Renting with pets – Part 4 – Long term

Last in the renting with pets series today. So you’re all settled in with your pet, but as a tenant what do you need to think about long term?

• Toilet habits – Obvious really but keep the litter tray clean, change the litter regularly and use a mat underneath to protect floors. For dogs or larger animals if they go outside make sure to clean up after them regularly to keep any grass in good condition. You might need to reseed the lawn sometimes if any yellow patches come up from animal pee.
• Carpets – Pets like dogs and cats will put a bit more strain on carpets. There will be inevitable accidents, muddy paw prints and puke so make sure you always have a good spot cleaner to hand, I also shampoo our carpets once or twice a year (depending on how dirty they get). You can rent carpet cleaning machines from DIY stores for a pretty reasonable cost to give them a really deep clean, I’d definitely recommend doing this before you move out. Rugs are also great for protecting problem areas.
• Our cats are pretty good at using the scratching post and not clawing the carpet or furniture, make sure you provide them somewhere to scratch though as they will scratch something to sharpen their claws and you don’t want it to be the door frames or carpet! Sometimes they won’t use a post and would prefer to use a tree or fence post – you might need to discourage this dependent on your property. There are lots of different scratching posts or mats available, if they won’t use a post try a mat and vice versa. If they really won’t use the pet store ones and prefer wood then you could DIY something or set up a piece of wood they are allowed to scratch. They will often go back to the same place so for example if they seem to like a certain fence post just rig a plank to it and they can scratch that rather than the fence.
• Smells – litter trays, wet dogs, water in tanks, pet food left out in hot weather etc can all make some unpleasant smells. You will probably need to vacuum more often now you have pets (I used to hoover just once a week now try to at least twice a week) or bath/groom your dog more regularly. We change the litter as often as we need to, to try and avoid the cat wee smell. Also due to not having our own bin and sharing with the landlords we use litter tray liners, we just pick up the liner and its contents and put it into a small bin liner, then tie the top and take it out to the bin – this keeps the smell at bay until the bins are collected. We use a freshening powder in with the cat litter, and also have a plug in and air freshening sprays in the bathroom for if it does get a bit whiffy. We try to air the place as often as we can, although being a basement flat it’s nice to get some fresh air anyway. We change the water often and clean the filter weekly on the turtle tank. You may also need to use febreeze on carpets and curtains, I use ‘shake n vac’ type carpet deodorising powders every now and then to freshen carpets and rugs.
• Heavy tanks or vivariums can mark floors, a rug or floor protective mat underneath will help catch any water and protect the floor. We need to get a new tank and when we do I’m thinking of this, as our current one seems to be ok but a larger heavier new tank might leave dents in the floor.

Pets are the best way I’ve found to make a house a home, enjoy them!

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Renting with Pets – Part 3 – New Home

No post since Sunday, how did it actually get to be Thursday evening already?? I'm arranging a charity event which I'll tell you more about soon and it has taken up a lot of my time this week! For now part 3 of the renting with pets series, you can see part one here and part two here.

I'm not a vet or an expert, but here are my tips on moving to a new rented place with a new pet or an existing pet and how to minimise the stress for you, your pet and your landlord!

• Moving to a new home will be stressful for an animal, give them space and allow them to get used to their surroundings slowly. It may help to make them a hiding place that they can go to if they feel overwhelmed, Jazzie hid under our built in TV unit for weeks at our last house. Make sure this place is not somewhere they can chew cables/wee in/get stuck though.
• Even if they know you and you are just moving house it will still be stressful for an animal, so make sure to give them some extra love and attention if they need it. Our cats followed me round like shadows for the first few days in our new flat, and I made sure to reassure them when I could and tried not to get too annoyed with them being under my feet all the time!

