper holder to prevent the ‘unrolling’ temptation
- Keep cleaning products, toiletries, and easily breakable objects like glass bottles and jars securely locked up and away from places they could get knocked over or spill onto your cat
- For the things you can’t put away, secure them with museum or earthquake putty (an extra layer of security Lusvardi suggests)
There’s not much you can offer to redirect your cat in the bathroom—in general, it’s a place you hope they don’t spend too much time (unless that’s where their litter box is). Prevention is your best bet.
Ramaboin via iStock
Garden or patio
Before allowing your kitten outside for the first time or, if you plan to keep them as an indoor cat but have some outdoor space, a catio is recommended. “The best way to cat-proof a patio is installing a catio,” Colominas says. Catios provide a safe area for cats to experience the outdoors without the dangers and risks of predatory animals, speeding cars, toxic plants, pesky parasites, and getting into fights with neighbourhood cats.
Regularly supervising your cat while they’re outside in their catio is crucial, especially if your garden isn’t fully enclosed with a sturdy fence, or if you’re in an area where a lot of free-roaming wildlife enter your garden.
If you opt to walk your cat around your garden on a cat harness, you need to eliminate potential hazards such as toxic plants, make sure sharp or dangerous garden tools are secured, and keep fertilisers and other garden necessities far out of reach of your curious kitty.
How To Cat-Proof Your House When You’re Away
With the belief that cats are independent, aloof creatures still such a strong image in modern society, we wouldn’t blame you for wondering something like: “Is it okay to leave cats alone for three days?”
Ultimately, even if you take all of the necessary precautions to ensure your cat’s safety, leaving them home alone for days without a human to check in on them is not ideal.
Though it might seem like all a cat needs is food, water, and toys, those basics neglect how essential enrichment is for cats.
“Cats benefit from mental stimulation and human interaction that you can’t replicate with all the automatic feeders in the world,” Lusvardi says.
For that reason, hiring a trustworthy and competent cat sitter is the best way you can cat-proof your house while you’re away.
“If something happens to your cat, the pet sitter will be able to intervene and get them emergency veterinary care if needed. As a bonus, the extra play and attention will help keep your cat’s stress as low as possible [and] reduce the risk of your cat having stress-induced behaviours like peeing outside the litter box,” Lusvardi says.
Prior to your cat sitter arriving, or if you work extended daytime hours away from home, Lusvardi and Colominas say some other tips for cat-proofing your house while you’re away are:
- Installing a pet camera
- Trying out an automatic feeder
- Setting your thermostat or heating or cooling devices to a comfortable temperature
- Keeping the windows closed to prevent accidents like falling out a screen
- Making sure your oven is off and appliances unplugged
- Checking there isn’t anything around that could create a fire hazard
- Putting all wand toys, string, yarn, or other choking hazards away
Further Reading
