Pet Hacks for Your Apartment

Pets are the joys of their owners’ lives … you know, when they’re sleeping all curled up and adorable on the chair. But when those little guys are awake, they can be serious mischief makers.

Renting with pets brings their owners a lot of day-to-day nuisances, including litter all over the floor, scratches up and down the hardwood and all over the furniture, and general disarray that comes from sheer boredom after being home alone all day.

But some of these small issues have pretty simple solutions. Take a look at these easy pet hacks that will keep both you and your pet happy in your pet-friendly apartment:

Pet Deterrent Hacks

Ever lost a phone charger or piece of jewelry because your pet used it as a chew toy or absolutely had to bat it down the sink? Frustrating, yes — but there are ways to deter your dogs and cats from messing with things that don’t belong to them.

Dogs will avoid anything rubbed with Bitter Apple Spray, which you can buy at the pet store. As for cats, they instinctively avoid citrus, so if you use a citrus-scented cleaner they’ll likely stay off that surface.

If you’re hoping to keep your kitty off counters and other surfaces, try laying down tin foil or lining the counter or table with double-sided tape. Both methods are safe, and you can use them to teach cats to stay off.

Pet Hair Removal Hacks

Although your furball is adorable, they’re exactly that: covered in fur. Chances are your apartment is too, and sometimes vacuums and lint rollers just don’t cut it.

A couple of common life hacks for pet hair removal involve stuff you may already have laying around your apartment. If you’re struggling to get hair off the furniture, for instance, put on your rubber gloves, get them slightly damp and run your hands along the hairy furniture. The damp rubber picks up hair like a charm.

If you’re renting with pets in a carpeted apartment, use a squeegee, like the kind you use to clean your shower, to pick up fur from the carpet. Hardwood floors and tile can easily be cleaned with either a good old-fashioned weekly sweep or one of newer wet/dry mops on the market.

Scratching Post Hacks

One of the most common complaints that pet owners have is that their apartment and possessions suffer from scratches when they’re renting with pets. Both dogs and cats like to scratch to mark territory and because it feels good to them, so give them something they’re allowed to scratch up.

If you don’t have room for a scratching post, make your own using coarse sandpaper glued onto a wide piece of wood. If your cat or dog likes to stand up and scratch, try hanging it on a wall close to the ground.

Pet Food Storage Hacks

When it comes to pet food, the sooner you can get rid of the bulky and annoying large paper bags of dry kibbles and bits, the better. Many people use sealed plastic trash cans kept in a kitchen cabinet or closet to store pet food because they keep dry food fresh, and they’re easy to scoop food from. Plastic cereal containers are much smaller, but they also work great to easily store dry food and pour it into your pet’s food bowl at mealtimes.

Litter Box Hacks

When usually perfect feline has questionable litter box etiquette, it can leave an unsightly mess that you definitely don’t want guests to see. There are some awesome furniture options out there for hiding litter boxes, but there are also ways you can spend a little less money to hide the mess.

Some pet owners put the cat’s box under a side table, then attach curtains around the edges of the table to hide it. It’s a pretty touch that can easily complement your decor and hide the messy box, but can also give your pet some privacy.

If your cat kicks litter around like they’re going for the world kickboxing championships, you may want to try a covered litter box that’s facing a wall. The cover will keep most of the litter from flying everywhere, and the wall will keep the little bit that gets out of the door in an isolated area instead of all over your floor.

Doggie Boredom Hacks

If you want to cure your dog’s daytime boredom, leave Fido with an activity that will keep him occupied for hours. One of the more brilliant DIY life hacks is to cut about a 2-inch slice into a tennis ball, then fill it with small treats and short strips of fabric.

Your pup will spend hours trying to get to the treats inside the ball, and he’ll likely leave your plants, trash and/or other exciting apartment features alone. A similar idea for the warmer months is to fill up a dog Kong toy with a little bit of peanut butter, then put it in the freezer for a few hours. Your dog will love trying to get all of the frozen peanut butter out of the toy.