Renting with a cat means a home that works for the cat today and an apartment you can hand back the way you found it. Two jobs, one small space. For a cat in a rented apartment, this page gathers our guides for both, sorted by the part of the home they touch, and none of the setups in them needs a drill.
Open renter-friendly cat shelves first: it separates no-drill cat shelves and perches from the kits that need screws in the wall.
Height without holes in the wall
Cats like to look down on a room. Most leases rule out the screws that ordinary wall shelves need, which is why no-drill cat shelves, tension poles and sill perches lead this section.
- Renter-friendly cat shelves: window perches, tension-pole trees, freestanding towers and the bookcase you already own.
- Small cat trees compared, base size against height, for a corner of a studio.
- The space-fit planner draws a tree’s base on your floor to scale before you order.
Scratching that spares the furniture
Scratching is normal. Every cat needs somewhere it is allowed to do it, so the aim is a better target rather than a ban, and Cornell advises a sturdy scratcher next to the place the cat already scratches, with a cover on the furniture until the habit moves over.
- Scratching posts compared by height, base and material.
- The cat measuring tool tells you if a post is tall enough for your cat at full stretch.
Litter that stays between you and the cat
In a rental the box is never far from anything: the bed, the neighbors, the carpet that has to look the same at move-out. These guides keep the smell down. They keep the grains off the floor, too.
- Where to put the litter box in a studio or a one-bedroom.
- Keeping a litter box from smelling, from the scooping routine to the full wash.
- Cleaning the litter box with no yard or hose, and when to replace it.
- Litter mats compared, including one thin enough for a bathroom door.
- Odor-control litters and disposal bins for the trip to the trash.
Doors, windows and the room plan
Budgeting for pet rent as well? The cat cost calculator puts the rent and a deposit from your lease next to food, litter and the vet, with a first-year total that counts the deposit once.
A rental decides where the furniture can go before the cat does. Plan the zones first.
- Cat furniture layouts for a studio and a one-bedroom, zone by zone.
- A window perch that hooks over the sill gives a view with nothing screwed in.
- Interior cat doors include no-cut latches that leave the rental’s own door without a new hole.
- The measuring tool also gives the litter box length and the shelf length your cat needs.
Renting with a cat: questions
Can cats damage rental property?
Cats can damage rental property, mostly by scratching and by peeing outside the box. In Wilson’s 2016 owner survey, homes with a post taller than 3 ft (91 cm) reported less furniture damage. If the cat begins to pee or poop outside the box, see the vet first: Cornell names urinary disease, kidney or thyroid trouble and pain as possible causes.
How do you convince a landlord to let you have a cat?
We have no source on landlords, only what the guides here can show. To convince a landlord to let you have a cat, bring a plan: no-drill shelves and posts, where the box will sit, how often you scoop. Get the answer in writing, and ask about fees and deposits, which depend on your lease.
Can you put up cat shelves in a rental without drilling?
You can: a perch that hangs on the window sill, a tension-pole tree held between floor and ceiling, or a freestanding tower all go up with no screws. Before buying a pole, compare your ceiling height and your cat’s weight with what its maker allows. Kits sold as cat wall shelves almost always screw into studs.
What is the 3-3-3 rule for cats?
A shelter rule of thumb for an adopted cat: around 3 days to calm down, 3 weeks to pick up your routine and 3 months to feel settled. For a cat in a rented apartment the first stage happens in a single closed room, and our 3-3-3 rule guide covers each stage.
Sources
- Cornell Feline Health Center, “Feline behavior problems: destructive behavior,” vet.cornell.edu, read Oct 22, 2026.
- Cornell Feline Health Center, “Feline behavior problems: house soiling,” vet.cornell.edu, read Oct 22, 2026.
- Wilson and others, “Owner observations regarding cat scratching behavior,” Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, 2016, journals.sagepub.com, read Oct 22, 2026.
- Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region, “The 3-3-3 rule,” hsppr.org, read Oct 22, 2026.