Cat and kitchen renovation...

Does anyone have any thoughts on how to handle our upcoming kitchen renovation in regard to our cat? We have a separate room we could put her in during the day, with her litterbox, food, water, place to sleep, etc., but I'm worried about whether we could let her out at all during the evenings or whether there would be dust and stuff around that would be dangerous to her. We don't have particularly good options for having her out of the apartment during the project.

I know she's not going to like this AT ALL but just want to minimize how miserable the poor thing will be.

There will be dust everywhere - trust me . We purchased a swiffer mop to clean up each day so the cats didn't track through it. We kept our two in a room during the day but once we came home they did not want to be locked in the room. So when we were home and when work wasn't being done we bought some dropcloths (the heavier non rippable type) and sealed off the entries to the rooms when we were home. The one time I saw one of my cats trying to push up against the drop cloth I put a folding chair (closed and leaning the long way) against the bottom of the entry. I also noticed at one point that they smelled like sheetrock dust and I started to wipe them down each morning with a damp cloth so they wouldn't ingest the dust when they cleaned themselves.

Just a piece of advice for the two legged occupants - buy some cheap drop cloths and throw them over all your furniture - if its furniture you dont use often seal it with plastic (especially your bookcase). I would even seal the outside of closed doors while you are out at work. Good luck and congrats on the new kitchen!!!

awww poor kitty.

This is so helpful!! My husband and I were just wondering the same thing ourselves.

Thanks, Stacey! The tarps are a great idea. The best news is that my dad volunteered to cat-sit during a few days of the project when we were going to be out of town.