Providing the Ideal Feline Home Environment

By: Dr. Andrea Y. Tu, DVM, DACVB

Feline caregivers should aim to provide an environment that meets the unique species-specific needs of cats as a proper home environment is essential to your cat’s physical and emotional health. The Feline Veterinary Medical Association has adapted the Five Domains for Assessing Animal Welfare into the Five Pillars of a Healthy Feline Environment to help clarify these needs. They are as follows:

Pillar 1: Provide a safe environment

While we traditionally think of cats as great hunters, they can also fall prey to larger mammals and may display instinctive fearful responses to what may appear to be mild stimuli to humans. As such, ensure that your cat has various hiding places that allow for rest and relaxation. These should be at both ground level and higher up to allow for individual preferences, and should be dim, warm, have soft bedding, and allow for safe and rapid entry and exit. Be cognizant of your cat’s heightened sense of smell, hearing and vision, and ensure that your cat’s resting and hiding places are far from loud machinery such as washing machines or air conditioning units, and other devices that may produce strobing lights or harsh smells. Additionally, if your cat shares a home with dogs or children, ensure that your cat has access to a space that is just their own in which they can hide undisturbed by their two and four-legged siblings.

Pillar 2: Provide multiple and separated key environmental resources: food, water, toileting areas, scratching areas, play areas, and resting or sleeping areas.

The ideal home range for cats is much larger than what most homes can allow. To ensure stress-free access to essential resources, utilize vertical height (e.g. shelves or cubbies-type furniture) to allow separate spaces, which is essential for both single and multi-cat households. In addition to the rest and sleeping areas of pillar 1, multiple options for food, water, toileting, scratching, and play areas should be provided and kept separate, including maintaining separate food and water areas. Cats do not like having their water and food sources next to each other, and keeping these bowls side by side may result in decreased water intake. Consider providing a water fountain in addition to a water bowl as cats instinctively prefer flowing water as this is often cleaner than still water. Provide multiple litter boxes (you should have one more than the number of cats you have), place them in different areas to allow easy access, and scoop the box at least three times a day and clean out the entire box monthly. Finally, scratching is an essential behavior and required for cats to maintain both physical and mental health, so ensure your cat has access to sturdy scratching posts that are long enough for your cat to stretch their entire body (~3-4 ft tall) and are sturdy enough for your cat to scratch without fear of it falling on them.

Pillar 3: Provide opportunity for play and predatory behavior.

Cats have social, play, and exploratory requirements that must be met. Remember, cats have a need to engage in hunting behavior (a mix of play and exploratory needs), and this desire exists even if they are well fed! If these needs are not met, it can result in inappropriate play and predatory-related aggressions. Moreover, play and fear rarely exist simultaneously as one needs to be relaxed to play, so by offering your cat more species-appropriate play options, we are increasing the chances that he/she will be less fearful. Schedule at least three 10–15-minute dedicated, interactive play sessions a day using wand toys or tossing small items for your cat to chase. Do not give up if your cat just watches the toy – this is half the fun, especially for adult cats as the majority of mature hunting behavior pattern entails pattern detection before a single, well-calculated pounce. Avoid toys that get your cat over-stimulated and never use your hands or fingers to instigate a game. At other times, provide increased enrichment such as food dispensing puzzle toys and hiding food around your home to encourage exploratory behaviors and solo play. A simple way to do this is to feed all your cat’s meals out of a puzzle toy.

Pillar 4: Provide positive, consistent, and predictable human-cat social interactions.

Contrary to popular belief, cats are social animals that thrive when they are provided with consistent, predictable and most importantly, positive interactions with their human caregivers. A strong human-animal bond benefits not just your pet’s wellbeing; it has also been shown to improve your cardiovascular and emotional health as well! Nurture this mutually beneficial relationship by providing loving, reward-based interactions, and never punish your cat with spray water bottles, electric shock devices, or even hitting a cat as they can sustain serious injuries from these methods. Avoiding internet trends that involve triggering a cat’s innate fight or flight response for entertainment purposes. Unfortunately, there are a lot of incorrect beliefs on cat behavior. Cats are not capable of being “evil” or “vengeful” – rather your cat’s behavior is likely a result of fear and stress, and an instinctive drive to protect themselves. Hissing is a cat’s way of communicating fear, and not aggression. The domesticated feline species have evolved many nuanced ways to communicate with their human counterpart – learn how your cat prefers to communicate their needs with you will not only help with providing an ideal home environment it will also further enrich your bond with your cat.

Pillar 5: Provide an environment that respects the importance of the cat’s sense of smell.

Cats have superior olfactory abilities, about 20 times better than humans. Cats are also able to detect semiochemical (pheromones or allomones) changes in their environment. It is therefore not surprising that cats rely primarily on their sense of smell to identify known, safe spaces and familiar individuals, either feline or human. Acute changes to the smell of a cat’s environment can be extremely distressing, resulting in a cat feeling like they are in an unknown territory interacting with strangers. To minimize this, be careful of strong smells and limit the use of harsh cleaners in your home. When cleaning, try to preserve known scents for your cat’s comfort. Rotate washing bedding and toys so that some items with familiar scents are present at all times. Consider reserving a small amount of used litter when deep cleaning your cat’s litter box and mixing this into the fresh litter to ensure your cat recognizes it as its box. If you have multiple cats in your home that are temporarily separated (e.g. if one went to the vet) or are introducing new cats to your household, utilize scent transfer methods in your gradual integration process to reduce stress and ensure best success.

Incorporating the above 5 pillars into your home environment will ensure that you are providing the most comprehensive care for your cat’s physical and emotional wellbeing. Speak to your veterinarian or veterinary behaviorist to review additional tips on how to implement the above and best tailor them to suit your cat and family’s individual needs.

Resources:

Crowell-Davis, S. L., Curtis, T. M., & Knowles, R. J. (2004). Social organization in the cat: a modern understanding. Journal of feline medicine and surgery, 6(1), 19-28.
General Principles of Feline Wellbeing. Feline Veterinary Medical Association. Retrieved January 28, 2026, from https://catvets.com/resource/general-principles-of-feline-well-being-position-statement/
Houpt, K. A. (2024). Domestic animal behavior for veterinarians and animal scientists. John Wiley & Sons.
Mellor, D. J. (2016). Updating animal welfare thinking: Moving beyond the “Five Freedoms” towards “a Life Worth Living”. Animals, 6(3), 21.
Tu, A. Y. (2024). The patient-friendly reception area. In P. Miller & L. Sinn (Eds.), Veterinary cooperative care: Enhancing animal health through collaboration with veterinarians, pet owners, and animal trainers (pp. 74–97). Dogwise Publishing.