From Fur Build-Up to Litter Tracking: 7 Smart Tips For Keeping a Multi-Cat Home Clean

7 Smart Tips For Keeping a Multi-Cat Home Clean

Having one cat can be pretty easy to maintain, but a multi-cat home can get smelly and out of control if not monitored on a regular basis. However, with a little effort, and daily maintenance, it’s fairly easy to keep a multi-cat home clean.

Don’t know where to begin? Here is a list of 7 smart tips that will help keep your multi-cat home clean and odor-free! 

1. Frequently Clean Your Carpets

It’s true that cleaning carpets can take a lot of effort for homes with multiple cats. However, it’s only a hassle if you don’t develop a routine. 

Carpet in a home with more than one cat will gather a significant amount of dirt, fur, and grime. If left alone, it will also gather unpleasant odors and create an unwelcome sensation for your human guests. The best way to deal with this is to routinely clean your carpet with a specialized pet carpet cleaner. These cleaners are excellent at picking up what normal cleaners can’t. 

I recommend pairing the pet carpet cleaner with a traditional carpet cleaning solution. Bear in mind, plastic-made carpets may be harder to deal with because they absorb odors more quickly than others. 

2. Maintain Litter Boxes

A lot of specialists claim that one litter box per cat is enough. However, when it comes to having multiple cats in the house, you may need multiple litter boxes.

Having several litter boxes in your house means you have to stay on top of keeping them clean. The key is to scoop up messes ASAP. That means checking and cleaning them every day. Better yet, change the litter altogether when you notice the smell is still there after the cleanup.

It’s recommended that litter boxes be placed away from kitchens, bedrooms, and family living areas. A less-used bathroom, spare bedroom closet, or a space in your garage may be ideal. I also recommend placing them on solid floors, instead of carpets. Put mats or old towels underneath the boxes to trap stray litter after your kitty finishes their business.

3. Keep Things Separate

Contain all of your cat-related things in a separate room. Whether it’s food, water, beds, or scratching posts; it’s better to store them all in the same room. This way, messes won’t spread all around your home and you can clean everything up in one go.

As a side tip, you can place litter boxes further away from the door to keep dirt tracking to a minimum.

4. Enzyme-Based Odor Neutralizers

If your cats haven’t yet been spayed or neutered, then your furniture, curtains, and walls may be sprayed by them to mark their territory. The smell alone can be unbearable, so you’ll want to clean it ASAP.

The solution in this situation is, of course, getting them spayed or neutered! However, if they’re too young, there is a temporary solution: enzyme-based odor neutralizers. There are expensive and generic neutralizers; whichever type you get, just make sure you read the instructions properly before applying them. It’s best to not waste the product by not knowing how to properly use it.

Many cat owner’s swear by these enzyme-based products, and the best part is they can be found in any pet store!

5. Clean Up Mess Immediately

This is probably the most important tip in this whole article. Cleaning up messes while they’re still new, can save your furniture, carpets, curtains etc. The more time you take to clean something up, chances are it will sink in and create an odor. It’s even worse when you don’t even know where the smell is coming from.

So do the smart thing: clean up as soon as you see a fresh mess! This is important to do when you have pets around, and soon enough, it’ll become a normal routine. 

6. Frequent Dusting and Vacuuming

An important thing to remember is that the house you live in is also alive; it will smell like your lifestyle. Cat hair, dirty litter, dust, and unpleasant odors come with having a multi-cat home. These messes may get tracked all over your house, and pretty soon your home starts to smell funky. Again, the key is to clean up any messes as soon as you can!

7. Machine-Washable Everything

The last tip in this article will change your life for the better – machine washable fabrics. From curtains, covers, comforters, rugs, to pet beds; everything should be machine-washable.

It’s a great feeling taking a formerly-soiled blanket out of  the washing machine. It will come out clean and odor free! So, getting machine-washable fabrics will not only help you save time, but will also help to clean things pretty quickly.

In Conclusion

It’s quite a challenge to keep a multi-cat home clean, and it definitely takes time to get into a routine. However, once you do, it’ll all be worth it.

So, whether you have 2 cats or 8 cats, give some of our tips a try. We hope they help you keep your house under control and give you the reputation of being the cleanest cat family of the neighborhood!