It may surprise you to learn that cats can be a great choice for apartment living – they easily adapt to an indoor lifestyle and make the purrfect pet for people with busy lifestyles.
Although cats don’t require regular walks like dogs do, they still require attention though, which is why it’s important to consider your lifestyle if you’re planning on adopting a cat. You also need to consider how suitable your apartment is for a feline companion, and how you can make it even more suitable – a design strategy which is popularly known as ‘catification’.
Ideal Temperament for Apartment Living
Whilst there are many breeds that are suited to apartment living, you’ll need an cat who possesses the following temperament and personality traits:
- Easy-going, calm and relaxed
- Happy to entertain himself
- Comfortable being alone during the day if you work
- Quiet rather than excessively vocal (unless you want to upset your neighbours!)
Luckily, there are a number of breeds who seem particularly suited to apartment living.
Cat Breeds That Suit Apartment Living
The following four breeds have the personality traits that make them a good choice for apartment dwellers with busy lifestyles. Of course, you don’t need to adopt a pure-breed cat – many domestic cats also have these personality traits and are well suited to living in an apartment. Talk to your local cat rescue organisation and ask which cats in their care would best suit your living situation and lifestyle.
- British Shorthair – Quiet and laid back, with a friendly personality that makes him perfect if you’re looking for a cat to cuddle up with at the end of the day.
- Persian – Known as the quietest, most laid back of all the cat breeds, your Persian will probably be perfectly happy to chill out in the apartment while you’re out at work. But just because he’s laid back, don’t think that he’s a low maintenance cat – his long hair will need regular grooming. If you’re looking for the easy-going personality without the regular hairstyling, his short-haired cousin the Exotic might be a better choice.
- Ragdoll – Quiet and gentle, he gets his name from the breed’s tendency to go limp in your arms when picked up. Ragdolls are generally a very docile breed, so could well be the choice for you.
- Javanese – Javanese are known as one of the most independent breeds, so won’t rely on you to keep him company all the time. Saying that, they’re a very playful breed, so he’ll need plenty of environmental enrichment and stimulation to keep him entertained.
How to Catify Your Apartment
Keeping your cat in an apartment doesn’t need to restrict his lifestyle. Create plenty of vertical spaces (either shop bought or with clever use of existing furniture and shelves) and places for climbing, and plenty of comfortable, private places for him to enjoy when he needs quiet time. This creates space for him, and is especially important if you have more than one cat.
Interactive toys that don’t need you to be there will keep him occupied while you’re at work, and you could even consider ‘Cat TV’ – a bird table on your balcony (if you have one) for him to admire out of the window. Speaking of a balcony, if your apartment does have an outside space, you could consider making it into a secure, cat-friendly area and letting him enjoy the fresh air.
Do you live in an apartment? What breed of cat do you have? Have you made any modifications to your living space to accommodate the needs of your cat?
My two Persians live indoors. But they do have access to an outdoor terrace where they can get fresh air, bath in the sun, chase bugs and listen to the birds. But overall they are very happy indoors. The persians coat would be very difficult to manage if they spent too much time outside.
Great Article. My humans and I live in a house on wheels they call a fifth wheel. Windows are a great entertainer.
Meowrrrr
I lived in an apartment when I was still single, and my Russian Blue cat, Graphite, did really well living with me there!
I do live in an apartment. It is a little tiny apartment too. I am not sure of Cinco and Manna’s breeds, but they have done very well with apartment living. For the most part, I think any house cat can do well in an apartment as long as they are offered the right amount of scratchable surfaces, places to hide, and places to perch.
I just rescued a purebred Exotic Shorthair from my local shelter, and I gotta say: She is the most relaxed and laid-back cat EVER. I expected a lot of kitten crazies, since she is only 2 years old, but she really doesn’t do a lot of running or jumping. She stays put. I would imagine that she would have made a wonderful apartment feline. She doesn’t make much use of my big house, that’s for sure!
My cat’s favorite spot in the house is definitively the balcony – in the Spring and Summer I’ll leave it open all day so that he can enjoy the fresh air and watch the birds.
Yes, Mom says that Tonkinese are NOT good apartment dwellers. (Pfft, what does she know?) ~ Faraday
She knows YOU, Brat, and you’re high maintenance. ~ Allie
I always thought almost any cat breed would be fine in an apartment, but I suppose there are some higher energy breeds of cats as well, juset like dogs! My cat Maggie was a Domestic Short Hair, a stray and a beautiful Calico. She was so terrific in both my apartments and houses, I was really lucky to have such a great kitty!
When my human lived in an apartment she had a black cat whose mother was a Siamese that somebody gave her as a gift. He was not the best apartment cat – he was active, needy and not very bright! And she was gone a lot, doing things that people in their 20s do – working and partying and trying to figure out what to do with herself! Poor guy. I do agree, Ragdolls make great apartment cats, as do the other breeds you mentioned. Somalis like me, not so much – we are active and like bossing, I mean, having our humans around a lot.