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JACKSON
Hey, everybody. Jackson, Galaxy Cat, Daddy,
welcome back, my friends to the cat cave. The first thing is, I'm just going to tell you
right off the bat, subscribe to this channel. I'm not going to give you reasons to subscribe.
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Just come on. Do it. Also, don't forget to ring
the bell, because that way, every time there's a new video like this one, you're going to get
notifications along with whenever I go live and we have chats or polls or anything like that.
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You will be the first to
know. Now, the second thing I wanted to house keep about is before I start on
today's topic, which is some cat ification themed work if you don't know what cat ification is.
first of all, the word means sort of esthetically creating a home that both you and your
cats love environmental enrichment
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that works for humans like paw in finger like that. Today's cat ification
topic is one that we hear constantly when we've solicited questions from the public about
it. It almost always hinges on. Well, this is all great, but I rent my place.
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I live in an apartment. I can't do half the things
that you're telling me to do. Yet I still want to create a wonderful place for my cats to be. Even
though it's not a permanent thing for them.
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So how do I do that? Well, I'm glad you asked, because that's what today's video
is about how to codify in a rented space. So I mean, pretty much if you're watching this
video, you're already looking at it going, well, I want what's best for my cat and I
rent and it's a pain, you know, for my
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cats. So tell me what to do. So you don't need to know that you're dealing with
less space, less storage space, probably maybe sharing the space with others and the fact that
you can't hang things on the wall, you can't do anything permanent, you know, all that stuff.
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So let's just get right to solutions. So
the first thing that we should consider is scratching surfaces and with scratching
surfaces. The kind of cool thing is you can be a little stealth about them. You don't
necessarily need big, tall scratching posts in order to make things work.
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Now this, of course, depends on the size
of your cat, because what you want ideally, is for your cat to be able to reach up the length
of their body, pull down and be able to exercise. You know these muscles here and really
just dig in to to that surface.
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Also, think about how your cat likes to scratch, and many cats are horizontal scratches and you
don't even know it. You're just wondering why they don't use the vertical scratching post you have
when really what they want to do is scratch flat, and those types of scratches are
easy to populate your house with.
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But also, there's the scratches that are at an angle more sloppy and triangular
again. These can go under things. They don't have to be out, but really, scratches can
go pretty much anywhere. I mean, my ideal spot is anywhere near where you are.
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So a lot of times we're talking about the couch,
we're talking about the bed. Those are great areas to have scratches because your cats are going
to want to compliment your scent with theirs. The next topic we'll talk
about is creative climbing.
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The first rule of thumb when it comes to apartment cat ification is use what you
got. So a prime example of this is if you happen to be lucky enough to have a fireplace in your
apartment, that means you've also got a mantle.
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A mantle then becomes that perfect built into the wall hub, where other things can be
built onto it in order to create what I call the cat superhighway. If all of this lingo is getting
a little bit too much for you, there's a video circulating right over my head here, which
which goes through the basics of cat
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ification, so check that one out when you think about that cat superhighway. So the
idea is especially in the the the most socially significant part of the house, which is usually
the living room. You want to see if you can make something so that your cats can move around
the room without ever touching the floor.
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So we're looking at shelves that might have already existed bookcases where your
cats can go around up over. Are you going to then attach the couch to then OK from couch will go
to scratching posts that might be higher.
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From there, we go on to the bookcase or down onto the TV console. You see what I'm
doing here. I'm creating the cat superhighway based on nothing being attached to the wall.
Now the other part of this that I think is really important if you if you do have the room,
cat trees are just indispensable, so your
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cats go up those cat trees. And now we're looking at where do we go? Those trees act as your
onramps to this whole deal here. one more little hint about creative climbing the. That I got to
point out, because it has saved me in a couple of different apartments that I've lived in.
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And that is tension mounted cat climbing
poles. So they come in either cat tree or just a straight up pole that goes up and
down. They tension mount to the ceiling and to the floor. Nothing gets drilled in.
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It's just you. Screw it. Screw it, screw it.
Now, tension keeps it mounted, right. So that means that you now have something where again,
you can have an on ramp to your superhighway, or it's just something to climb up and down, but it's
nothing that you have to drill into the wall.
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So that's just one more little creative hack to get you through your apartment rental with
your cats. And one more little creative hack that I've actually used a few times, and you
might have actually seen me use it on my show a few different times is ladders.
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There are sort of old or antique
looking ladders that you can get, and I've seen them on everything from eBay to,
you know, some more of the more ritzy places that are like, oh, repurposed and, you know,
antique pine ladder, those kind of things.
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But anyway, so they can be really decorative. But if you line them up against the wall, there's
just that way to climb up on something. And again, it's your on ramp to the superhighway.
So anything that gets you up.
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These are all just ways to take the things that you wouldn't even think about as being
lifesavers when it comes to codification. And that's what they become. So the next thing that
we want to talk about is multi functionality.
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So if you've kept up with me talking about codification over the years, then you know, I
always talk about blocking off the unders. I don't see any reason why your cat should get under your
bed. It is dangerous if there's an emergency and you've got to get your cats out of the house.
