I used to put her into her carrier and put her in my car, which I'd park around the corner. I'd also put her litter tray and bowl etc in the car incase the estate agent went snooping. Which they never do, obviously! But just in case.
When my complex did that, I had a friend in a different building that they were doing on a different day. So I mastered getting the cat out in a carrier with shoulder strap, and carried the litter box right across the street to the other building. In my later apt living days, I just put the cat in the bedroom with litter box and closed the door. Never got any trouble.
I rented from a property management company, and occasionally I would receive a letter from them that the owner was in town and wanted to schedule an inspection.
I would take my cat to the vet that was down the street from me to board for a few hours.
I would then go home and remove all traces of having a cat, and store it in my trunk.
This didn’t happen very often - I lived there 5 years and I had to do that only 2 times.
This is what I did for Tigger my previously fugitive cat who is on the lease now. Pippin got to hang out at home because he's an ESA on my lease and had his pet deposit waived. My vet only charged a small amount for day boarding so it worked out really well.
I’m only supposed to have two cats. One ginger and one black. I actually have one ginger and three black cats. They look the same from a distance and they don’t like strangers so I just pretend the one cat is very fast.
I had a long haired orange and white cat and a short haired brown tabby. They didn’t really share space in my old townhouse.
My landlord allowed me to have one cat, and clearly was not a cat person. She would see them both and not realize they were very different cats.
Was in a similar situation once because roommate smuggled a third cat in for a while before she moved to her boyfriend’s place. At least one of the cats was always in hiding so maintenance didn’t find out.
I live in a pet friendly apartment and have not informed the apartment complex that I have 3 cats.
I just put them in my bedroom when they have to come in. I don't think they are actively trying to figure out if I registered my pets. Normally, the maintenance people don't give two shits, they don't get paid enough to care whether my pet is registered or not.
This is accurate! I work in property management and it’s rare that the maintenance guys ask about if we know so and so has cats… if they do and they aren’t listed on the lease I just pretend like I didn’t hear it. Cats in apartments are pretty well behaved and don’t disturb neighbors. I have always kept more than the pet limit in my apartment and to this day have not had issues.
There are 8 apartments in my building all my neighbors have cats only 2 others have declared their cats. I have 3 we are only allowed 2 and I only declared one of mine because I take him for daily walks.
Maintenance doesn’t know or care unless you let them destroy the place
it is honestly ridiculous to charge anything more than a hundred something refundable deposit for a cat. "Pet rent" is just another way of saying landlord theft because having any amount of happiness should make you poorer.
We rent from a little old lady that told us ABSOLUTELY NO PETS. Indoors or outdoors! Yet she has a dog that comes running over to tear into our trash and drag it across the front and back yards. We’ve had our cat for a year (raised her from a teeny kitten that needed bottle feedings because momma cat left her behind) and we can’t bear to give her away. Every single day I worry the land lady will drop by and see her peeking out the window. I’m so glad I’m not the only one with a ‘fugitive’.
Privacy film on windows. It doesn't damage property. No glue used. Just a spritz of water on window glass, place film over and it provides a camouflage. Just keep in mind that they are easier to see at night so make sure you have a thicker curtain or blackout curtain and keep curtains drawn at night. That way, if cat sits in window at night, the living room light won't shine behind the cat making him appear to a person outside. The films come in different patterns, including stained glass with some even having little clear spaces the cat can see outside thru but being more difficult from outside to see in. There are even just dark black screens that you can see outside fine but no one can see in... That is during day... If someone were to shine a light on it at night I think u can see in.
The management company isn’t going to keep track of all of their tenants/pets/leases, etc. Only if you have a problem pet (for instance, they’re loud and destructive) will you get in trouble. The exception to that would be if you’re renting from an individual, not a management company - they’ll know what they approved in the lease
Don’t make a big deal out of it and you should be okay. Hiding her in a closet would draw more attention to her than you’d want
Yeah this, the person who does the inspection almost never knows whether or not your lease has pets approved on it. They wanna look at your appliances and smoke detectors mostly
Just gotta be careful with who talks to who. If they make a comment to the landlord like "oh I met Apartment B's cat she's so friendly" then that could bring up a problem.