• I’ve found on moving day it’s best to move the pets last, as you can leave them at home for as long as possible where you don’t have to worry about them and they’re comfortable, then bring them to the new house once you have it all moved and they can explore without getting underfoot while you are moving furniture in. Especially with cats as you need to keep them inside for a few weeks at the new property, and while some dogs might happily stay in a crate while you move stuff around them our cats hate being in the pet carriers. We did our last 2 trips with the pets when we moved last time, the turtle tank went in the last run with the van, I carried the turtles in a plastic box in the cab then set up the tank again at the other end and got them into it while Tom and his Dad unpacked the last of the boxes and stuff from the van. I then followed Tom back in the car while he returned the van and we went to pick up the cats as the last job. This was about 9pm and we were almost passed out from tiredness but it made it much easier for us and the cats not to have to worry about them all day until it came time to take them over.
• Putting pets into a kennel or cattery or having someone look after them while you move is also an option, especially if you’re moving a long distance, aren’t moving straight into your new home or have children or relatives to think about as well.  For us it’s an added expense and we don’t like to put them in a cattery unless we can help it (and we’d still have the turtles to think about any way) but we’ve only ever moved within a half hour drive, if it was longer we’d definitely think about it.
• Keeping cats inside – Our cats hate being kept inside, Jazzie especially, but I always keep them in for at least 3-4 weeks after moving to make sure they’re settled and know where they live before letting them loose, and wouldn’t let them out until all their jabs were up to date when we first got them. Always make sure they have access to a scratching post or mat while being kept inside or they will take it out on your furniture or door frames!

• Set the rules from the start. Especially if you get a rescue animal (I always will) they can come with the previous owners bad habits, for example our cats had lived in a house for about a year with nobody living there just someone coming in to feed them. They had come to associate human contact with food so constantly begged and mewed for food (don’t worry they weren’t underfed, the opposite if anything), even if there was food in their bowls every time you went near the kitchen they mewed constantly at you. Eventually they learned that they would get fed regularly and that we were not going to give in and feed them every 10 minutes! They also had become quite desocialised (not sure that’s a word) and walked on the kitchen counters, tried to eat off our plates, wouldn’t come near us for a while etc but we started as we meant to go on and chucked them off the counters every time and we never feed them from our plates so they soon learned not to beg.
• If your pet is new to you, remember that you are new to it too and let it get used to your habits and the new rules slowly, try not to get frustrated if they don’t want to cuddle straight away or they have a few nervous wee’s on the carpet if they get scared. Trial and error is often the best solution, if they seem to be unhappy with something change it or try to give them an alternative, give them time to get used to the situation and to get used to you.

• If you live in a flat or have any shared outside space once you start letting your cat or dog outside then it might be a good idea to let the neighbours know that it’s yours, just so they know it’s not lost and if there are any issues they can come to you. For example, our cats sometimes poo in the landlords garden, but they just let us know and we go clean it up, it helps keep neighbourly relations good as we can’t really stop the cats going to the toilet there but don’t want them to have to clean it up.

Next month will be the last in the series, on long term things to think about having a pet and being a tenant. 

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Renting with pets – Part 2 – preparing your home

Once you have found a place that accepts pets and is suitable for you and the animals, then you need to prepare your home for your new addition or make some preparations before you move your current pets in. Anyone getting a pet will need to do this but as a tenant there are some extra precautions you need to take:

• Make sure you have plenty of puppy pads or cat litter ready, or that they can easily get outside to go to the toilet if you’re letting them outside straight away. We've never had to litter train our cats so can’t comment on how easy or hard it is, but as a tenant it would be a good idea to get pets that are already house broken.
• Look around your current or prospective property for spots for things like litter trays, pet beds, food bowls etc. These ideally shouldn't all be in the same place, we keep the food and water in the kitchen, the litter tray in the dining room (not ideal but we scoot it out into the bathroom when we’re eating) and they never slept in the beds we got them (they prefer the sofa or our bed) so we don’t have one for them any more but if you had a dog or cats that would sleep in a bed a nice warm area not in a thoroughfare would be best. 

