Room Size

Hello Everyone.

I have two cats, One Female, One Male, they are about 14 months old. I just moved into a small apartment (about 600sf). My friends are telling me that the place is to small for the two cats. So I wanted to get some other opinions about how much space a cat needs to run/play to be happy?

They say I should let them outside to run a play while I'm home, but I worry about that because the apartment is next to a pretty busy road.

James Van Cleef

We currently live in a 54x32 -ish basement, with two adults, one 7 month old kittens, and five kittens between the ages of 3-4 months. Everyone is happy with plenty of room to run and play!

No reason to put them outside to run and play. Your place is not too small. Do you have a good tall treehouse? If not, you should look into it cause it will be great for them running and climbing on it.

Cats sleep more then they run around; your friend is wrong. You can use interactive play with a laser light or string toys when you are home.

As far as a cat is concerned, accessible vertical space is just as important, if not more important, than floor space. You can make your space seem much bigger to them by providing platforms off the ground, either through using a free-standing cat tree, or these katwallks on your walls, which many cats love!

Another alternative is if you have large bookcases or shelving, make spaces on them where they can climb between shelves, explore, and hide (this is the solution I use, the cats love my bookcases), just make sure that the bookcase is secure and can't topple over.

Your cats will be fine in the space you have, just try to make it as fun for them as possible, they will be happy and safe indoors.

Those katwalks are great! Wonder if you can buy them over here.

I live in a one bed flat which can't be much bigger than yours and have 2 cats. I wouldn't have more than 2, but there is enough room for the 2 of them.

Thank everyone, I knew my friend was wrong . I actually let them out a few times into the back yard and had a bit of a scare becaue George the male disapeared for about 6 hours before finally coming home.

Those KatWalks are great, I'm planning on buying a bunch soon.

James Van Cleef

I think the katwalks are perfect for smaller homes, as they aren't taking up valuable floorspace. I am sure your cats will have great fun with them

After looking around at some links, Im considering building something like this along the sidewall in the backyard (If the landlord will lt me of course). http://www.just4cats.com/post1.html. Dont have a big backyard, but there is a nice side window that would be perfect to build something like that around.

James Van Cleef

Check out this place:
http://www.thecatsden.net/

They actually have outdoor enclosures that do not permanantly attach, specifically made for renters.