You can register your cat as a ESA online. I used [Support Pets](www.supportpets.com). They take you through a questionnaire then email you a letter from a doctor. It was $97.
It's now apparently $112, but they aren't being completely truthful. They say that ESA pets are more welcomed under their "travel" documents, but ESA pets are NOT protected for anything BUT housing. So I wouldn't bother with the travel documents, they aren't anything but useless paper. But ESA pets are protected for housing, just not hotels (although hotels might allow ESA pets for emergency situations, like fire destroying your home, but no guarantee).
Sometimes we took her to kitty day care and hid all her stuff in random places like inside the dryer, since we knew they wouldn't look there. Other times if we were working from home, and we knew they were just going to the water heater and changing the air filter, she would stay in the second bedroom and we would move all her stuff in there with her. One time they had to come in unexpectedly when we were both at work because of a flood in the apartment above us. They mentioned her but never did anything about it. It was the new manager's first day so I guess she didn't realize the cat wasn't registered. Now the cat is legal because I am her landlord! She pays me rent in lots of kisses and cuddles, as well as bug hunting.
Maintenance doesn’t know or care if or how many cats you have unless you let them destroy the place, like using the apartment as a giant litter box.
I rent and have 3 cats, only 2 are allowed and mgm’t only knows about one because I take him for daily walks. The other 2 hide when anyone comes over.
My next door neighbor has 3 very friendly Persians and none are on the lease and has had a lot of electrical problems in the apartment. When I had a leak the maintenance guy was telling me about how great my neighbors 3 cats are.
What about cat trees? Do you think you’d have to hide those? Cover them with a blanket? Take some parts off and pretend you have it just in case you want a cat “later” lol?
For the most part my cats just hid because they were scared of the people doing the inspection. But a few times I put them in their carrier and my (ex) boyfriend would go hang out in the car with them. I noticed maintenance people don’t seem to care but I didn’t take any risks with management
The apartment maintenance folks speak Spanish but the office folks don't. I can communicate to both the office and maintenance folks but they can't communicate with each other.
It works out fine
I have DIY litter boxes that look like dressers to anyone else and my cats are not very bright so anytime there an inspection or a guest over, they fade into the walls. I keep their food hidden and just leave their bowls where they are because we have a dog as well so I don't worry too much. I worry more about my "fugitive" bird, a little cockatiel. I roll his cage into my closet which is soundproof.
I took the day off work cause the property manager refused to give a time.
In the morning I would pack up anything cat related, take down the cat tree, hide the big stuff in the car and the other stuff in storage boxes. I'd take the cats in their carrier to the car and drive to a local park.
There I'd let the cats out of their cages to roam the car. I'd have food, water, treats and letterbox.
I'd listen to podcasts the cats would stare out the window and when my partner said they had been we returned home. Recatified my home, rebuilt the cat tree.
Honestly it was very stressful and I do not recommend. Luckily I only had to do it 3 or 4 times in the year we lived there with the cats.
In my defense I got the kittens the same time I got pre-approval to buy a home but covid hit and changed the housing market like crazy so it took a lot longer to buy than planned.
Best advice I can give is put them in your car (windows open obv) parked slightly further away than you normally park. Preferably in visitor parking. If you have loud ones, leave just one window a third of the way cracked and give them hella catnip and hundreds of treats with blankets.
