Multi-Cat Home Setup: Litter Boxes, Feeding Spots and Space
Cats who share a home do best when nobody has to queue or pass a rival to eat, drink, use the litter box or rest. Here is how to spread resources around the home and introduce a new cat, room by room, with every tip sourced.
27 tips · 13 to do first · 26 renter-friendly
🏠 Whole home
Have one more litter box than you have cats
Keep as many litter boxes as cats, plus one, in different parts of the home, not side by side.
Cornell recommends as many boxes as cats plus one, in different areas of the house. International Cat Care says boxes grouped in one place count as one litter resource to the cats.
Source: Cornell Feline Health Center — House soiling; International Cat Care — Multi-cat households
Keep lilies out of the home
Don't bring true lilies or daylilies into the home, including in bouquets: Easter, Asiatic, Oriental, Stargazer and tiger lilies, and daylilies.
The FDA warns that eating a small piece of a leaf or petal, licking pollen off fur, or drinking the vase water can cause fatal kidney failure in cats in less than 3 days. If your cat touches any part of a lily, call your vet or a pet poison control center at once: treatment within 18 hours matters.
Source: FDA — Lovely lilies and curious cats: a dangerous combination
Keep washer and dryer doors shut
Close the washing machine and dryer doors after use, and look inside before you start them.
Cats Protection advises keeping washing machine and tumble dryer doors closed and checking for your cat before you turn them on.
Put the litter box somewhere quiet and private
Choose a quiet, private corner your cat can reach day and night, away from the food and water bowls, busy walkways and full-length windows. If your cat struggles with stairs, keep a box on their floor.
Cornell says most cats prefer a litter box location that is quiet, private, separate from where they eat and easy to reach 24 hours a day. International Cat Care adds: away from food, water, full-length windows and busy thoroughfares.
Source: Cornell Feline Health Center — House soiling; International Cat Care — Making your home cat friendly
Spread beds, water and scratching posts around the home
Put water bowls, beds, high perches and scratching posts in several different places, so no cat has to pass another to reach them.
International Cat Care says a common formula is one resource per cat plus one extra, in different locations throughout the home, and that hissing, chasing, swiping and fighting are signs of tension between cats.
Use an uncovered box and unscented litter
Use an uncovered box with unscented, fine litter about 1 to 2 inches deep, and scoop clumps every day. Kittens, older cats and cats with mobility problems need a box with low sides; large cats need a bigger one.
Cornell says most cats prefer an uncovered box that lets odors out and gives a 360-degree view, and unscented, finer litter about one to two inches deep.
🛋️ Living room
Check every houseplant against the ASPCA list
Look up each plant you own by its exact name, and move or rehome any that are toxic to your pet. Our plant checker uses the ASPCA's list.
The ASPCA keeps a database of plants toxic and non-toxic to dogs and cats. It says the list is not all-inclusive and to check the plant's exact name. If your pet eats a plant, call your vet or the ASPCA's 24-hour poison hotline.
Source: ASPCA Animal Poison Control — Toxic and non-toxic plants
Put a tall, sturdy scratching post where your cat already scratches
Choose a post that does not wobble and is tall enough for your cat to stretch fully, in the direction they like to scratch (upright or flat). Stand it next to the spot they scratch now, and keep it even when it looks worn.
Cornell says a scratching post should be sturdy enough not to topple, at least as tall as your cat standing with front legs stretched out, and placed next to the area your cat already likes to scratch. Cats that like nubby couches often prefer sisal or rope.
Check under recliners before closing them
Before you push a recliner or sofa bed back, look underneath for your cat.
Cats Protection advises always checking underneath for your cat before pushing a recliner back in.
Give your cat high places to rest and watch from
Add a cat tree, or clear a stable shelf or the top of a cupboard, and put a non-slip mat on smooth surfaces.
International Cat Care says cats need to rest and watch over their surroundings from high places, and that many wooden shelves are too slippery without a non-slip surface.
Source: International Cat Care — Making your home cat friendly; International Cat Care — Multi-cat households
Move climbable furniture away from open windows
Move shelves, sofas and cat trees that let your cat reach high windows you open, or fit window limiters or mesh.
International Cat Care suggests moving furniture that lets a cat reach higher open windows, and using limiters or mesh so a window can open safely. Cats, especially kittens, can squeeze through small spaces.
Offer upright and flat scratching surfaces
Add at least one flat scratcher (cardboard or a mat) next to the upright posts, in different rooms.
International Cat Care recommends multiple vertical and horizontal scratching surfaces in multi-cat homes, because many cats have their own preference.
Add frosted film to full-length windows
If your cat is unsettled by cats outside, cover the lower part of full-length windows with decorative static film and put a high perch nearby.
International Cat Care suggests decorative static film on the lower portion of full-length glass, plus a high perch near the window.
Source: International Cat Care — Making your home cat friendly
Keep toys in a box and rotate them
Leave out a few toys at a time and swap them every few days. See the toy rotation activity in the Enrichment Lab.