• If you will have a tank, vivarium or cage look for the best place to set it up, on hard flooring is best as there will be inevitable drips or spills when cleaning and it’s easier to clean up from hard floors, a rug or mat underneath will also help protect the floor. As soon as we viewed our flat I knew the turtles would go in the hallway or the dining room as there is hard flooring for easier clean-up, it's near the bathroom for easier emptying and refilling and there just isn't the space in the living room (having them in the bedroom is a no no as they're nocturnal and make a lot of noise at night)

• Get into good habits from the start, if there are any areas that should be off limits (we keep our cats away from the hallway as they pee on the mat and we also don’t want them getting out the front door onto the busy road) then keep these areas off limits from the start, it helps to establish the rules if you are consistent. Before you get the animals think about how you can enforce any rules or block off areas you want them kept away from.
• If they do get into bad habits or behaviour like scratching door frames or going to the toilet where they shouldn't there are repellent sprays available to keep pets away from things you don’t want them near. We got ours from pet smart when the cats started pooing behind the turtle tank, they had never done this before at our last house but just after we moved in here the litter tray was near it and I think they just got it into their heads that behind the tank was included in their toilet area, I doused the back of the tank in cat repellent spray and now they don’t even go behind it let alone go behind it. I actually haven't had to re spray after it wore off, just the one time seemed enough to break the habit.
• If you do have a litter tray when setting it up just be aware that animals don’t always have the best aim or judgement, our cats sometimes go next to the tray (or right on the lip of the tray, because they like to be awkward) or kick the litter (and whatever is buried in it) out while digging in there. We now have a mat under the tray and it really helps catch anything that is kicked out or doesn't quite make it into the tray. We already have an XL tray but also have large cats that aren't very bright so the mat is our solution, but make sure you have a large enough tray and change the litter regularly. We find if the tray gets too messy our cats won’t use it and this is when we get problems with them going elsewhere. We change ours as needed, but having 2 cats sharing a tray it seems to be around every other day to every 3 days we change the entire tray and we scoop it in between.

• Make sure cats have a scratching post or mat, and dogs have plenty of chew toys and stimulation, especially if they are very young or are going to be left alone for any period of time. As you don’t want them scratching the door frames or chewing up the furniture.
• Letting animals in and out can be an issue in a rental, as you often can’t just put a hole in the door for a cat or dog flap. We used to leave a window open for the cats at our last house as it was a small window which we felt comfortable leaving open when we were out and it went into the spare room so the draught wasn’t an issue. During the winter we closed it and they just had to be in or out. However we found they got the window frame, window sill and the glass very dirty going over it constantly and we actually had to repaint under the window to cover where I had cleaned it so much the paint has started to wear off. Now we tend to leave the back door open when we’re home for them to come and go (as longs as it’s not too cold) and if we’re out or it’s raining or cold so we want to shut the door they just have to be in or out. We give them the option to come in and if they don’t then they stay outside. They seem to have gotten used to this pretty quickly. Think about how you will let cats or dogs in and out.

• Stock up on carpet cleaner before they arrive, puppies and kittens might have a few little accidents occasionally and a good spot cleaner can really save the carpet! Cats also throw up a lot and ours (especially Jazzie with her long hair) get furballs, so having a good spot cleaner to clear it up really helps. I then shampoo the whole carpet once in a while to really get any marks out.
• Sometimes what you think will work doesn't end up working so go with it and try to work around it. For example when we first moved in we thought it would be perfect for the litter tray to go in the hallway, it's not a room we would spend a lot of time in so private for them and we don't have to look at it or smell it all the time. However it turns out that if left unattended the cats will scratch up or pee on the doormat, because of the texture I think but also because cats are mean (joking of course, but they do wreck a lot of our stuff). Also we didn't want the chance of them getting out the front onto the busy road. So now the litter tray is in the dining room which isn't ideal.

I'm not a vet or an expert, but I've rented with and without pets, and have brought new pets into a rented home then also moved them from home to home. Those are my tips on moving to a new rented place with a new pet or an existing pet and how to minimise the stress for you, your pet and your landlord!

Renting with pets - Part 1

I promised this post ages ago back in one of my first posts, as we rent with pets I get a few questions on how that works from friends and family wanting to know how we get on or looking to maybe get a pet themselves. I've broken this up a bit otherwise it would have been a long wordy post, so this is the first part on how to find a pet friendly rental.

I love our pets, and once we get our own house we will have a dog (the cats will not be impressed), but I would be the first to admit being a tenant and having pets can be a bit of a tricky situation. So how do you go about finding somewhere pet friendly or convincing your current landlord to let you have pets? We got our cats when we lived at our last property which we rented from family. This was therefore a lot more lenient, and we had no trouble getting the cats, but when we moved it proved to be difficult so here are some hints and tips on what I found when trying to find a pet friendly rental.

