There are few things more quietly joyful than an office cat. Whether you are working at home or your workplace hosts a kitty, every slow blink and purr is an uplifting delight. Office cats are often content to find a cozy sunbeam or paper inbox to nap in, or to position themselves in a central location to receive the most headpats from everyone who walks by.
The office cat is a delight to most professionals, but keeping a cat in the office also comes with a few additional chore considerations. Fortunately, a few best practices will ensure that you and your office cat share a peaceful afternoon together, but without filling every air filter with cat hair and litter sand. At Regional Services, we know all about both the delight and the cleaning routine that comes with a feline colleague in the office.
1) Brush Your Office Cat Daily
The single best way to prevent cat hair throughout the office is to brush your office cat regularly. Daily brushing is a calming and bonding process that doesn’t have to be a chore. Use a wire pet brush designed to capture hair, with a push-button cleaning feature, so that you can gently pet your cat and give them a cat-mom style cleaning to reduce overall shedding in the workplace.
2) Use a Feeding Mat Under the Cat’s Food and Water
Be sure to place a plastic feeding mat underneath the area where your office cat’s food and water are served. Not all cats are tidy eaters, and the mat will catch little crumbs of cat foot that might otherwise make a mess. Many pet owners swear by the feeding mat because it makes clean-up a breeze and helps to keep your cat’s food and water dishes cleaner as well.
3) Reduce Kitty Litter Tracking
Litter tracking is a major problem for the office, especially if your kitty is not an indoor-outdoor cat who can take care of business outside. There is, fortunately, a lot of good you can do when fighting kitty litter on the floor.
The first is to keep the litter boxes on tile floor if possible, or on their own plastic mat if carpet is what’s available. Next, look into low-track kitty litter. This tends to come in larger granules which track a -little- onto the floor, but not as much as the fine dust in some litters. You can also get a litter mat, which has a mesh layer on top that captures litter from a cat’s paws to reduce tracking – and increase recycling.
4) Increase Vacuuming Priority
Never skip vacuuming day when you have an office cat. Even after daily brushing, cats still shed and, and most of the debris created by cats winds up on the floor. So vacuuming is a must. Be sure to put the office cat away before you start to vacuum, however, to prevent startled cat scratches.
5) Never Leave the Litter Box for Someone Else
When it comes to cleaning the litter box, a single litter scoop can do the trick, but never skip clean-out. Kitty litter should be cleaned every two days (at most) and the sand fully changed once or twice a month. This keeps your kitty clean, and any related odor to a minimum.
6) Vigorously Sweep Carpets to Dislodge Litter
Lastly, you may be wondering how to get up every last grain of cat litter out of the carpet. The answer, strangely, is a stiff-bristle broom. Sweeping firmly across the carpet, you can dislodge a lot of embedded particles that go flying and are then much easier to vacuum up. Consider this the best way to give an old fashioned rug beating to a modern wall-to-wall carpet.
Cleaning for an Office Cat
If your office has a cat, you already know how delightful it can be. We hope our tips keep your furry companion healthy, happy, and in a shared clean environment that uplifts morale on every level. Contact us today to learn more about how, what, why, and when to keep your office space clean.
