I like to say I live in the tiny house with three boys. There's Eric of course, and two others. Two furry fellas, Huskey and Snowy (Snowman).
Eric and I adopted our two boys back in December 2016. They lived with us in the apartment for about five months before we all made the transition to tiny living. Our cats have always lived in rather small spaces - the cat shelter, the apartment - at least that we know of. Huskey was found in a field, which may explain his love of the outdoors.
We were a little worried about the boys' transition to the tiny house. We weren't sure how they would handle a new place, as well as a much smaller space than they were before. We tried to help them get used to it even before we moved. We put some of their toys in the tiny house before moving the cats and brought the toys back to the apartments so the cats could get used to the smell.
As it turns out, the cats took to the house very quickly! They learned how to use the catwalk on the first day, that is, Huskey at least. Snowman took a little bit longer to make the trek across the catwalk, but he eventually decided that it was his new favorite idea of fun!
The cats have their favorite places in the house, like sleeping on top of the couch, perching in the windowsills, and meowing at the front door. They sleep at our heads every night, and enjoy sleeping in their cat beds in the storage loft during the day. They have a toy that they play with together at the foot of our bed. And their newest favorite adventure is going outside! We take them for walks on their leashes, as well as let them free room around the house. They're pretty good about staying nearby, and are terrified of cars, so we don't have to worry too much! It's been really fun to bring them outside and watch them run around and play together. They like to gallop across the open yard in front of the house and chase each other around. It's great exercise for the cats, and it helps them cope a bit with being cooped up in such a small place.
While we originally intended to have the litter box in the tongue box of the house, it didn't work out that way and we decided to place the litter box in the bathroom at the bottom of the closet. Eric was able to uninstall and reinstall the shelving in the bathroom to make it where we still have a shelf underneath the closet, but are able to easily access the litter box for cleaning. It's worked out really well. Snowy even wipe his paws on the bathmat as he exits the litter box! Another interesting feature in the bathroom is the cat water bowl that sits inside the shower. We had a lot of issues at the apartment with the cats spilling a lot of water that was in their bowl, and didn't want to ruin our new wood floors. Eric came up with the idea to just keep the water bowl in the shower, which was brilliant! Even if the cats spill, the water just goes right down the drain.
We also upgraded the cat food bowl before we moved into the tiny house. We previously had a timed feeder, but it was a little archaic in terms of the technology. We upgraded to a new one that holds over two weeks worth of food for the cats, and can feed them multiple times a day. It also plugs into the wall versus running off of batteries. It has worked really well. It sits right by the front door and feeds the cats three times a day. It calls the kitties and they come running when they hear the sound!
While the cats of been enjoying the house and we of course find them adorable and loving, there has been one issue. Cat hair is always a concern when you have multiple furry friends, but the issue somehow seems to grow bigger the smaller the house! Lint rollers have become our new best friend, and Eric invested in an air filter/purifier for the house. Cat hair seems to stick to all of the clothes and linens, which makes for an interesting looking (and fluffier) pillow!
Cleaning has been a little bit more of a chore because of the cat hair, but luckily the smaller space keeps the cleaning time down. My new routine is to first take this "carPET" tool I bought on Amazon, which works really well for getting cat hair of carpet. Once I get a nice handful of hair out of the carpet with this tool, I've shake out any dirt and run the vacuum over the rug. Next step is to spray the rug with Downy spray, and wipe it clean. It's a bit of a chore, but doing this once a week really helps keep the carpets looking nice and smelling fresh!
In closing, I have to add that this is the boys' birthday week - they are now a whole year old! It's hard to believe how big they've gotten, even just in the short time we've had them. So far, I would say all four of us are really enjoying the space.
That's all for now about the kitties. Stay tuned for more post to come, and please let me know if there are certain topic questions you have about the house. I'm always looking for blog post inspiration!