• Just ask. If the advert says no pets then it’s probably no pets, but if it doesn’t mention pets at all then it’s worth asking. If you really like the look of a place but it says no pets then it’s actually probably still worth phoning and asking, if the property has been on the market a while and the landlord wants to get a tenant they might consider it, and the worst they can do is say no. The same goes for your current landlord, if you moved in with no pets you probably didn't ask if pets are allowed, so just ask.



'Don't look at that look at MEEEE'

• The split I found was about 80% no pets, and 20% yes to small pets. Although this will differ on area and type of property (e.g. large family homes in the countryside might allow pets more often than small flats in the city). Obviously that 20% was then reduced further by location, price, our requirements and taste etc, so about 10% of places I rang to enquire about were actually viable for us and our pets. That sounds like a terrible ratio and it was a little soul destroying being told no time after time, but we got there in the end to our lovely flat. It just takes more effort to find a rental when you have pets.

• Having pets will limit you while house hunting in more ways than one, as you also need to find somewhere suitable for your animals as well as somewhere where they’re allowed. For example we saw some lovely 3^rd or 4^th floor flats but we wouldn't have been able to let the cats in and out so they were not a possibility for us, we wanted ground floor or a very low 1^st floor.
• The turtles have never been an issue, once people find out that they never leave the tank they’re pretty OK with them. So I’d say things like fish, lizards, snakes, frogs etc that live in tanks and rarely come out and mess up the place are likely to be pretty acceptable, although definitely check first that they are allowed.

If only they stayed this small!

• We found that private landlords are more likely to allow pets rather than going through an agency. Often agencies will have a blanket rule for all their properties with regards to things like pets, smokers, benefits etc, and as it is not their property are not going to bend the rules.
• Be upfront and honest, I ask about pets on the first phone call to enquire about a property. Some people said to me to go and view a place first and show our interest then once we have said we would like to take the property say we have pets as the landlord is more likely to allow it if you are already there. I personally don’t think this is the best way to do things, it seems like a waste of time for everyone involved. In this rental market places go so quickly that I don’t think it makes any difference to the landlord that you are keen on the place if they do not allow pets, as they will find a tenant with no pets just as quickly.
• Although it doesn't hurt to play up your positives, for example Tom and I could move in right away and had a deposit ready, we have both been in our jobs for years and have great references from work and our previous landlords, we have great credit and are looking for a long term let…but oh yes we have 2 little cats and 2 even littler turtles.

• You might be asked to sign a pet clause in the contract, or pay an additional deposit. Think about what you would be prepared to do, we just had an addition to our contract that we have 2 cats so would need to rectify any damage they caused but obviously we would expect to do this any way. We weren't asked for any extra money on the deposit but I have heard of people being asked to do this, the amount that would be reasonable to ask for would depend on the rent of the property.
• If the place you are renting now allows pets, or you ask your current landlord and they say yes, think about what would happen if you had to move. The nature of renting often means you move more often than if you owned a place and it is not always your choice, so just bear in mind that you might struggle to find another pet friendly place. Maybe research the market in your area first and see how many more pet friendly places there are. I wish we had done this before getting our cats, we might have waited otherwise or would at least have been prepared for how hard it was to find somewhere else.
• There are definitely places around that allow small pets like cats, turtles, fish, hamsters etc even if they are hard to find. Dogs and multiple pets appear to be more of an issue though. Think about what animal you want to have and if they are going to be a problem for future landlords.



Who could say no to that face?

• Attitude. One lady said to me on the phone that 2 cats was a problem but 1 would be OK ‘I suppose’ (like she was doing me a massive favour), would I still like to view the property? I said no, what was I supposed to pick my favourite and leave the other one behind? A lot of landlords and agents I spoke with had very negative attitudes to pets, and some were even downright rude when I asked about pets, even though their ad didn't actually state ‘no pets’. Which I did point out to a few rather rude agents and landlords. My pets are my family, I am not prepared to leave them behind or choose between them so I never even considered these very insensitive offers or comments. Unfortunately as a tenant sometimes you have to deal with rude landlords or agents, for some reason a few of them seem to view tenants as an inconvenience and if you ring with anything other than a grovelling attitude asking them to please please please let you view their property then they get rather annoyed. I take the opinion that I wouldn't want to rent from this type of person anyway if they are rude or unhelpful, I’ll take my money elsewhere.

