With mischievously clever Tonks in the house, cat-proofing is essential. Here are some of my favourite tips. Feel free to add your own in a comment below!

1) Put away their favourite chewables: Figure out what your cat’s chewables of choice are. I have a rebel with Pica (“behaviour of eating non-food materials”) who loves plastic wrappers, especially when filled with chocolate (dangerous!), and one who loves chewing on wool scarves (also dangerous!). Recently I woke up to a kitchen covered in rice.

 

2) Put away these chewables where the can’t reach. Personally, I have to lock doors, tape off closet doors and drawers. For the notoriously inventive cat, child proof products can be a blessing. Beware of cleaning products and medicine.

 

 

3) Stick kebab skewers in your plants, or try home made cat repellant. Spray or rub this repellant (or simply lemon/clementine juice) on the favoured surfaces (power cords for example).

Pouring coffee beans over the soil of your plants will not only help fertilise them, but will also disgust most kitties enough for them to keep out. Get rid of poisonous cat delicacies like ferns, lilies, poinsettia or chocolate (click here for a more complete list of dangerous plants for cats). A cactus is the perfect cat-proof plant.

 

 

4) A leather sofa is ideal (the thicker and grainier the leather the better. If you insist on fabric, make sure it is removable and washable). Bad scratching habits can be addressed with good scratching furniture covered in your cat’s favourite cat drugs (like catnip, valerian, cat thyme or cat’s foot, honeysuckle, matatabi or silver vine). Get a cat-proof rug: cattle skin is ideal for example. Another trick to discourage scratching or keep your cats from jumping up on counter tops, is by sticking adhesive strips on the sought after surface or covering it with aluminium foil.

 

 

5) Stock up on a million of these puppies:

 

 

6) Or you could always just colour coordinate your clothes to your cat.

7) Keep your house minimalistic and avoid clutter, knick knacks, vases or breakables. If you insist on breakables, stick em down with sticky tac.

8) Tuck away the cords on your blinds, any belts, or string resembling objects.

9) Speaking of blinds, cats love ruining them. Curtains can also be attractive. Next time I’m opting for roman shades or vertical blinds.

10) Replace any open dustbins with hard to open trash cans

11) Clip those claws!

 

 

12) Make sure they are happy and entertained and that they’re not just bored, stressed out, or in a dispute with another pet.

13) Cat-proof your balcony and garden (with purrfect fence for example), and be very careful with tilt and turn windows, cats can actually hang themselves on these. Or see the TRIXIE website for cat-proofing aids (e.g. the protective grille for windows seems very handy).

 

 

14) Browse the web for behaviour therapy aids. Next to Feliway, nailcaps, cat deterrents, urine detectors, and anti-lick strips, there are even products on the market that encourage your pets to drink more or eat more slowly.