How To Pet Proof Your Apartment

Renting an apartment is not always as straightforward as we would like it to be. Each potential rental property will have its own list of requirements that you need to meet. Taking the chance to move into your dream apartment might mean needing to make some compromises. How prepared you are to change a major aspect of your life could, in fact, be the difference between finding your new home and having to keep looking.

For example, one particular consideration is the question of pets. For some landlords or rental companies, the presence of a non-human resident is a deal-breaker. For some renters, it’s a very tough question to deal with, too. Not having a pet would vastly expand the range of places you could move into, but it would also mean not having a pet. As anyone who currently enjoys the friendship of an animal companion could tell you, that’s not ideal.

If you do find a place to rent and are able to move in with your pet, it is worth cherishing your newly-found space. What’s more, it is important to ensure you can keep living thereby ensuring your landlord doesn’t regret allowing pets. By adopting the following steps, you can pet-proof your apartment to ensure that it’s always in tip-top condition.

Use a no-chew spray on the furniture

If you’ve moved into a furnished apartment, then it is important to remember that the furniture is on loan to you. When you move out, that furniture should, hopefully, be in exactly the same condition as when you arrived. This is unlikely to be the case if you have a puppy with a fondness for chewing. Dogs, when they are teething, have a tendency to bite anything and everything they can get their teeth around. By treating the furniture with a spray to prevent this, you can remove one of the eternal worries of any pet-owning tenant.

Toys and scratch posts are essential

Many pets, especially cats, will want to deposit their scent around the apartment; and while a litter-trained cat will refrain from “marking its territory” by urinating, they can’t always be trusted to avoid leaving their mark in other ways. Cats like to “pluck” furniture, carpets and anything else they can get their claws into and can leave things looking threadbare. Keep a healthy supply of toys that cats can scratch; catnip-infused mats and scratching posts are a good option and ensure that pet-friendly apartments can remain pet-friendly. On those occasions where cats do pluck the carpet, a rubber broom can restore the carpet’s look.

Have some no-go zones

Any pet owner will be keen to treat their pet as another member of the family, albeit a perpetually spoiled, indulged member. This can mean that we have a rule that wherever we go, they go. But this isn’t necessary for your pet to be happy and, if there are areas of the home where they can do damage in a short time, they should be discouraged from entering those areas. Baby gates can be pressed into service as “dog gates” (a word of warning, they’re probably less foreboding for cats!). Encourage your pets to stick to pet-friendly areas of the home, and there won’t be any problems.

We all love our pets, but sometimes we need to compromise on how much we spoil them in order to ensure we can keep a roof over our heads (and theirs!).

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