International Cat Day falls on August 8, although I’m pretty sure cats would argue that limiting their celebration to one day a year is insulting.
Still, it’s a good excuse to think about what actually makes our cats’ lives better. And I don’t necessarily mean buying them another expensive toy that they’ll ignore in favor of the box it came in.
A lot of the things that improve a cat’s quality of life are surprisingly simple. Better access to water, more interesting places to explore, a litter box they don’t hate, and a little more attention to their normal habits can all make a difference.
Here are eight simple ways to make your cat’s life a little better, for International Cat Day and every day after it.
1. Make Water More Interesting
Cats have a reputation for being lousy drinkers, and there’s a reason for that. Their ancestors evolved in environments where much of their moisture came from prey, so cats don’t always have the strongest drive to walk over to a bowl and drink.
Unfortunately, modern house cats aren’t exactly catching dinner on the Serengeti. If your cat mostly eats dry food, encouraging more water consumption becomes especially important. Even cats who eat wet food should always have easy access to fresh water.
Try placing several water bowls around the house rather than keeping one next to their food. Some cats actually prefer drinking away from where they eat.
A cat water fountain is another option, particularly for cats fascinated by running faucets. Many fountains continually circulate and filter the water, and the movement itself may make drinking more appealing to some cats.
Just remember that fountains still need to be cleaned regularly. Technology has yet to invent a water fountain that magically cleans the slime out of its own pump. I remain hopeful.
Homerunpet Cordless Pet Water Fountain makes hydration a little more interesting. The faucet-style stainless steel tray encourages pets to drink, while the cordless 4000mAh battery runs up to 30 days without plugging in. Use continuous flow when plugged in or switch to motion-activated mode to conserve power. With triple filtration, a 2.5L capacity, whisper-quiet operation, and dishwasher-safe parts, it’s built for easy, low-maintenance everyday use.
2. Upgrade Their Litter Box Situation
Nobody gets particularly excited about litter boxes (well, except perhaps people who review them for a living), but your cat’s bathroom setup has a pretty significant effect on daily life.
Start with the basics. Your cat should have enough room to comfortably enter the box, turn around, dig, and position themselves without feeling cramped. Large cats may need considerably bigger boxes than the ones marketed as “large” at the pet store.
Location matters, too. Put litter boxes somewhere your cat can easily reach without having to pass another pet who might block the route.
And keep them clean. Cats have much stronger senses of smell than we do, so a box that seems “not that bad yet” to you may already be unacceptable to your cat.
If scooping is something you struggle to keep up with, this is one area where cat technology can genuinely make life easier. Self-cleaning litter boxes automatically remove waste after your cat uses the box, which helps keep the litter bed cleaner between full cleanings.
They’re certainly not mandatory for good cat care. A roomy traditional box that you scoop regularly works perfectly well. But if an automatic box means your cat consistently gets a cleaner bathroom, that’s technology solving an actual problem rather than creating a new one.
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3. Pay Attention to What Happens in the Litter Box
Scooping the litter box isn’t exactly the highlight of anyone’s day, but it gives you useful information about your cat.
You get a pretty good sense of what’s normal after you’ve lived with the same cat for a while. You know roughly how often they urinate, what their normal stool looks like, and how much waste you’re typically removing.
Changes can be worth paying attention to.
Suddenly producing much larger urine clumps, urinating more or less frequently, diarrhea, constipation, blood, or repeated trips to the litter box can all warrant a conversation with your veterinarian.
This is also where products like PrettyLitter can be useful.
PrettyLitter is a lightweight silica litter that changes color in response to certain characteristics of your cat’s urine, including changes associated with acidity and alkalinity. The idea isn’t that the litter diagnoses a medical condition. It can’t.
Instead, it gives you another way to notice that something may have changed.
If the litter repeatedly shows an unusual color, particularly when it’s accompanied by changes in your cat’s bathroom habits or behavior, that’s information you can bring to your vet.
Of course, you don’t need color-changing litter to monitor litter box habits. The important part is simply paying enough attention to recognize when your cat’s normal suddenly isn’t normal anymore.
PrettyLitter is a smart, lightweight cat litter with absorbent crystals that trap odors and eliminate moisture. It changes color to monitor your cat's health, detecting issues like UTIs. One 8lb. bag lasts up to 2 months, reducing waste and maintenance. With a low-dust, perfume-free formula, it's ideal for single and multi-cat households.
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4. Give Them More Places to Go Up
Look around your house from your cat’s perspective and you’ll probably notice something: humans have claimed an awful lot of the good real estate.
Cats don’t only use horizontal territory. Vertical space gives them additional places to explore, observe what’s happening around them, escape other pets, or simply sit somewhere high and silently judge everyone.
You don’t need to install an elaborate system of catwalks across your ceiling (unless you want to).
A tall cat tree, sturdy window perch, strategically cleared bookshelf, or a few securely installed cat shelves can add quite a bit of usable territory without taking up much floor space.
Vertical space can be particularly helpful in multicat households because it gives cats more options for getting away from each other. Cats who generally get along can still appreciate having somewhere to go when they’ve had enough togetherness for one afternoon.
The Frisco 62-in Modern Cat Tree Condo - the four-story cat tree is the tallest Frisco cat tree around, and is move-in ready with all the amenities for choosy kitties. There are six scratching posts fully wrapped in sisal rope and two sisal scratching mats. Sisal feels like tree bark to cats—a feline’s favorite scratching surface out in nature.