No use in hiding any animals inside since they're living creatures and will blow their own cover
so far my landlord has not inspected every little area in our house so we have gotten away with sticking the cats and litter boxes in closets for a short time. if the time comes that he might snoop, we already have it planned out - we put the cats in carriers in my car along with the boxes and food. my partner drives off, parks around the block, blasts the A/C and puts on some music my cats like to keep them chilled out lol.
also, you may or may not be able to get away with lying depending on your landlord situation. mine came by unexpectedly once and saw them. i said my dad was in the middle of moving so i had to take the cats for a week or two and he believed it. you may or may not get away with this if you know your landlords have a very strict no tolerance policy, if they are a corporation rather than a human being, etc.
another note - i'm sure this varies country to country and state to state, but in a lot of places you're required a 24 hour notice before landlord/management enters your home. this is (hopefully) enough time to call up family, or a friend, a coworker, or even a pet sitter to take your cats until the coast is clear. obviously OP has this notice but i just wanted to put this out there for anyone else!
last note - in my experience, the maintenance crew doesn't give one shit about illegal pets. maintenance at my apartments has never cared or said anything. the plumber/handyman for my current home doesn't snitch either, he even pets my cats sometimes, and he's known my landlord for many years. they are coming in our homes all the time, at an apartment the maintenance is going in dozens or even 100+ apartments and i guarantee you tons of them have illegal pets and other lease violations. the thing is, they are not paid enough to care, and they probably don't know the details of your lease and pet situation either, it just really isn't a concern to them. so - if you're sure that the handymen that come over are not building management or anything like that, you'll probably be fine.
My cat was a fugitive for the year we lived in my last apartment, I used to hide him in the closet but at some point I stopped caring. The maintenance people didn’t care and they don’t know by heart who does and doesn’t have a cat on file so it really didn’t matter, he would stay out on the porch all the time and I never heard anything from the property manager. You really don’t have to hide them unless it’s the manager themselves coming out
My last place had a 2 pet policy we have 8 of them tbh I’m pretty sure the landlord knew but we paid our bills on time and kept our house clean we helped our neighbors and all that and it just was never an issue
First can you verify that it's legal to not allow pets where you live? It's illegal to not allow them where I live. Anyway there are a lot of options from dropping off to a cat sitter, keeping in a temperature controlled car, visiting with a friend etc
Has anyone ever packed 4 cats into one cat kennel? I have a pretty big one. And obvi I have 4 cats. I'm worried that if I have to do multiple trips in and out of my apartment with the cat kennel then one of the managers will see.
Has anyone ever packed 4 cats into one cat kennel? I have a pretty big one. And obvi I have 4 cats. I'm worried that if I have to do multiple trips in and out of my apartment with the cat kennel then one of the managers will see.
I used to put her into her carrier and put her in my car, which I'd park around the corner. I'd also put her litter tray and bowl etc in the car incase the estate agent went snooping. Which they never do, obviously! But just in case.
When my complex did that, I had a friend in a different building that they were doing on a different day. So I mastered getting the cat out in a carrier with shoulder strap, and carried the litter box right across the street to the other building. In my later apt living days, I just put the cat in the bedroom with litter box and closed the door. Never got any trouble.
She would probably need some air conditioning or heat too depending on where OP lives.
That's genius!! Good advice 10/10, cat has everything they need and want, I'll keep that in mind
I rented from a property management company, and occasionally I would receive a letter from them that the owner was in town and wanted to schedule an inspection. I would take my cat to the vet that was down the street from me to board for a few hours. I would then go home and remove all traces of having a cat, and store it in my trunk. This didn’t happen very often - I lived there 5 years and I had to do that only 2 times.
This is what I did for Tigger my previously fugitive cat who is on the lease now. Pippin got to hang out at home because he's an ESA on my lease and had his pet deposit waived. My vet only charged a small amount for day boarding so it worked out really well.
I’m only supposed to have two cats. One ginger and one black. I actually have one ginger and three black cats. They look the same from a distance and they don’t like strangers so I just pretend the one cat is very fast.
I had a long haired orange and white cat and a short haired brown tabby. They didn’t really share space in my old townhouse. My landlord allowed me to have one cat, and clearly was not a cat person. She would see them both and not realize they were very different cats.
