Apartment cats

Antilles

Howdy,

I'm living in a one bedroom apartment with my girlfriend of five years, who is a cat person. The only pets I've had were a hamster and a dog when I was younger, and I know dogs like open spaces, while hamsters live in their cages and get let out to play in their hamster ball. My girlfriend recently suggested we get a pet, but as I say she's a cat person (and so wants a cat) and I am not 100% sure an apartment (first floor) is the best place for a feline. Can anybody out there give me some advice on this? Do cats mind/like living in an apartment? The entire apartment consists of the living room, a galley kitchen, bathroom, hallway and bedroom and is not particularly tiny, but I am still concerned.

Any advice would be appreciated!

piskins72

friend of mine lives in an apartment and has 2 cats which are house cats, they dont really know any better cause they have not been left out since they wer kittens, and i have seen both of them recently enough as we both use same cattery and they are excellent condition.

Ruu_Old

They'll be fine as long as they get plenty of attention and are taken care of. Better inside than getting into trouble outdoors. The rescue organisation I work with only gives cats to people who will have them indoors.

MsFifers

I adopted 2 rescue kittens a few months ago to live with me in my first floor apartment and I think the key thing is to make big efforts to make the place interesting for them - lots of boxes for them to play in, scratching posts, toys, high resting places (I have cleared shelves for them) etc. And I find I need to change things around every now and then or else they get bored and sleep too much. Their favourite activity is just kicking around screwed up bits of paper!

They seem happy, but I do think they would love to be outside. They are out on the windowsill (giving me a heart attack) at the slightest opportunity. I have to be really careful not to leave the windows open more than a crack - and even then they like to sit just inside the open part sniffing the breeze and looking out at the world. That said, they are quite relaxed when they are doing this so probably wouldn't jump for freedom or anything! And they would definitley get lost/run over/beaten up by tomcats if I let them out.

Maybe have a chat with people at a shelter - I'm sure they would be in the best position to judge how much space is suitable. I wonder if an older, lazy cat might suit a smaller space?

comongethappy

Of course it would be okay - but I would suggest to get two kittens. One cat is fine if it has things to do and places to explore, but as I have mostly indoor cats, I found my one got quite bored and lonely so I had to introduce a new kitten, which can be tough. Second, I say kittens, because it's unfair if you get a cat that's accustomed to being outdoors and forcing it to stay in. If the kittens are raised indoors, they never have anything to miss.

Just make sure you give it food (see some of the pet food threads for suggestions) before and after work, plenty of water to drink through out the day. Leave plenty of toys for it and get a straching post. Clean the litter tray daily, disinfecting it when needed (you might want to see the post on cat litter for suggestions). Any give them plenty of attention and cuddles when you get home. TBH, they'll most likely be happy to take your lap hostage for the evening while you pet them!

I'm very much a cat person... my husband, when first suggested, hated the idea. "it's your cat and I'm having nothing to do with it" is what he said. But he loves them now... he spoils them more than I do! Any questions, feel free to pm me.

sillymoo

Myself and my boyfriend live in a small apartment and we took in a cat about 9 months ago and the cat is as happy as can be! It is true you need to keep them amused with lots of toys etc but he spends loads of time sitting on the window stil watching the world and all his fans go by! We live in a ground floor apartment but we rarely let him out as there are lots of feral cats in the area and dont want to get him into trouble. The hardest part is cleaning out the litter tray to be honest! We are so glad we took him in and enjoy giving him all our attention. Hope this helps

stovelid

Make sure and get a kitten, not a cat that may have been used to the outdoors already.

cazzy

Many cats prefer to be inside than outside so I wouldnt worry bout having a cat in an apartment. Make sure the lease attached to the apartment doesn't forbid pets or someone might rat on your cat ! Can the cat go outside at all for a while. I ve lived in apartments with cats where theyd often be let out for an hour or so a day. Some cats are happy to sit at the door and stay there - others might go wandering - it depends on the cat.

cotton

stovelid wrote:

Make sure and get a kitten, not a cat that may have been used to the outdoors already.

I wouldn't agree with this. Several of my cats have been outdoor cats before they came here & have taken to the indoor life extremely well with no adjustment problems at all.
as long as they have toys, scratchers etc, any cat should be fine.

sillymoo

stovelid wrote:

Make sure and get a kitten, not a cat that may have been used to the outdoors already.

