Having an indoor cat is a lot more responsibility than simply leaving them to do their kitty stuff while we do ours. I’m sure you already know indoor cats require a lot of toys, attention, and entertainment that will keep them happy. With nothing to do all day, cats get bored easily. If your kitty is unsatisfied, they will probably show it with their constant meows and behavioral issues. Luckily, it’s not hard to keep our cats entertained.
I’ve listed a few furniture pieces and items that will not only look stylish in your apartment but also bring loads of fun for your feline. Check it out!
Table of Contents
Wall shelves, a lot of them
Cats love shelves. It’s a fact. They love to watch the world go by from an elevated position, and there’s no better way to do that than by sitting around on the shelves. But don’t put the shelves close to the kitchen because your precious kitty might spend more time on the countertop than you prefer.
Unfortunately, if you live in a rented apartment, you can’t simply drill the holes in the wall to install shelves. In those cases, a cat tree is a great alternative to allow your kitty to enjoy the heights.
Bookshelves and open closets
Whatever you keep on your bookshelves or open closets now, your cat will climb to it and possibly knock something over now and then. You can clear some space on the bookshelf so your feline can enjoy a nice rest and view from up there, and possibly prevent your cat from doing some cleaning by themselves.
Cat tree
There can never be too many cat trees. If cats could talk, I’m sure they would agree.
Cat trees make an excellent addition to the wall shelves. You can place the tree to allow your furry climbing machine to jump from the shelves to the tree and vice versa. Your cat will have an entire playground up there!
Outdoor condo
If you don’t have a safe outdoor area where your cat can hang out occasionally, an outdoor condo will be their new favorite spot! If you live in a place where installing a condo is possible, I’m sure your cat would appreciate the effort.
Cat bed
Cats can sleep everywhere. They can find the weirdest place and the weirdest position and enter their dreams. But it’s always nice to have a cat bed so they can tuck into something cozy and warm from time to time.
Scratching posts
Cat’s need to scratch, and we can only hope our furniture will not be their next target. One or more scratching posts that the kitty loves will save our sofa and other easy-to-claw furniture.
If your cat keeps scratching the furniture, they might not fancy their scratching post. There are many types of scratching posts such as the vertical ones, the horizontal ones, posts attached to the sofa or the cat tree… Different cats prefer different scratching post types, so try various versions and one of them might capture your cat’s heart!
Hammock
Cats sleep ⅔ of the day so having many resting spaces is a must. A hammock is another popular resting place for the kitties and you can easily make it at home, with merely a piece of fabric and a box.
Window perch
What more can a kitty want than a comfortable resting place right in front of the kitty TV a.k.a. a window? Your feline can enjoy studying the birds, watching people passing by or trees moving with the wind. Most window perches have suction cups so you can simply attach them to a window. They’re super easy to install and use.
Cat house
Cats need privacy and space for themselves from time to time too. I would go crazy if I couldn’t get away from humans now and then, and giving that opportunity to our kitties is particularly important. They would love a hiding place (such as a cat house) where they can spend time alone and rest away from the fuss.
Interior cat door
Image by: Purrfect Portal
If you’re willing to make adjustments to your interior door, installing an interior kitty door would make your cat thrilled (and mobile)! They could move from one room to another without having to meow at you or giving you other verbal and nonverbal signs to open the door. This is a good solution if you don’t want to leave the doors open all the time. With the kitty passages, they can go in and out as they please. And you don’t have to live with a draft anymore because these small kitty doors won’t allow the draft to go through.
Cat garden
Technically, cat garden is not furniture, but oh well. Growing kitty’s green oasis indoors can be good for their health if you grow the right plants. Catnip, cat thyme, valerian, and licorice root are just some of many plants that will promote your cat’s health. Other plants popular among felines are:
- wheatgrass
- lemongrass
- catnip
- rosemary
- thyme
If you’re planning on growing any plant indoors, I suggest you check this list from ASPCA first to make sure the plant is not harmful to cats.
I hope you got a few fresh ideas for making your cat’s day a bit more fun with different types of furniture.
What kind of furniture does your cat like the most?
Let me know in the comments!
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20 comments
I love the idea of an outdoor condo, I have 4 cats and each enjoys the garden, I even put together a kitty friendly garden for them. Not so long ago I also built for them fun cat houses made with cardboard and painted them in fun colors. They do enjoy those too. I am glad a lot of recommendations you are giving us I have already done for them =)
Your cat is one lucky kitty 🙂
Ours are outdoor but absolutely love their window hammocks. These are wonderful in summer but sit above the warmth in winter so its a win win. It is the perfect place to watch bird TV or snooze in a sun puddle.
We know that the cats at our local cat safe adore the walkways and beds raised above human height and we have seen these in pictures of inside cat’s houses. They look amazing, even to us outdoor cats! Cats love adventure.
There are so many creative ways to make our homes “cat-friendly”. Outdoor cats definitely don’t require as much catifying one’s home as they get their entertainment outdoors 🙂
My cats love a sunny window, being able to view the leaves blowing around, or watching and listening to the birds. I would love to get them a window hammock – but wonder if they would actually use it? And of course when it’s cold outside, they love nothing better than crawling under the blankets on my bed 🙂
I love the interior cat door! We don’t have one, but I am sure Rosie would love it! Not sure it is realistic for us – but SO CUTE!
great ideas
All these ideas are great. I never got the chance to try the window perch but that was next on my list before Dusty passed away. I’m confident she would have stayed in the window 90% of the time. The outdoors is their TV! LOL. She definitely was a fan of her cat condo and also boxes and empty areas of book cases. You know cats love their nooks!
We got THE BEST scratchin’ post last year. It’s super tall, allowin’ us all to get in a good stretch while scratchin’. Since my brothers and I are kinda on the long side, the height of the scratcher is really important. Peeps need to think ’bout that. PURRS
The higher the better, our cat Okica agrees 🙂
What a great post, and I especially love the indoor cat door. Brilliant idea!! I’ve only had indoor cats and you’re right, it’s about a lot more than just leaving them to their own devices. Mental stimulation is so important . Thanks for sharing!
We used to have an outdoor cat house before our move. Since it was built onto the home we could not bring it. I really want to build one at this home.
Our cats do need tons of play time and attention!
I refuse to declaw and have come to terms with the fact that our Tibet is going to scratch every doorway in the house. I am alright with it because she is important to me and I can sand the wood back down.
I do need to get them a second cat tree though!
Yeah, material things can always be replaced 🙂
My mom is flirting with the idea of getting a cat so just recently I was looking up these things for her. It’s amazing how creative people get.
Great ideas to enhance a cat’s life.
Fantastic article, Monika!! I’ve posted about the problems with cats being bored and what to do about it. All this “furniture” would resolve that for most any kitty. I love that you included a cat garden as well. As an animal healer, I work with herbs and medicinal plants to help pets heal physically and emotionally. I recommend a cat garden to many of my cat parents. Dried herbs work very well to for those who don’t have a green thumb.
Thank you 🙂 Yes, having some of these types of furniture would help with boredom a lot! And cat gardens are great for nibbling and improving health.
What great ideas! My silly cats won’t play with toys very often so new ideas are great. They do love looking out the window though.
Cats love to sit up high and watch what is going on around them. Those little cut-out kitty doors are so cute and serve a great purpose. Glad to see these cats have choices.
These are such great ideas. Our cat is indoor/outdoor but she still has 2 cat trees, lots of beds and perches, and she’s taken over the guest bed. ? And lots of scratching posts too, though the trees in our backyard are her favorite for scratching. So important to keep indoor cats happy and busy!