International Cat Care says toys left lying around soon become predictable and boring, and suggests storing them away and bringing them back out. Cornell says rotating toys helps prevent boredom.
Source: International Cat Care — Making your home cat friendly; Cornell Feline Health Center — Safe toys and gifts
🍳 Kitchen
Feed each cat in its own spot
Give each cat a feeding place where it cannot see the others eat: in different rooms, or at different heights.
International Cat Care recommends a visual barrier between cats at mealtimes, such as a wall (different rooms) or feeding on different levels.
Keep water away from the food bowl
Put the water bowl far enough from the food that food cannot fall into it, and keep both away from the litter box. Use wide, shallow bowls.
International Cat Care recommends food and water kept apart, wide shallow bowls that give room for whiskers, and the litter tray away from food and water.
Source: International Cat Care — Making your home cat friendly
Grow a pot of cat grass
Give your cat its own safe greens, such as oat grass, catnip or catmint, and keep your other plants out of reach.
Cornell suggests offering cat-safe greens such as oat grass, catnip or catmint, and says the only guaranteed way to protect houseplants and your cat is to block access to the plants.
🛏️ Bedroom
Give a new cat its own room first
Set up a room for the new cat with its own litter box, water, food, bed and hiding place, and introduce the cats slowly from there.
Cornell says new or returning cats should be confined to their own room with a separate litter box, water and food, and that introductions can take weeks to months.
Put away string, hair ties and rubber bands
Keep thread, string, ribbon, hair ties, rubber bands and small batteries in closed drawers, and put wand toys away after play.
Cats Protection warns that string can cause life-threatening problems if eaten, that hair ties and rubber bands can get stuck in the stomach, and that small batteries are easy to swallow. Cornell advises against toys with string-like parts that can come off and be swallowed.
Source: Cats Protection — Keeping your cat safe in the home; Cornell Feline Health Center — Safe toys and gifts
Make a few hiding places
Pull a piece of furniture slightly away from the wall, leave a cupboard or the space under the bed open, or put down a cardboard box.
International Cat Care says secret hideaways are important to cats, and that pulling furniture away from walls gives them hiding places. In multi-cat homes, soft, dark, warm spots give each cat somewhere for "time out".
Source: International Cat Care — Making your home cat friendly; International Cat Care — Multi-cat households
Put soft, raised beds in several places
Give your cats several warm, soft beds off the floor, in different rooms, so each can rest away from the others.
International Cat Care recommends soft, warm, raised beds in multiple locations throughout a multi-cat home.
🛁 Bathroom
Never give your cat human painkillers
Keep acetaminophen (paracetamol), ibuprofen, aspirin and other human medicines shut away, and never give them to your cat unless your vet tells you to.
The FDA lists medicine meant for people as dangerous unless your vet directs it, and says acetaminophen is fatal to cats.
Never use your dog's flea or tick product on your cat
Store dog flea and tick treatments separately and only use products made for cats on your cat.
The FDA warns that flea and tick products for dogs can be dangerous, or possibly life-threatening, if used on cats.
🚪 Hallway & entrance
Use a baby gate or panel for introductions
Put a baby gate or a panel across the new cat's doorway so the cats can see each other without contact, and feed them on either side, far enough apart that both keep eating.
Cornell calls barriers such as baby gates or panels made of cardboard, light wood or plastic very effective, and suggests feeding the cats so they link mealtimes with each other's presence, moving them further apart if they won't eat.
💻 Home office
Tidy cables out of reach
Use cable tidies and clips to keep chargers and cables off the floor and out of paw reach.
Cats Protection recommends cable tidies and clips to keep cables out of paws' reach, and Cornell says anything with an electrical cord your cat can chew should be avoided.
Source: Cats Protection — Keeping your cat safe in the home; Cornell Feline Health Center — Safe toys and gifts
🌇 Balcony or terrace
Cat-proof the balcony with netting
Enclose the balcony with cat safety netting or mesh and check for small gaps your cat could squeeze through. Until it's done, keep your cat off the balcony.
International Cat Care says a balcony can give an indoor cat valuable space, but it must be completely cat-proof, using balcony safety nets and meshes and remembering the small gaps cats can squeeze through. Falls from a height usually need emergency treatment.
Check windows and balcony doors on hot days
Before you open windows or the balcony door on a hot day, make sure the screen is in place or your cat is shut in another room.
International Cat Care warns that on a hot day it's easy to leave a window or balcony door open without thinking of the risks. The ASPCA advises keeping all unscreened windows and doors closed.
Source: International Cat Care — High-rise cats; ASPCA — Hot weather safety tips
How we choose these tips
Every tip is written from published guidance — Cornell University, International Cat Care, the ASPCA, the FDA, the AKC, the House Rabbit Society and the Rabbit Welfare Association — and links to its source. Tips that need drilling or a permanent change are marked, so renters can check their lease first. This checklist is a starting point, not a safety inspection.