Cats are self-sufficient creatures who don't need much. But having the following items around the house sure does make it easier for humans to coexist with them!
DRINKWELL PET FOUNTAIN
When Pepper was still a kitten, I noticed that she did not drink very much from her water bowl. But as soon as she discovered the faucets, we could not turn one on without her trying to drink from it! I thought it was cute, but Mr. G was grossed out ... and I began to worry that she was not getting enough water. Remembering that our vet had recommended getting a pet fountain, we decided to give the Drinkwell a try. Now Pepper gets plenty to drink (avoiding the health problems that can result from being dehydrated), and the fountain even provides entertainment for her: She has a grand old time preying on the bubbles that the water makes as the stream hits the pool.
I thought it might be a pain to clean, but all the parts (except the motor) are dishwasher safe. The only annoying thing is that, since we have hard water, sometimes the motor won't turn back on when I reassemble the fountain. The first time this happened, I called Drinkwell, and they told me to clean the motor with vinegar. This works pretty well, especially if you are faithful about cleaning the fountain once a week (that does not always happen at our house). However, over the course of two years, the water stream has gotten progressively weaker, and we've recently decided to purchase a new fountain to have on hand when the old one finally croaks.
CLEVERCAT LITTER BOX
Because I had only owned indoor/outdoor cats before, I'd never had a litter box in the house; Mr. G had never even owned a cat before. So when we first got Pepper, we just bought one of those small litter trays with no cover for her to use until she got big enough to climb into a regular litter box.
While we were waiting for her to grow, I researched litter boxes and found many consumer complaints about how a cat could "miss" and pee over the edge of the box. Or if you had a box with a lid, the cat could spray the side of the lid. Because I wanted as little mess as possible, I was elated to find the Clevercat. This ingenious contraption looks like a trash bin with a flat lid that has a hole in it. Pepper just jumps up, climbs in, and then jumps out when she's done. She has plenty of room in there to turn around and cover things up ... and she has plenty of privacy.
Clevercat also sells custom-fit liners for the box, which ensure that the only surface not covered by a liner is the lid (and this has no chance of getting pee on it). If your cat is declawed, the liners are great because then you can just toss out the used litter with the liner, and you never have to wash out the box (cats with claws tend to rip holes in the liner, which defeats the purpose of using the liner).
ARM & HAMMER LITTER
Again, since neither of us had owned a litter box before, we didn't know what type of litter was best. We tried eco-friendly litter made from corn cobs or recycled newpaper, but they didn't do the job. We settled on clumping litter, but we were bothered by the "perfumes" they used to cover up the smell of cat waste. Sometimes, the perfume smelled worse than the stuff it was supposed to cover up! I was using Neutra-Air plug-ins to neutralize the odor, but then Neutra-Air went off the market. I bought a Febreze air filter, and that helped, but I didn't want to have it turned on around the clock.
Fortunately, I mentioned the issue to my brother and his girlfriend, and they suggested that we try Arm & Hammer clumping litter. The combination of cat litter and odor-absorbing baking soda is AMAZING. We buy the fragrance-free kind, and you can't even tell there's a litter box in the room unless Pepper has just used it. It's so nice to know that your house doesn't smell like old cat pee.
LITTER LOCKER
You know how no one wants dirty diapers sitting around in the trash can? Well, the same goes for the little clumps that have been scooped out of the litter box. Because we didn't want to have to take little baggies into the garage each time we scooped, we tried to get away with putting the baggies into a trash can that we kept in a cabinet under our sink. By the end of the week, however, the air in that cabinet was TOXIC.
Enter the Litter Locker. It's like a Diaper Genie for cat litter! And it may work even better than a DG ... we empty it once a week and never have an odor problem. We keep the Litter Locker right next to the Clevercat, so scooping is a relatively non-messy, definitely non-smelly cinch.
KITTY NESTS
We noticed a few specific spots in the house where Pepper liked to hang out, so we decided to find some beds to put there in order to protect the carpet. We hit the jackpot with these kitty nests made by Companion Road. They have a faux-suede exterior and are lined with faux lambskin (Pepper is a fleece addict, so this is perfect). Their circular shape is just the right size for a curled-up kitty to snuggle up in.
The best part about these beds, though, are their high sides (about 7 inches), which allow Pepper to feel protected and secure while she sleeps. And when she's feeling playful, the beds double as forts and hiding places for her. We own two and have just ordered a third!
HONORABLE MENTION
I must give shout-out to the Comfort Zone plug-ins. We wouldn't have survived the past two years without the calming pheremones that turned my mean kitty into a less-mean kitty. Thankfully, it seems that Pepper has finally started to trust us enough to shed her psycho persona, and in the past few weeks I believe we've successfully weaned her off of the feel-good vapors. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
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