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Creating a cat habitat: What are we missing?

05•03•14

If you’ve been following along, you may remember last summer when I moved down to Louisiana with the boys and had to introduce them to Newt. Emmett ignored her immediately. Cooper thought we got him the best toy ever. And Lucas? Well, Lucas wanted to eat her.

So, over the course of nearly six months, with daily positive training, we’re now a 100% fully integrated household! Yay!

But, during those six months, Newt had to spend a lot of time by herself – and, in truth, she still likes to spend a lot of time by herself. Since we knew that would be the case, we wanted to create a cat habitat for her that would be comfortable and stimulating. We were very lucky that our rental had extra space, and we used that to our advantage.

Here’s what we did:

First, the top floor of the house is off-limits to the dogs, but Newt has her little cat gate to get through. On occasion, like if we have company using the guest room/guest bath, the gate will be open, so she has another gate in front of her room with a little cat door. (See Teddy in the pic on the left?)

Creating a cat habitat for Newt

In her room, we have little areas for her. The middle is a rug with a scratch post (we quickly learned that a house of hardwoods is hard on a kitty), and one side is a mat with a water dish. We used to feed her there, too, but now she eats with the boys.

Newt's cat habitat

In the window is her tree, which is where she spends most of her time.

Newt's favorite part of her cat habitat

She has a separate bathroom in the room’s closet.

No cat habitat is complete with a private bathroom

And we have boxes and toys scattered around the room, plus two different puzzle toys that we fill with dry food when she’s going to be alone for a while.

The games in Newt's cat habitat

She seems fairly happy with her space, although she’s much happier now that she’s fully integrated and can go where she please. She does retire to her room throughout the day – if I can’t find her, she’s almost always asleep in the top basket of her tree – and even though she sleeps in our bed, she sneaks up there overnight to shuttle Teddy from one place to the next.

We’re total cat newbies, so we tried to put this together as best we could. With Molly here, she’s spending way more time in there than she had been, so I want to make sure she feels fulfilled… even though we dog people have very little idea what we’re doing!

Cat experts: What are we missing? What could make her space even better?

11 Comments
Filed Under: Holy Cat! Tagged With: cat habitat, cats, caturday, dogs and cats, Newt

Comments

  1. Kathy says

    05•03•14 at 12:20 pm

    As a cat lady/mom of over 30 kitties (during my 50+ year lifetime!), and a crazy dog lady at the same time — always insisting that all animals get along, I can’t think of a thing you could do better Great job!!

    Reply
    • Maggie says

      05•05•14 at 11:03 am

      Wow! That’s very high praise coming from you, Kathy! Thank you… and I’m relieved! I want Newt to be happy even though she’s surrounded by dogs! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Erik says

    05•03•14 at 3:59 pm

    Cats love hight, the more the better. If you’re even vaguely handy (that’s me) you could build a gigantic cat tower for (much) less than half what a pet store would charge you! That’d just be icing on the cat habitat cake though. As it is you’re looking great!

    Reply
    • Maggie says

      05•05•14 at 11:04 am

      Oooh, that’s an excellent idea. I bet I could find some ideas on Pinterest or something about how to build a super tall one. Thanks for the fab idea!

      Reply
  3. Pamela | Something Wagging This Way Comes says

    05•03•14 at 7:48 pm

    Looks like you’ve carved out a sweet place for Newt to get some time away from the boys. Have you seen this amazing cat haven? http://catwisdom101.com/meet-ultimate-cat-manthe-cats-meow-homes-18-cats/

    I don’t know if I like it more for how stimulating it is for the cats or how beautiful it is or the humans.

    Reply
    • Maggie says

      05•05•14 at 11:05 am

      HOLY MOLY! Newt says she’s moving out and moving in with those people!!

      Reply
  4. Ann says

    05•04•14 at 9:39 am

    You are doing a terrific job with Newt and have created a wonderful environment for her and your boys!

    Reply
    • Maggie says

      05•05•14 at 11:05 am

      Thanks, Ann! Can’t wait for you to meet her!

      Reply
  5. Jan K says

    05•04•14 at 10:43 am

    Wow, I can’t think of a thing…..great job! I wish we had some extra space to have for just the cats. At least they will have their nice screen porch for the summer….Samantha’s favorite place.

    Reply
    • Maggie says

      05•05•14 at 11:06 am

      That’s awesome, Jan. The porch must be so stimulating for Samantha!

      Reply
  6. Lara Elizabeth says

    05•05•14 at 2:42 pm

    Not many cats have their very own room – lucky Newt!

    I like to make sure Nina has plenty of escape routes and sanctuaries away from Rowdy Ruby, but a lifetime lived with dogs has made her pretty unflappable.

    Reply

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