Happy Homes Happy Pets

How to make your home functional for your pet companions and also aesthetically appealing for the humans in the household. 

If you’re anything like us, you believe that pets are not just animals, but family members who deserve just as much consideration for their wellbeing as every member of the household. But let’s be real, having pets also means having a lot of STUFF that doesn’t always fit in with our ideals of having an elegant and pristine home. Our attempt here is to offer some helpful tips that marry keeping an attractive abode with making your pet friends happy and safe in the home. Do keep in mind that each pet is unique with individual needs so some of these items we offer here might not work for them. If you have any particular concerns about your pet or would like an individualized plan for making their space perfect for their needs, reach out to Sami! 

First thing’s first, you want to take a big picture view of your home and its surroundings, and create intention around your space for your pet and for yourself. When doing this it’s important to take into consideration all the senses, such as visuals, scents, materials, and heights. Has your dog started barking at seemingly nothing then a few minutes later your partner comes home or you see a dog walk by your window? It seems like they can be psychic but really dogs and cats have super impressive abilities to hear and smell. Things that may seem subtle to us or not even there can feel overwhelming to them. If you live on a busy road, like Colfax, or in an apartment it may feel like your dog is barking all the time. This may be because they hear things you can’t or that they are overwhelmed and tired from the constant sound. Using sound masking (music or white noise) and sound dampening by using curtains or under door stoppers (bonus they help with drafts).

Contemplate space allocation and what areas you want your animal to have access to or not have access to, identify where they will eat, and where to store their food (more details below). For all animals, having a space to get away from humans or other animals in the home is incredibly vital to their wellbeing, so make sure to arrange some space to be their safe zone. For success in multiple animal households, have resources like water and food spread around the house to reduce tension between them. Make sure to provide mini safe spots throughout the home - this could be as subtle as multiple soft bed options or furniture to crawl under.  

Bonus tip: use coat hooks to have leashes and treat pouches easily accessible for walks. (or for a cheaper option - command hooks!) Use one with a shelf to put keys/wallets on top too (or plants that aren’t safe for your friends)

For both safety and tactile enjoyment, dogs and cats alike enjoy non-slip surfaces. If your flooring is a hard surface other than carpet, try to include as many non-slippery surfaces as possible. You don’t need to cover your entire house, just add to places where your animal spends most of the time, as well as on stairs, in tight spaces, and corners. This includes throw rugs (with non-slip support underneath), yoga mats, and kids play mats. For stairs, Sami loves these stair treads as they are easy to put on and take off which make them a very renter-friendly option. In general, who doesn’t love the aesthetics and coziness of a beautiful rug? Bonus points if it’s made of easily washable fabric for those inevitable pet messes. 

Being a good pet parent also means that you’ll have food, toys, grooming, and medical supplies galore. Sami suggests keeping these things easily accessible throughout the home. This can be accomplished either by having multiple small, cute storage options throughout the house, or by having a storage homebase where all the things live. Using furniture designed as kid storage or office storage works nicely. Sami uses this for storing grooming supplies and medication in their pet closet. (This is a video of Sami’s pet storage system that keeps in mind their cat’s need for novelty and play) Fawn’s cats’ toys and supplies are cleverly hidden in a cool mid century hutch that she bought off of craigslist. The important part is that it blends with your home’s style so that it naturally fits into your own personal aesthetic without standing out too much. We also encourage you to keep remotes and other small items out of reach, especially for puppies and kittens. Using a console or coffee table with built-in storage is a nice, easy way to covertly hide small household items. Basically consider this as baby-proofing your home, and it’s a wise idea to use cabinet locks and kid proof containers to keep unsafe things out of reach and off the counter to prevent counter surfing. For counter and cabinet storage, Sami recommends push tops because they are easy for humans but hard for non-humans. For rooms that you don’t want your furry darlings to have access to or only with supervision, use baby gates or modular ex-pens. 

Bonus tip - have mason jars around the house full of treats so you can reinforce your pet’s behavior that you like anywhere.

