Tips and Tricks to Keep Your Home Clean and Cat Friendly Too

Although cats are tidy animals, it’s still normal for them to shed or track litter around the home. Keeping your home clean as a cat parent can seem like an impossible job—especially if you have a long-haired fur friend like a Maine coon! Stressed about maintaining a tidy house while living with a feline? Cat in a Flat has some great tips on how to keep your home both clean and cat friendly! 

Groom your cat regularly to prevent shedding

All cats—whether they have long hair or short hair—shed. Grooming your kitty regularly won’t just keep their fur looking shiny and healthy, but it helps remove loose fur and trap it in the brush so it doesn’t end up on your floor! Here are a few tips for grooming your cat (and keeping your home clean):

• Short, regular sessions are best for grooming your cat. 3-5 minutes is the sweet spot, but you may need more time for felines with longer fur.
• Reward Mr Whiskers with treats after grooming so they develop a positive association towards it. 
• NEVER groom your cat by force. Watch your feline’s body language. If your kitty hisses, swipes at the brush, or is swishing their tail, this means they don’t like it and you should stop immediately. 
• For furry friends who don’t like to be brushed, try a cat self-groomer. You can attach these to table or chair legs so your cat can self-groom by rubbing against them. These will catch loose fur and in turn decrease excess cat fur and keep your house clean.

Keep your house clean with proper cat litter box maintenance

Tidying up the litter box is probably one of the least enjoyable jobs of a paw parent. But daily maintenance is essential not only for a happy, healthy cat but to keep your house clean, too. Here are a few tips on how to reduce litter box smells and litter tracking. 

Litter box smells

How can I keep litter box smells to a minimum? This is an issue every cat parent deals with on a daily basis. However, reducing litter box smells often comes down to a few simple things. Cleaning the litter box regularly, using the right litter, and having enough litter boxes for your cat will help keep unappealing litter box smells to a minimum. 

• Clean the litter box at least once a day. This will reduce unwanted, lingering odours. 
• Regularly empty, wash out, and refill your cat’s litter box. Aim to do this every other week to keep smells to a minimum. 
• Choose the right litter for your cat. Clumping cat litter tends to reduce smells (and make the litter box more convenient to clean) because it clumps when wet. However, this will come down to personal preference, so you may need to try out a few options before finding the one your feline likes. 
• Make sure you have enough litter boxes around your home. If your cat or cats have access to just one litter box, it will get smelly very quickly. As a rule, you should have one litter box per feline, plus one more. Having multiple choices will reduce the chances of protest pissing happening and keep your home smelling cleaner and fresher too! 

Litter tracking

How can I stop my cat from tracking litter? It’s impossible to completely stop your kitty from tracking litter, but there are a few ways you can minimise tracking. The type and size of litter box can make a huge difference, as can the simple trick of adding tracking mats under and around them. 

• Choose the right litter box. An open litter box will make it easier to kick or track litter outside the tray. Likewise, a too small litter box will make it easier for messes to occur outside. Aim for a closed litter box that is big enough for your cat to comfortably stand up and turn around in. 
• Get a good litter mat. A proper mat will catch excess litter on your cat’s paws when they step out of their litter box. These can be very useful to decrease tracking and help keep your home tidy! 

Other ways to keep your house clean and cat friendly

Wash food and water bowls

Regularly cleaning your kitty’s food and water bowls isn’t just hygienic, it also helps reduce odours and keep your home clean. Wash wet food bowls daily (or give your cat a fresh bowl every day) and rinse out water bowls once a week. In hot weather, you may need to wash food bowls immediately after feeding your cat so that leftover wet food doesn’t spoil and start to smell in the heat.

Clean cat beds and blankets

If possible, try to avoid letting your cat sleep in bed with you. Instead, provide your kitty with their own bed. This will reduce the chances of your cat waking you up at night and also help keep your own bed clean. You should also regularly wash any beds, bedding, and blankets Mr Whiskers uses. Most cat beds are washing machine friendly, and laundering your feline’s beds once a month should keep them fresh and clean! 

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Other basic cat care

Besides grooming your feline’s coat, you should also regularly look after other aspects of basic cat care. This includes clipping your cat’s claws every few weeks to reduce nail shedding. Also make sure you have plenty of scratching posts around the home so Mr Whiskers can care for their claws on their own too. Brushing your feline’s teeth and cleaning their eyes and ears can also help keep your cat and your home clean. 

Provide cat-friendly plants

Air-purifying plants are a great way to keep your home feeling and looking fresh. There are plenty of cat-friendly plant options out there, but if your kitty enjoys nibbling on your greens and leaving little messes, make sure you find ways to place plants out of paw’s reach! 

Should I bathe my cat to reduce smells? 

It seems logical that regular baths would keep your kitty smelling fresh and reduce odours. However, unless your furry friend has somehow gotten muddy or has something smelly on their fur, bathing your kittygenerally isn’t necessary. Felines spend a lot of their day grooming themselves and don’t tend to smell, hence a bath should be a rare necessity. As long as you maintain a regular grooming and care schedule, you’ll be able to keep your home clean and your cat happy without needing to resort to frequent feline baths. 

Are you worried about your home staying clean and tidy whenever you go away on trips? Have a chat with Mr Whiskers’ sitter to see how they can help! When booking a cat sitter ask what additional cat care tasks they are willing and able to perform. Also be sure to provide a small broom and dustpan and cat-friendly cleaning solution so your pet sitter can clean up excess litter, puke or other feline messes that may come up while you’re away.