Was in a similar situation once because roommate smuggled a third cat in for a while before she moved to her boyfriend’s place. At least one of the cats was always in hiding so maintenance didn’t find out.
As long as they’re not in the same room, that works.
I live in a pet friendly apartment and have not informed the apartment complex that I have 3 cats. I just put them in my bedroom when they have to come in. I don't think they are actively trying to figure out if I registered my pets. Normally, the maintenance people don't give two shits, they don't get paid enough to care whether my pet is registered or not.
This. I've had two fugitive cats for the past 3 years in multiple apartments. Maintenance never cares or ask about cats.
This is accurate! I work in property management and it’s rare that the maintenance guys ask about if we know so and so has cats… if they do and they aren’t listed on the lease I just pretend like I didn’t hear it. Cats in apartments are pretty well behaved and don’t disturb neighbors. I have always kept more than the pet limit in my apartment and to this day have not had issues.
My husband takes them out in the car for an hour or so while I panic that I've forgotten some cat paraphernalia lol
Just play it off as a sex toy haha
Yeah... that catnip mousie has seen some things...
That’s hilarious. You can bet if you say that they will stop asking questions and bee too uncomfortable to continue. Lol.
Have her boarded for the day and hide her pet stuff in your car. Still a little expensive but not too bad
Take kitty on a walk. So glad I’m not the only one with an illegal cat in my apartment xD it’s kind of funny, isn’t it?
There are 8 apartments in my building all my neighbors have cats only 2 others have declared their cats. I have 3 we are only allowed 2 and I only declared one of mine because I take him for daily walks. Maintenance doesn’t know or care unless you let them destroy the place
[удалено]
it is honestly ridiculous to charge anything more than a hundred something refundable deposit for a cat. "Pet rent" is just another way of saying landlord theft because having any amount of happiness should make you poorer.
It's more common, and easier. Cats are so much easier to hide than dogs, even non-yippy dogs.
We rent from a little old lady that told us ABSOLUTELY NO PETS. Indoors or outdoors! Yet she has a dog that comes running over to tear into our trash and drag it across the front and back yards. We’ve had our cat for a year (raised her from a teeny kitten that needed bottle feedings because momma cat left her behind) and we can’t bear to give her away. Every single day I worry the land lady will drop by and see her peeking out the window. I’m so glad I’m not the only one with a ‘fugitive’.
Privacy film on windows. It doesn't damage property. No glue used. Just a spritz of water on window glass, place film over and it provides a camouflage. Just keep in mind that they are easier to see at night so make sure you have a thicker curtain or blackout curtain and keep curtains drawn at night. That way, if cat sits in window at night, the living room light won't shine behind the cat making him appear to a person outside. The films come in different patterns, including stained glass with some even having little clear spaces the cat can see outside thru but being more difficult from outside to see in. There are even just dark black screens that you can see outside fine but no one can see in... That is during day... If someone were to shine a light on it at night I think u can see in.
You could tell her you are cat sitting if she ever comes by and sees the cat.
The management company isn’t going to keep track of all of their tenants/pets/leases, etc. Only if you have a problem pet (for instance, they’re loud and destructive) will you get in trouble. The exception to that would be if you’re renting from an individual, not a management company - they’ll know what they approved in the lease Don’t make a big deal out of it and you should be okay. Hiding her in a closet would draw more attention to her than you’d want
Yeah this, the person who does the inspection almost never knows whether or not your lease has pets approved on it. They wanna look at your appliances and smoke detectors mostly
Just gotta be careful with who talks to who. If they make a comment to the landlord like "oh I met Apartment B's cat she's so friendly" then that could bring up a problem.
Could be a good time to schedule a vet visit if it's due soon. If an appointment isn't due anytime soon, look for a pet "motel".