Moving on to keeping your home clean, consider where you’ll store cleaning supplies and how to keep them away from pets for safety reasons. Animals have a much better sense of smell than humans and are way more sensitive to particles in the air. Having fans or air filters helps for clearing the environment. Using pet-safe natural cleaners, and fragrance-free products are recommended as well. For pet messes, Sami recommends the enzymatic cleaners Anti-Icky Poo or Ceva Urine Away.

Now let’s talk about cats specifically. Cats perceive the world differently than humans and dogs in that height is equal to horizontal space. Having multiple places for them to get up high can increase feelings of safety and makes the space feel larger for them. This is especially important if you have dogs so cats can have a place to get up and away from them. Have a variety of highways (shelves along the walls), cat trees and window perches. There are a wide variety of aesthetic styles so you can certainly find one that you find enjoyable that meets both you and your cat’s needs. Another need for cats is to scratch! Cats scratch to spread their scent, release stress and keep their nails happy. We know that you don’t want cats to scratch up everything in your home so to avoid this, have a variety of scratcher types around the home. Sami recommends having both vertical and horizontal scratchers and different textures. Some examples include sisal rope, cardboard, and carpet. Place scratchers around your home and near where your cat is likely to scratch. For exposed soft furniture that her cats inescapably scratch, Fawn uses sweater shavers to keep surfaces looking nice after the claws have done their work. Another pro-tip is to invest in attractive throw blankets that you can put on corners of your couches and chairs to discourage scratching and removing pet fur a little easier. There are attractive looking products on the market these days that can be attached to couch corners that allow the kitties to scratch in peace while not ruining your furniture. If it seems like your cat is scratching excessively, there may be a medical or behavioral reason so reach out to Sami.

Another very specific cat need is litterboxes! The general rule for litterboxes is to have the number of cats plus one (so 3 boxes if you have 2 cats). Cats perceive anything in the same area as one so if you have two litterboxes right next to each other - it only counts as one for your cat.  So place your boxes in different rooms, and at least one per floor ideally. Much to the dismay of many cat owners, cat’s prefer large, open boxes so avoid covering your box. If you have a small space and can’t have any more boxes, use large boxes and clean them at least daily.  Sami loves the littergenie to make cleaning boxes easy! 

If you have a cat and a dog, it is important to have spaces your cat can get away, this can be done with trees, highways, and keeping doors just wide enough for cats but not for dogs. The Door Buddy works very well to keep dogs out/in and have kitties be able to move around. 

Dogs are also unique and there are many ways to set up your environment for success. We already talked about how impressive their senses are, but they also have impressive vision and are programmed to notice movement. If you live on a busy road, Sami loves to suggest using window film or wallpaper to cover sightlines so your dog isn’t constantly seeing dogs and people walk by.  You can get just a plain opaque film so you still let it light, or you can get fun art ones. Dogs are foragers which means they are great and sniffing out and eating food. This can lead to counter-surfing if they continue to find delicious treats on counters. The best way to avoid this, is to keep everything up and out of sight, or in containers that they can’t open.

Bonus Tip: make a little garden around your dog’s bowl. 

And much like cats, dogs also have to go to the bathroom! Having a yard can be great for ease but there are also easy options if you live in an apartment or condo. Of course, you can go out on walks, but some dogs don’t want to go all the way down - especially if it is hot or cold. Sam has had success with dogs learning to use little grass patches on balconies. Some companies are Fresh patch and Doggie Lawn. 

Bonus tip: air purifiers are great for every living creature, especially with all of the wildfires. Sami uses the Levoit Purifiers that connect to the phone and have an auto system so leave it and forget it :) Moving kicks up a lot of stuff and dogs and cats can get asthma-like symptoms so when moving add in some purifiers. 

One last thing to consider for all pets is tactiles and textiles, and there are many appropriate pet-friendly fabrics that are great for the home. Linen, sheepskin, canvas, microfiber, and top-grain leather. They are great because they don’t show scratches as easily as other materials. The good news is that these are attractive to humans too so making pets happy will make you happy too!

For further questions about pets, reach out to Sami at Wise Whiskers Training.

For questions about homes, reach out to Fawn!