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And it's also one of those things where your cat's
going to go under there if they're not feeling all that secure and you can't get them out again. So
they get to call the shots from an environmental perspective, and we just don't want that.
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If you can block off the unders and you're
turning those unders into storage space. So under the beds, sort of, you know, those
containers that you can just slide under the bed. Those are great ways of at least partially
blocking off the underside of the bed.
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And at the same time, making use of the space. Here's another example. one of the things
when you're dealing with with very limited closet space, et cetera, you always want to have
obviously your cat carrier around, but I believe you also want to have that out and ready.
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If there's an emergency, you want your cat in
the carrier you want out of the house before you can count to ten. Keep your cat carrier out
in the open. And even better yet, turn it into a nice, comfy den or a bed.
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You can take the top off it if you need
to so that your cat has an extra bed, but it is still their carrier. You can find a
way to merge the utilitarian with the esthetic and make sure that everybody wins.
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In this case, your cat has carrier. They see it
as their den, their bed, and you have it out and ready to go if you guys got a split. We don't want
your cat to go into the carrier only when they're going to the vet or something like that.
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We wanted to be there comfortable spot so they go
there and feel safe when they go there as opposed to feel scared because they're going someplace.
So it serves a lot of different purposes. Another thing when we're talking about multi functionality
is we start thinking about the places that, well, you can't do without and you can't do
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without a bed. And most of us can't do
without a couch or at least a comfy chair. We can provide spaces for our cats on those spaces
to make them feel safe, to raise their confidence, to raise their mojo.
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We do this with the concept that I call Sense
Soakers. Sense soakers are, well, they're just that they're places where your cats can soak
scent. So we look at things like cat beds or even a blanket that becomes theirs or my favorite.
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Are these their cat mats? I call them
basically cat frisbees because, you know, you can just get like five or six of them.
They're cheap as heck, and you just deal them out like a deck of cards, man.
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Now we've we've not only made sense soakers
for your cat that can get moved from place to place as you get more furniture
or replace furniture, but places that are already important to them couch in bed
because they they compliment your scent.
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They have specific places on those surfaces to call their own and to say, Hey, this
belongs to cat. Now, speaking of scent soakers, the one place I really don't want you to skimp
is what I call the king of all scent soakers, which is the litter boxes.
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I know that there are plenty of you go, listen,
I live in, however many square feet where I have this many bedrooms or whatever, and that means
that I can only have one litter box. Well, if you have two cats or if you have three cats, you need
more than one litter box and when they walk.
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A litter box and they can smell their scent, and this is after you scoop and everything, it
could be a clean litter box. Just the same way as if it were one of these cat beds or mats
or whatever they walk by and they go.
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That's right. This belongs to me. I feel confident moving on. You know, if you're going to skimp
anywhere, please don't let it be the litter boxes. Now let's talk about bringing the outside in. I
know if you live in an apartment, it's tough.
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I mean, you could even live in an apartment that has a balcony. But in
order to turn that into a proper patio, you've got to put up fencing or something.
And oftentimes your landlord might not be all that happy about that, but you can bring
the outside in with some very small things.
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The first thing that I can think about is cat grass. Actually chewing on cat grass
is healthy for them. That dose of chlorophyl that that comes along with it is actually good
for them, and it helps with digestion.
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one solution that I use and one of my last apartments was to buy a flat of wheat grass,
you know, in the health food stores where they have the juices and everything that the wheatgrass
comes in a flat and it can be just like that.
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Well, that's amazing for your cat, because not only can they can they chew on cat
grass, they can also roll around a little bit or sit in it. If you put it near a window,
then they're sitting in the sun in grass.
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I see where I'm going with all that, that spring in the outside in. The second thing
that you can do is provide a water element of some sort. A cat fountain is fantastic
running water. The idea of running water, being able to not just drink from it, but
to play a little bit and to watch it and
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to watch the light dancing off of water. These are just ways to bring in a little bit of nature into
a natural nature, meaning apartment buildings. Right? So those are just some basic hints on how
to codify and live in an apartment at the same time or any kind of a rental space.
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And I mean, the idea is that, you know, necessity
is the mother of invention. And as long as you see environmental enrichment as a necessity and not a
luxury, then you'll find a way. I can't even count how many people have come to me over the
years and said, wow, when I provided a shelf, when I provided
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climbing areas, when I did this or that, my cat
just became a greater version of themselves. That's true. And cats see the the environment from
floor to ceiling. So the more that we can provide them in the vertical world, the best version
of themselves is right there for the taking.
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So go ahead and take it. I am sure that that plenty of you guys who were watching this,
who live in apartments have thought of things so shared in the comments. That's what these comments
are for. And most importantly, other people who are moving into apartments who have been living
in apartments without any idea of how to
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care. If I can see your idea and go, Aha, I can't believe Jackson, miss this,
but I'm going to use it nonetheless. Hey, man, I'm fine with that. I do
not need to be the sole source of information for all this.
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