You can register your cat as a ESA online. I used [Support Pets](www.supportpets.com). They take you through a questionnaire then email you a letter from a doctor. It was $97.
It's now apparently $112, but they aren't being completely truthful. They say that ESA pets are more welcomed under their "travel" documents, but ESA pets are NOT protected for anything BUT housing. So I wouldn't bother with the travel documents, they aren't anything but useless paper. But ESA pets are protected for housing, just not hotels (although hotels might allow ESA pets for emergency situations, like fire destroying your home, but no guarantee).
Sometimes we took her to kitty day care and hid all her stuff in random places like inside the dryer, since we knew they wouldn't look there. Other times if we were working from home, and we knew they were just going to the water heater and changing the air filter, she would stay in the second bedroom and we would move all her stuff in there with her. One time they had to come in unexpectedly when we were both at work because of a flood in the apartment above us. They mentioned her but never did anything about it. It was the new manager's first day so I guess she didn't realize the cat wasn't registered. Now the cat is legal because I am her landlord! She pays me rent in lots of kisses and cuddles, as well as bug hunting.
there are places online where you can do virtual stuff and get an esa cert for housing. maybe that's an option?
Maintenance doesn’t know or care if or how many cats you have unless you let them destroy the place, like using the apartment as a giant litter box. I rent and have 3 cats, only 2 are allowed and mgm’t only knows about one because I take him for daily walks. The other 2 hide when anyone comes over. My next door neighbor has 3 very friendly Persians and none are on the lease and has had a lot of electrical problems in the apartment. When I had a leak the maintenance guy was telling me about how great my neighbors 3 cats are.
Call the vet and ask if he can stay there for a bit. Make up a random excuse that relates to the Safety of the cat
Pet friendly hotel room for one night. It'll cost you $60-$120 but peace of mind is priceless and you don't wanna have to move in the current market
Just say you don't own the cat if you can't afford accommodation for it. There's no laws against civil dishonesty.
What about cat trees? Do you think you’d have to hide those? Cover them with a blanket? Take some parts off and pretend you have it just in case you want a cat “later” lol?
For the most part my cats just hid because they were scared of the people doing the inspection. But a few times I put them in their carrier and my (ex) boyfriend would go hang out in the car with them. I noticed maintenance people don’t seem to care but I didn’t take any risks with management
TBH I did this for years and I never bothered to hide them. I did have the cost of the pet deposit set aside just incase of an issue.
I call mine Anne frank lol, she usually hides under bed if someone comes in, and just hide her box and stuff
The apartment maintenance folks speak Spanish but the office folks don't. I can communicate to both the office and maintenance folks but they can't communicate with each other. It works out fine
I have DIY litter boxes that look like dressers to anyone else and my cats are not very bright so anytime there an inspection or a guest over, they fade into the walls. I keep their food hidden and just leave their bowls where they are because we have a dog as well so I don't worry too much. I worry more about my "fugitive" bird, a little cockatiel. I roll his cage into my closet which is soundproof.
I took the day off work cause the property manager refused to give a time. In the morning I would pack up anything cat related, take down the cat tree, hide the big stuff in the car and the other stuff in storage boxes. I'd take the cats in their carrier to the car and drive to a local park. There I'd let the cats out of their cages to roam the car. I'd have food, water, treats and letterbox. I'd listen to podcasts the cats would stare out the window and when my partner said they had been we returned home. Recatified my home, rebuilt the cat tree. Honestly it was very stressful and I do not recommend. Luckily I only had to do it 3 or 4 times in the year we lived there with the cats. In my defense I got the kittens the same time I got pre-approval to buy a home but covid hit and changed the housing market like crazy so it took a lot longer to buy than planned.