That’s about it really, if you have anything to add please add it in the comments! Next month - preparing a rental property for pets and how to minimise damage in those key first weeks.

Cat's Crockery

Our cats have been eating from old plastic bowls for years, and while they don't care (They'd happily eat off the floor probably) I've been wanting to get them some nicer looking bowls seeing as I have to look at them every day in the kitchen. I've been keeping an eye out in pet shops but all the designated 'pet' bowls seemed a bit naff, they all have paw prints or fish or bones on them which doesn't really tie in with the look I'm going for in the kitchen. I started looking out in other shops for any cheap bowls that would be suitable for the job, even if they weren't necessarily pet bowls.

I was browsing in HomeSense after a trip to the big B&Q in Gloucester (The one in Cheltenham is closer but smaller) to get the materials for the runner, I was actually just killing time as I was meeting friends for lunch down the road and was really early but didn't want to drive all the way home then back. I do love a good browse in HomeSense as they have such pretty stuff and it's all at such good prices, but on this occasion I had no intention of buying anything.

Then I found this double bowl and got a bit of inspiration as the cats currently have a plastic double bowl for their water. Yes the fact this picture was taken in our kitchen gives away that I bought it, I also bought the small bowls for food, they're quite shallow actually like finger bowls or plates which is perfect as they're easily rinsed over.

The small bowls were £2.99 each, and the double bowl was £4.99, they would be nice for chips and dips not that they will be used for anything other than the cats now they've slobbered all over them!

I didn't get another double bowl for food because Minty can't have dried food as when we first got them she got cystitis and dry food can be a cause of this, but then when we took them recently for their jabs Jazzies teeth are really bad and she needs to go and get them scaled. She now needs to eat dried food to clean her teeth, they are probably so bad because she has only been eating tinned food for the last 2 years because of Minty. So we now need to try and give them different food a few times a week which is a pain in the backside but better than having to take them to the vets all the time for teeth cleaning or antibiotics!

Shopping Trip!

The bath mat under the cat litter tray was working well, it catches any litter they kick out and also while they are both very good at using the litter tray the cats do sometimes miss a little. I was fed up of hoovering and mopping in here every day so though adding in a mat underneath would be good so we can just shake out anything on there into the bin liner we use when emptying the litter trays. It worked well but the mat was starting to get a bit gross and I couldn't wash it every day, so on a trip to Primark I got 2 more so I could change them out every few days, this blue/teal one

And this darker blue one

I also got the rubber shower mat as our bath is a bit slippy, they were all £4 each, oh and I may have gotten distracted and bought these

 Ooops :)

Our Pets

I realised recently that while I talk about our pets a lot and there have been some photos of the turtle tank, and the cats do like to photobomb my pictures quite a lot, I haven't actually introduced them for those of you that haven't met them in person. Warning - This post really is just gratuitous pictures of our pets :).

Excuse some of the bad photos they are old phone photos taken pre blog, also I know I'm wearing the same hoodie in 2 of those photos, they were taken on different days (actually over a year apart!) that's just my scruffy hoodie that I wear at home when I'm a bit cold. It may have originally belonged to my friend Sam, who is 25 today, happy birthday!

We got our turtles years ago now when we lived in our second house, they looked like this at the time, were about the size of a 50p coin and lived in a small tank.

They've now doubled or tripled in size and live in the 4ft tank in our office, which we got 2nd hand for around £60 and one day would like to replace with a more modern one.

One is fat and the other is still a bit smaller (We think he's the boy as females tend to be bigger). Hence why they aren't often called their actual names of Michaelangelo and Rafael, but we mainly call them Fatty and The Little One.

