New Cat Owner

[ShouldIbeEmbarrassed]

Hi

Just a bit of advice please, we are looking to get a cat (indoor cat) and need some advice/ideas on where to put things in the house such as litter tray, food bowls etc and still keep the house looking like a house not a pet store but more importantly be suitable and keep the cat happy. Any ideas/photos would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks

My litter tray goes under the breakfast bar in the kitchen. There is nowhere else to put it. And food bowls and fountain in the hall. Scratching post in the lounge.

If you're choosing to keep a cat indoors you will need to provide lots of enrichment so, whilst your house might not need to look like a pet shop, the cat's presence will be obvious! Lots of places to climb, hide and explore, ideally 2 trays to start (you might find the cat has a preference so you can reduce to 1), food and water in separate places. Toys will get everywhere.

He has to be an indoor cat as per the Rescue Centre we are getting him from.

I understand that it will be noticeable we have a cat but I have a couple of family members were it looks like they live in the cats house rather then the cats living in their house 😁 So that's why I wanted to know were other people keep the litter box etc

We have the litter trays in the utility room. Before we had a utility room, we kept them in the toilet (that house had a separate bathroom and loo).

Food bowls currently in the spare room; in old house we kept them in the hall.

Litter trays need to be somewhere the cat won't be disturbed while doing its business; food bowls doesn't really matter in my experience other than keeping distance from litter trays.

We have a water-cooler style water dispenser for our cats which they like as the water in the bowl is continually topped up.

We have a utility room and downstairs toilet so they sound like good places, do you let your cats have free run of the house over night and whilst out, I need to do this to allow him to get to the toilet or utility if we put the litter in those rooms

Ideally start by keeping him and his stuff in one room so it's all easy to find and provides a 'safe space' for him. Once he's settled you can work out what works best for you. My cat does go out but still uses a tray and it is tucked away in a corner of my breakfast room (which makes it sound fancier than it is, it's not!). Originally she was in the spare room upstairs and once she started coming downstairs I added another tray and she stopped using the upstairs one so I removed it.

Cats must always have access to their litter tray and water.

A family member of mine put the litter tray in a old sideboard in the hallway. She cut a hole out so they can get in and out. The cat seems to love it.

My previous cats all had restricted access overnight as they had 24/7 flap access and were hunters, current cat has a curfew and the run of the house (she had a very hard life before being taken into rescue so she is a spoilt brat).

Oh I like the idea of the sideboard in the hallway.

We're going to put him and all his stuff in the spare bedroom first as suggested until he settles in.

Keep his litter away from food and keep his water away from the food as well.

I knew about keeping his litter away from his food but never heard about keeping water away from the food, why is that please?

Some cats don't like water near their food.
None of my cats have ever been bothered by water near their food though.

My cats don't mind food next to water either

Best advice.