The best cat breeds for apartment living are not necessarily the smallest breeds or the quietest breeds but the ones whose temperament genuinely matches the limited-territory, high-routine lifestyle that apartment living produces. I learned this the hard way after adopting a young Bengal mix into a one-bedroom apartment and spending eight months managing destruction before … Read more
How to keep a cat happy in a studio apartment was a question I had no answer to on the day I signed a lease for a four-hundred-square-foot place and brought home a two-year-old tabby the same weekend. The guilt hit fast. She spent hours on the narrow windowsill pressing her nose to the glass, … Read more
Do cats watch TV is the question I started asking myself after my cat spent twenty minutes stalking the corner of my television during a nature documentary. She was not lounging near the screen. She was crouched low with her tail sweeping the floor watching a squirrel with the same focused intensity she gives the … Read more
An indoor cat play schedule was the last thing I thought I needed until my cat started waking me up at 4am by sitting on my face. I was playing with her sometimes but without any consistency or timing and she had no way to anticipate when activity was coming or structure her day around … Read more
Does an indoor cat need a companion is the question most owners start asking around month three when the guilt sets in. You leave for work, picture your cat sitting alone in a silent apartment for eight hours and wonder whether you are failing them by not getting a second cat. I felt that guilt … Read more
How to tire out hyper indoor cat is something I searched at 2am on a Tuesday after my cat launched herself off my face, knocked my water glass onto the floor and immediately began sprinting figure eights around the bedroom. She was two years old, perfectly healthy and absolutely feral with unspent energy every single … Read more
Window setup for indoor cat living was the last thing on my mind when I adopted my first apartment cat. I put her bed in the corner, filled a basket with toys she ignored and spent six months wondering why she sat on the cold narrow windowsill instead of any of the comfortable surfaces I … Read more
Free cat enrichment ideas at home were the last thing I thought I needed until my cat destroyed a houseplant, shredded a corner of the couch and woke me up three nights in a row inside the same week. I had a decent cat tree and a basket of toys she ignored completely. The solution … Read more
How many hours to play with an indoor cat was something I got wrong for a full year of cat ownership. I thought longer was better, so I’d sit down for a forty-five minute session on weekends and skip it entirely on busy weekdays. My cat knocked things off shelves every Tuesday. I could not … Read more
How to exercise indoor cat is something most owners assume happens on its own until the vet weighs the cat and says the word “obese.” Indoor cats do not self-regulate physical activity the way outdoor cats do. They do not patrol territory, hunt real prey or flee real threats. Without deliberate daily exercise from their … Read more