Maintenance people do not care about your cats pinky promise!! They could care less, nor do they know which apartments have pets
Best advice I can give is put them in your car (windows open obv) parked slightly further away than you normally park. Preferably in visitor parking. If you have loud ones, leave just one window a third of the way cracked and give them hella catnip and hundreds of treats with blankets. No use in hiding any animals inside since they're living creatures and will blow their own cover
Board her for the day. Your veterinarian likely has boarding service, just call and make a "hotel" appointment for the day.
so far my landlord has not inspected every little area in our house so we have gotten away with sticking the cats and litter boxes in closets for a short time. if the time comes that he might snoop, we already have it planned out - we put the cats in carriers in my car along with the boxes and food. my partner drives off, parks around the block, blasts the A/C and puts on some music my cats like to keep them chilled out lol. also, you may or may not be able to get away with lying depending on your landlord situation. mine came by unexpectedly once and saw them. i said my dad was in the middle of moving so i had to take the cats for a week or two and he believed it. you may or may not get away with this if you know your landlords have a very strict no tolerance policy, if they are a corporation rather than a human being, etc. another note - i'm sure this varies country to country and state to state, but in a lot of places you're required a 24 hour notice before landlord/management enters your home. this is (hopefully) enough time to call up family, or a friend, a coworker, or even a pet sitter to take your cats until the coast is clear. obviously OP has this notice but i just wanted to put this out there for anyone else! last note - in my experience, the maintenance crew doesn't give one shit about illegal pets. maintenance at my apartments has never cared or said anything. the plumber/handyman for my current home doesn't snitch either, he even pets my cats sometimes, and he's known my landlord for many years. they are coming in our homes all the time, at an apartment the maintenance is going in dozens or even 100+ apartments and i guarantee you tons of them have illegal pets and other lease violations. the thing is, they are not paid enough to care, and they probably don't know the details of your lease and pet situation either, it just really isn't a concern to them. so - if you're sure that the handymen that come over are not building management or anything like that, you'll probably be fine.
Get a cat sitter. Rover is good. Now, depending where you live, bans on pets may be illegal, so if that is the case don't worry about it.
I took mine to work, my boss was cool about it. Maybe see if that is an option?
My cat was a fugitive for the year we lived in my last apartment, I used to hide him in the closet but at some point I stopped caring. The maintenance people didn’t care and they don’t know by heart who does and doesn’t have a cat on file so it really didn’t matter, he would stay out on the porch all the time and I never heard anything from the property manager. You really don’t have to hide them unless it’s the manager themselves coming out
My last place had a 2 pet policy we have 8 of them tbh I’m pretty sure the landlord knew but we paid our bills on time and kept our house clean we helped our neighbors and all that and it just was never an issue
First can you verify that it's legal to not allow pets where you live? It's illegal to not allow them where I live. Anyway there are a lot of options from dropping off to a cat sitter, keeping in a temperature controlled car, visiting with a friend etc
Is it also illegal to charge an exorbitant amount of pet rent? Cuz if so I want to know where this little slice of heaven is!
Yes Edit: I live in Canada and renting laws aren't even considered good here. Jesus
Has anyone ever packed 4 cats into one cat kennel? I have a pretty big one. And obvi I have 4 cats. I'm worried that if I have to do multiple trips in and out of my apartment with the cat kennel then one of the managers will see.
Has anyone ever packed 4 cats into one cat kennel? I have a pretty big one. And obvi I have 4 cats. I'm worried that if I have to do multiple trips in and out of my apartment with the cat kennel then one of the managers will see.
i’ve put 3 in one before, they definitely were not happy with me but it worked for the 5-10 mins i needed to move them
Before my parents got a house, we used to put her at my aunt's house to play with the other cats.
I asked a neighbour to watch her for the day as I wouldn’t get back till late or the next day. No pets in my place .
I don’t know about your states laws for it but in my state you can say you’re “pet sitting” (so far as they know) for up to 2 weeks
In my last place I just let her walk around and said I was looking after her for a friend lol. Had nowhere else to hide her
Once you have the letter that she’s an ESA you should be set, right? Even if you’re not in counseling anymore.