Apartment Cats researches; it does not test. Every page is built from veterinary guidelines, published studies, shelter care guides and makers’ own specifications, and every number on it can be traced to one of them. This page explains how we research, and where the limits are.
Researched, not tested
We do not buy products to try them, and nobody here keeps a test cat. So you will never read that a feeder “jammed on day three” or that a litter “held up for a month” on this site, because we would have no way to know. Every page that names a product carries a Researched, not tested label next to the byline, linked here.
What we can do is measure on paper. A litter box gets compared with the 1.5 times rule from the AAFP and ISFM guidelines; a cat tree gets its base footprint set against a 10 x 12 ft (3 x 3.7 m) bedroom; a fountain gets its filter cost worked out per year from the maker’s own schedule. When owners’ experiences matter, we summarize what we read, say where and when we read it, and never present it as our own finding.
How we research: where the facts come from
| Source | What we take from it |
|---|---|
| Veterinary bodies and studies | Cornell Feline Health Center, the AAFP and ISFM guidelines, AAHA, International Cat Care, ASPCA Animal Poison Control, the Merck Veterinary Manual and peer-reviewed papers. The only sources we accept for health, behavior and safety, and for litter box counts and sizes. |
| Makers and shelters | Product pages, manuals and spec sheets for dimensions, power and capacity. Shelter care guides for routines, such as settling a new cat, always credited to the shelter and never passed off as veterinary advice. |
| Retailers and owners | Listings for stock and current prices. Owner reviews and forums for patterns, summarized with where and when we read them. Never for a health claim. |
The facts the site repeats, from how many litter boxes a cat needs to how long play sessions should run, live in one table of 49 entries. Each entry lists its sources and the date they were read, and a status that decides how a page may use it. When a source changes, the entry changes first, then every page that relies on it.
Sources do not always agree. On how often to empty and wash a litter box, the AAFP and ISFM say every 1 to 4 weeks and International Cat Care says every 1 to 2, so our pages give the range and who says what instead of picking a winner. Some questions have no sourced answer at all. Nothing in the veterinary literature we read puts a number of hours on leaving a healthy adult cat alone, and our pages say so instead of making one up.
Specs and prices, with dates
Every product spec comes from the maker’s page or manual. If a maker publishes nothing, the retailer listing stands in, and the page says so. Each spec carries the date it was checked, and product pages show a “specs checked” date beside the byline. The ten most-visited product pages are checked again every month. When something goes out of stock, it is marked, and every page that names it gets updated.
You will not find Amazon star ratings, review counts or “best seller” badges here, or prices typed in by hand. Prices change often, so any price shown on a page comes from the retailer, with its date.
How a top pick is chosen
The top pick is the product that best answers the page’s question on the evidence: published size and specs, fit for a small home, price, stock, return terms and the pattern in owner reports. It is never chosen for the commission rate or the store that sells it, and the reason for each pick is recorded in that page’s change log. When the evidence is thin, the page says so and still makes a call, with the reason.
Health and safety lines we hold
- No feeding amounts, ever. Portions belong to the food label and your vet.
- No claim that a product or routine cures, treats or prevents an illness, and nothing about medicines or doses.
- A vet note on topics where a change in behavior can be a medical problem: litter box avoidance, senior cats, a new cat that stops eating, fights between cats, and suspected poisoning.
- A safety warning where a hazard is real: open windows and balconies, string and wand toys, toxic plants, cords near perches, heated beds, tension poles and cleaning products near the litter or bowls.
How the site makes money
As an Amazon Associate, Apartment Cats earns from qualifying purchases. If you buy through a product link on a guide, Amazon pays us a small share, and the price you pay stays the same. Every page with such links says so before the first one. No maker pays to be included or ranked.
Updates
The “updated” date on a page changes only when its content changes, not for a fixed typo. Each page keeps a dated log of what changed and why. Header images show ordinary rooms and cats, never a product we name, and never a home or a cat presented as ours. Spotted something wrong? The corrections page explains how to report it and keeps a dated log of every fix.