They get on most of the time, or just leave each other alone, but sometimes Fatty does have a go at The Little one, mostly when it's coming up for feeding time. She also likes to dive off of the top of the tall ornamet, she climbs up then throws herself off the top. I have no idea why, as they they bask on top of the smaller barrell ornament so I don't know if she's trying to get closer to the light or just doing it for fun!

We got our cats about 2 years ago now, they were rescue cats and were 5 when we got them. They came as a pair, and their owner had died. They had been left in her house for about a year with her son going in to feed them, so when we got them they were a little anti-social, and really only associated food with human contact. Minty still is quite keen to be fed all the time (If you go anywhere near her bowl she is there meowing and getting under your feet), but she was quite fat when we got them so has been on a bit of a diet since and is not happy about it. Minty came around to her new home and to us quite quickly and was up on the sofa sitting on our laps within a few days, and she still really is a lap cat, I have to push her away when I'm trying to type as she always wants to sit on my lap in the desk chair and there's not enough room for my legs under our tiny desk let alone her as well. Look at that face though...

Jazzie on the other hand didn't come out from under the built in TV stand we had at the time for weeks, I started leaving food and water in front of it as I was worried she'd starve! Eventually one night she poked her head out and looked at us, then a few nights later she ventured out to eat while we were in the room. After this she gradually started being ok around us as long as we were sat down and quiet, she didn't come near us but was happy to be in the room with us for short periods of time. Then on my birthday (3 months after we got them) she randomly just jumped up into my lap! I was so stunned I took a photo on my phone and sent it to Tom

Since then she's gotten more and more affectionate and now she gets up on the sofa with us most evenings, although she still is quite timid and if we get up or make sudden movements or loud noises she runs away, and she never has sat actually in my lap again she just sits next to us now.
Although she is quite timid with us and is smaller than Minty we think Jazzie really is the boss

She is the one we have also had to take to the vets after getting in a fight and the one that always wants to go outside and spends nights outside. Minty will go outside but doesn't go very far at all and hates to be shut out, she'll follow us out in the summer and sit on our laps outside but she's a bit of a wuss really.

They do love each other really

However we do make sure they each have their own bowls, beds etc because they do sometimes fight, and we suspect that a recent trip to the vets for Minty was caused by a bite from Jazzie so we don't want to encourage any upset between them.

We also temporarily had a 3rd cat for a year, as Toms mum moved into a rented house and couldn't take her cat with her so we looked after her. Her name is Tinker, we thought she was a boy (And Tom and his family had thought she was a boy for 10 years!) until the vet informed us she was a girl. She is a lot more vocal than our cats, she never shuts up actually, and she's quite a lot smaller and more handleable. Our cats like to be fussed but hate to be picked up or restrained, Tinker loves to be cuddled!

Tinker now lives in our old house with Toms Dad, we didn't take her with us to the new house as 2 cats were hard enough to find a place for, 3 was impossible and would be quite cramped in a one bedroom flat any way. Also our cats never really accepted Tinker, she never really asserted herself with them and they were quite horrible to her, so we thought it best that she had a place to herself again. Tinker taught our cats to meow, so they both now are much louder, she also taught them to talk to birds. They used to sit on the windowsill and make this weird noise, calling to the birds, it sounds exactly like what you'd expect a cat doing an impression of a bird would sound like and it was hilarious! Search on YouTube for 'cat calling to birds' and there are loads of videos, but our 2 never did it before Tinker arrived and showed them how.

Also under surrogate pets are the 2 dogs we used to look after occasionally to keep my wanting to get a dog under control, firstly Charles the labrador who is owned by Toms friend Chris.

He used to come and stay every now and then, but while I loved having him he was a little big for our small house (He pretty much trashed the place) and the cats hated him so he never stayed for more than one night. Also check out the kitchen floor at our old place, orange and cream with brown baseboards, snazzy huh?

We also had my dog (Well my mums dog) Stella come and stay for a few nights

As you can see she immediately made herself at home, she's smaller and getting on now so a lot calmer than Charles, the cats actually didn't seem to mind her so much and we talked with my mum about us looking after her while she was on holiday etc but unfortunately now we've moved we won't be able to do this as no dogs allowed in the new place.

So that's our little gang, I know some of you want more on renting with pets and househunting experiences with pets etc so once I have put that all together I'll share it.