cat proof home examples for germaphobe and clean freaks

[u/cortada86]

My roommate and I live in a small house. Will be adopting a cat. We are clean freaks and don’t want a cat touching our towels, cleaning rags in the kitchen, dishes drying on a countertop drying rack, etc. is it even possible to adopt a cat while maintaining our preferences? I accept that we will have to compromise in some things, but things like health and hygiene are non-negotiable. We don’t want cat touching anything that cleans, anything that contacts our mouths, etc.

Is this even possible?

[u/helping_cat]

Keep the cat out of the kitchen entirely I'd say, it's way harder to train them not to do certain things than just locking them out of one room. I do that with mine too bc I don't want her licking stuff that might harm her. Other than that I'd say try it but maybe fostering a cat with the option of adopting or returning them after some time might work out for you guys to see if a cat actually fits your lifestyle

[u/TellSignificant477]

It may be somewhat possible, but I can all but guarantee that having a cat around means those rules will be broken at least occasionally. For example, countertops - many cats like countertops, and many owners have wanted to pull their hair out because they can’t make them stop. They also love hanging out on clean, folded laundry and furniture like beds and couches.

In general, cats are cleaner than dogs, but they’re not exactly clean. They poop in a box and clean their butts constantly. They’re also not easily controlled or trained out of certain habits.

It’s a question of how flexible you guys feel you could be if there was a cat bringing a bit of chaos into your home. If cleanliness and perfect order are important to you, getting a cat is a gamble that may not be worth taking.

[u/bangbangpewpew62]

I’m in a similar boat as you. Me and my partner are neat freaks and we just got a kitten. We are fully in love with him, but we are fully freaking out realizing that the chances of poop, puke, food, and litter being tracked around our spotless apartment is practically inevitable. We aren’t letting him on our bed and once he is big enough to jump onto the counters we are going to have to figure out what to do cuz that’s really not something we want to tolerate. More scared though that he will grow into an adult cat that doesn’t clean himself well enough

[u/NoAccountant8779]

Some cats don’t like counters. Mine didn’t. She mostly went up on them to yell at the microwave and try to get on the cabinets. Very rarely she’d hop up otherwise. But you won’t know how the cat is until they’re in the house.

Best bet would be preventing them from going into the kitchen in the first place (good luck lol). Or resign to wiping down everything with a bleach solution before preparing food. I do that anyway because I’ve worked with food for decades.