Hey r/pets,
I've been looking to adopt a cat (1-4 years old ideally) for a while now, but my living situation is a little atypical and I want to make sure I will be able to provide a happy home before I adopt.
I currently at finishing out the lease on my college apartment, so I'll be in a small 2-bedroom apartment until ~August. The only space I'd be able to fit a litter box would be in my bedroom, in the closet at the foot of my bed. It would only be a few feet from my bed, but it would be tucked away in the closet. Is that an appropriate space for the litter box?
After the lease ends, I'm currently planning on moving back in with my parents, where I have a large finished basement to myself. My parents don't currently want the cat on the main floor, so it would stay with me in the basement. Unfortunately, the basement has no windows, so we are thinking we can put the cat in the spare bedroom upstairs with food, water, litter, toys, and a window when I'm away at work. I've heard cats aren't great with closed doors, but do you think this mix will be okay? FWIW, I'm aware that living in a basement with no windows isn't exactly up to code, but we're past that. It's the trade-off I make for a larger living space. If it really came down to it I could live in the spare bedroom, but that would significantly shrink the area the cat can be in at night when I'm sleeping, since I don't want to be behind a closed door from the cat at night.
Finally, my parents have a dog that is very energetic and not very well trained. He's never interacted with a cat other than barking at strays in the backyard, and we don't have high hopes with him playing nice, but it's possible. However, the dog is only allowed on the main floor, so if the plan works they would never be in the same room other than when I carry the cat upstairs. Would sharing the space in that capacity still cause issues?
Ideally, my parents and their dog will come around to the idea of a cat on the main floor and I can give the cat full freedom to just enjoy the house, but since that is not guaranteed, I want to be sure the backup plan would be a good life for the cat in between living situations.
I am on mobile so sorry if the formatting is bad, but hopefully I did a good enough job of explaining my situation for you guys to know what I'm asking. Thanks for reading my wall of text if you made it this far, any feedback/advice would be greatly appreciated!
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/kqo4nr/is_my_living_situation_good_enough_for_a_cat/
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