5. Make Play Feel More Like Hunting
Leaving a pile of toys on the floor technically gives your cat something to play with, but interactive play provides something those abandoned toy mice can’t: movement that resembles prey.
Wand toys are especially good for this because you control how the “prey” behaves.
Instead of waving the toy directly in your cat’s face, try moving it across the floor, around furniture, or behind objects. Let your cat stalk it for a while before pouncing.
And let them catch it.
Imagine playing a video game where you spend 15 minutes fighting the boss and the game simply refuses to let you win. You’d probably stop playing too.
You don’t necessarily need hour-long play sessions, either. Several short sessions throughout the day can provide plenty of physical activity and mental stimulation.
Automated cat toys can help fill in the gaps when you’re working or away from home. Just rotate them occasionally. Even the coolest robotic mouse eventually becomes another thing sitting on the floor if your cat sees it running around all day.
6. Give Them Something Interesting to Do When You’re Busy
Indoor life protects cats from cars, predators, parasites, and plenty of other hazards. It can also get spectacularly boring if nothing ever changes.
Fortunately, enrichment doesn’t have to be complicated.
Puzzle feeders make cats work a little harder for food or treats. Treat-dispensing toys encourage them to bat, roll, or manipulate an object to get the reward. Window perches provide hours of entertainment if you’ve got birds, squirrels, or neighbors doing interesting things outside.
You can even rotate regular toys rather than keeping everything available all the time.
Put some away for a couple of weeks and bring them back later. Apparently, absence makes the feline heart grow fonder, or at least makes an old toy briefly interesting again.
There are also plenty of smart cat toys that move unpredictably, activate when your cat approaches, or can be controlled through an app.
They’re useful for adding stimulation when you’re busy, but I wouldn’t use them as a complete replacement for playing together. You’re part of your cat’s environment too, whether they admit it or not.
The Cloud Nine Window Hammock gives your cat front-row seating for bird-watching, sunbathing, and neighborhood surveillance. Its minimalist steel arch keeps things sleek, while the sturdy grey felt cradle supports everything from lazy naps to surprise zoomies. Heavy-duty suction cups secure it firmly to glass and hold up to 30 pounds, so your cat can lounge confidently (and you don’t have to worry about midnight crashes).
7. Make Their Favorite Sleeping Spots Even Better
Cats sleep a lot. Adult cats commonly spend a substantial portion of the day sleeping or resting, and kittens and seniors may sleep even more. So making those resting spots comfortable is a pretty easy quality-of-life win.
The trick is figuring out where your cat actually wants to sleep rather than where you’d prefer them to sleep.
A plush bed tucked into a busy hallway probably won’t impress a cat who wants somewhere quiet. Meanwhile, the slightly flattened blanket you’ve been meaning to wash may apparently be prime real estate.
Window hammocks can give cats a warm place to nap while watching what’s happening outside. Covered beds offer privacy for cats who like enclosed spaces.
For older cats, a heated or gently warming bed can be particularly cozy, especially if stiff joints make cold surfaces less appealing. Just choose a product specifically designed for pets and follow the manufacturer’s safety instructions.
And if you spend $60 on the perfect cat bed only to find your cat sleeping in the shipping box, congratulations. You have successfully purchased your cat a $60 cardboard box.
Your furry sidekick will enjoy a night of peaceful slumber in this Majestic Pet Personalized Bagel Bolster Cat & Dog Bed! It’s handcrafted in the USA with local and imported upholstery-grade fabrics and premium high-loft polyester fiberfill. The paw-fect combination of comfort, style and function, makes this custom bed a grr-eat option for any dog or cat!
8. Learn What “Normal” Looks Like for Your Cat
One of the best things you can do for your cat doesn’t require buying anything.
Learn their normal.
How much do they usually eat? How often do they drink? How active are they? How much do they groom? What do their litter box habits normally look like?
You don’t need to document every bite of food and trip to the litter box. The goal isn’t to turn living with your cat into a research project.
It’s simply easier to recognize changes when you have a general idea of their baseline.
Technology can help here if you want more information. Smart feeders can track meals, some automatic litter boxes monitor visits and weight, and pet health trackers can collect activity or other wellness data.
Again, none of these gadgets replaces paying attention to your actual cat. They’re tools.
Sometimes they’re very useful tools, especially in multicat households where figuring out exactly who ate what or who visited the litter box six times overnight can require detective skills.
But you know your cat better than an app does.
If your normally social cat suddenly starts hiding, your food-obsessed cat stops appearing at dinner, or your couch potato suddenly starts pacing around the house, those changes matter even if no device sends you an alert.
The Best International Cat Day Gift Might Be Paying More Attention
You certainly can celebrate International Cat Day with new toys, treats, beds, or whatever else your cat has convinced you is desperately needed.
I’m not here to talk anyone out of buying their cat presents.
But making your cat’s life better doesn’t necessarily require buying more stuff. Sometimes it means moving a water bowl, adding a perch near a good window, playing for ten minutes before dinner, scooping the litter box more often, or simply noticing that something about your cat seems different.
Cat technology is at its best when it helps us do those things a little better. A fountain can encourage drinking. An automatic litter box can keep the bathroom cleaner. PrettyLitter can help you notice changes in urine. A smart feeder can tell you whether your cat actually ate breakfast while you were rushing out the door.
None of it replaces knowing your cat.
And considering how much time cats spend studying us (usually from somewhere slightly above eye level), returning the favor seems like a pretty reasonable way to celebrate them.
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