Yea I also dont really agree with this-our little fella was an outside cat before he came to us and really appreciates inside life now! When he sits at the window, its not to get out but to gloat! As long as he has plenty of things inside to keep him amused he should be just fine. Let us know how you get on

stovelid

sillymoo wrote:

Yea I also dont really agree with this-our little fella was an outside cat before he came to us and really appreciates inside life now! When he sits at the window, its not to get out but to gloat! As long as he has plenty of things inside to keep him amused he should be just fine. Let us know how you get on

If we try and keep our cats in for longer than a day; for example, Halloween, without letting them out in the garden to run around, they go nuts so I guess it depends on the cat(s).

shanew

my two cats have lived in the house since they were
kittens and I try to make sure they have lots to do. I give
them various new things to hid in and explore like empty
cardboard boxes and paper bags. As an added treat I hide
dry food in partially sealed up containers.

They get a walk in the back garden and come back into the
house on their own or when called.

They sometimes eat grass when outside which I think helps
them with furballs - might be an idea getting some of that
indoor cat-grass for a cat who stays inside.


Shane.

jinxycat

i recently moved into an apartment and brought my cat with me, she loves it here.
i was a bit worried at first that the landlord wouldn't allow her, but turned out he's got cats of his own here so it turned out great.

sillymoo

stovelid wrote:

If we try and keep our cats in for longer than a day; for example, Halloween, without letting them out in the garden to run around, they go nuts so I guess it depends on the cat(s).

It definetly depends on the cats. I let the cat out supervised from time to time and he loves it. However he tries to climb the trees in the garden and gets stuck! Also he can smell the other feral cats outside and he goes to look for them. For these reasons he only goes out maybe once every few days. Otherwise He is very happy sitting on the window on his cushion making the other cats jealous :rolleyes:

eth0_

I can't help but think it is incredibly cruel to keep cats in what is effectively a jail.
Cats are outdoor animals with, iirc, territories that can stretch to a mile or two. Suppressing their exploring and hunting tendancies by keeping them in a cramped flat seems cruel to me.

I had two cats growing up, one of whom died at the age of 20 of natural causes. Both were allowed outside whenever they wanted, and neither had anything other than the odd scratch off another cat.

stovelid

eth0_ wrote:

I can't help but think it is incredibly cruel to keep cats in what is effectively a jail.
Cats are outdoor animals with, iirc, territories that can stretch to a mile or two. Suppressing their exploring and hunting tendancies by keeping them in a cramped flat seems cruel to me.

I had two cats growing up, one of whom died at the age of 20 of natural causes. Both were allowed outside whenever they wanted, and neither had anything other than the odd scratch off another cat.

Have to say I agree to a certain extent.

I've had cats since I was a child and the fact that you have to go out of your way to provide stimulation for indoor cats would suggest to me that being indoors all the time is not natural to them. Sometimes, things like keeping cats indoors (when you live in a house), declawing them, making them wear bells, objecting to their killed gifts and so on, make me think we want to remove all their natural habits and mould them for our convenience.

Have to say I like nothing better than seeing our two hunting /hiding/ playing /marking their territory in the garden. I'd hate the thought of them lying around the house and not being out and about and basically just being cats.

That said, I'm lucky that our garden is an OK size and these days, our two show little interest in going beyond their own territory. Obviously our guys come and go when they want, sleep indoors when it's cold and then in their house when the weather is OK.

Not having a go at the 'indoor' lobby of course because I can see both sides especially in a situation where you may live near a busy road, in an apartment with no garden or there are aggressive dogs or feral cats in the area.

At the end of the day, I'd much rather see cats indoors in a good home then as strays or mistreated.

anotherlostie

You might want to check the apartment complex house rules too; I know that in my development, cats are not allowed. Note that this is something a landlord may not be aware of, so you would need to check with the management company.

I would also have to agree with others in that I would pity a cat living in such an enclosed space.

Antilles

Thanks for the advice guys. After talking things over, we have decided that we're not going to get a cat until we have a bigger apartment. Definitely something we still want to do, but right now the place is just too small. Thanks for all your comments!

catie

Salut à tous,

I totally agree with Ruu.

My kitten lives in my 20 something meter square and she is fine and dandy.

I had her through my employer (who lives in a "pavillon" a few miles from Paris) last October. She doesn't mind staying in, although, she used to go out in the garden when she was smaller.

It is not at all cruel to live them in a flat as long as they can go around as leisure in the whole flat as they still need the space.

My little star is scared of going out in the hallway of the building where my neighbours cats wonder all day long. One day, I introduced them all and one of the kitten who also lives in the building scared my little "pucette" away so the next time, I took her out, she'd climb up my shoulders and won't come down til we get back home again.:pac: