Can Kittens Live in a Garage?

Can Kittens Live in a Garage?

You want to have kittens, but you live in a small house or have an unfriendly dog or children with cat allergies, so what do you do? You might try to keep the kittens in your garage to keep everyone safe and happy, but is that okay and safe for your kittens?

Kittens can live in a garage as long as dangerous objects (poisons, antifreeze, rat traps, etc.) have been removed or stored away. The garage needs to be temperature-regulated to ensure the kittens won’t get too hot or cold.

Keep reading as I discuss some of the dangers of keeping kittens in a garage and how you can remove these dangers to make your garage livable for your furry friends. I’ll also go over a couple of ways for making your garage feel homier for your kittens.

Reasons Kittens Can Live in a Garage

A garage can be a safe environment for kittens. As long as there are no dangerous objects around that could hurt them, they’ll be fine living in a garage. Dangerous objects aren’t the only concern you should pay attention to, though.

You also have to consider the garage’s temperature. A garage that’s too cold or hot can be dangerous to your kittens. As long as your garage’s temperature is well-regulated, your kittens should do fine.

Also, your kittens can live in a garage safely as long as the area doesn’t have too much carbon monoxide. Of course, your kittens can also live in a garage safely as long as it’s not crowded. Kittens, like all animals, deserve ample space to enjoy.

While a garage is liveable, there are some potential dangers of putting your kittens there, which I’ll discuss in the next section.

Potential Dangers of Kittens Living in a Garage

Most of the time, the garage is where families store all of their dangerous tools, cleaning supplies, and other large items they don’t want in their house! Therefore, they usually aren’t the safest places for kittens.

Below are 4 main reasons your garage may not be livable for your tiny feline friends:

Your Garage Has Sharp or Dangerous Objects

Often, the garage is the storage place for many household tools, such as shovels, rakes, drills, screwdrivers, and more.

Any sharp tools can harm your kittens. Even if you put them up on a table, kittens are known for getting into things and are great climbers. So, they may still be hurt by them.Can Kittens Live in a Garage?

Heavy tools like shovels can also harm your kittens if they aren’t adequately secured since your kittens can knock them over.

So, if you have a bunch of tools lying around your garage, you shouldn’t keep your kittens there unless you’re willing to remove them first.

Your Garage Has Harmful Cleaning Supplies and Chemicals

Many families store extra cleaning supplies, car fluids, insect repellents, rat poisons, and other potentially dangerous chemicals inside their garage.

If someone in your household accidentally leaves a bottle of one of these harmful substances open, or if your kittens get a little rowdy and accidentally knock one of the containers over, they may drink the fluids, which can have deadly consequences.

Therefore, if your garage is filled with a bunch of toxic substances, it isn’t a safe environment for your kittens.

Your Garage Isn’t Insulated

Most garages aren’t insulated, meaning their temperature is heavily influenced by how hot or cold it is outside.

While this may not be a problem if you live somewhere with pretty mild temperatures, such as southern California, it’s a big deal if you live somewhere where it gets really cold or really hot. Your kittens won’t be able to handle the extreme temperatures.

You Have Too Many Vehicles in Your Garage

If you store a car in your garage, it’ll limit the amount of space your kittens have to move around. Plus, when they’re bigger, they may start getting on top of your car, which can lead to significant scratches in your paint!

Additionally, when you move your car in and out of the garage, you may accidentally harm your kittens, which is the exact opposite of what any cat owner would want to do!

The same is true for other large motor vehicles, such as motorcycles, ATVs, and more. So, if you choose to store these vehicles in the garage with your kittens, you need to be very careful and make sure you aren’t encroaching on their space.

How To Kitten-Proof Your Garage

While the garage usually isn’t the safest place for your feline friends, there are ways you can make it a kitten-friendly environment. Below are 3 ways you can make your garage a safe space for your kittens:

Insulate Your Garage

If you want your kittens to live in your garage, you must first insulate it to ensure that your kitty won’t get too hot or cold.

If you’re pretty handy and you’d like to insulate your garage without any outside help, check out this informative video by April Wilkerson. She demonstrates exactly how to quickly and effectively insulate the walls in your garage to keep it cozy all year round:

Another way you can regulate the temperature in your garage without insulating the entire space is by insulating the garage door since this is where most of the cold/warm air leaks through.

To learn how to do this, check out this video by Hawaii Tesla & Detailing. In the clip, he demonstrates how to use a foam panel kit to insulate your garage door for $100 or less:

Use Fans/Heaters To Regulate the Temperature

Even after your garage is insulated, it can still get uncomfortably hot or cold if you don’t have any other cooling or heating systems in place.

Therefore, you should use a fan when it’s hot and a space heater when it’s cold to ensure that the temperature in the garage is comfortable for your kitty throughout the year.

Make sure you put the fan and heater in a safe place where they won’t be able to harm your kittens.

Remove or Store Harmful Objects Where Kittens Can’t Access Them

Next, you’ll need to remove any harmful objects that can hurt your kittens.

If you want to leave any potentially dangerous objects in the garage, you should put them in storage containers with doors so that you can keep the kittens away from them at all times.

You should also remove or store any toxic chemicals or cleaning supplies in your garage.

Additionally, if you have any large objects resting against the wall, such as big pieces of wood, you should store them in a place where they can’t get knocked over and harm your kittens.

So, make sure you store or get rid of anything sharp or heavy that has the potential to harm or fall on your little furry friends!

How To Make Your Garage Feel Homier for Your Kittens

Once the garage is safe for your kittens, your job still isn’t done. You need to give the kittens food, water, shelter, and climbing opportunities to make the garage feel like home. I’ll discuss these living requirements in detail below.

Give Your Kittens Their Basic Needs

Once the garage is safe, you need to make it feel like home for the kittens. The best way to do this is to provide them with clean food and water and a safe place where they can go to relax.

Since garages can be dusty, it’s a good idea to get an automatic food and water dispenser since these will permit your cats to get fresh water and food.

As far as a safe place goes, many kittens feel secure in cat towers that have beds on them. These towers permit the cats to get off of the ground when they feel scared. Additionally, the beds on the towers are seen as a safe, warm space to go when they feel cold or tired.

Provide Vertical Climbing Spaces and Hiding Spaces

Cats don’t require a lot of floor space. However, they need objects that they can climb. Young cats love to climb and are happiest when they have lots of high-up kitty vantage points.

While having a cat tower is excellent, it’s also a good idea to provide them with a climbing wall of some kind so that they have something fun to climb.

If your kittens have access to your entire garage, they’ll likely climb on your storage containers as their climbing abilities approve. So, ensure these containers are secure and that nothing will fall over if a kitten happens to climb on it.

Additionally, kittens like having places where they can hide when they get scared. So, make sure your garage isn’t completely barren of hiding opportunities. Give your kittens some cat beds, boxes, and other places where they can hide away when they need some time to themselves.

Conclusion

It’s okay for your kittens to live in your garage as long as you take several precautions to ensure the space is safe.

For starters, you’ll need to remove or store away any dangerous objects. Additionally, you should insulate your garage and use fans and heaters to maintain a mild temperature year-round.

Once you’ve kitty-proofed your garage, you need to provide them with clean food and water to make it feel like home. Additionally, you should give them a cat tower and beds to go to when they’re tired, as well as plenty of things to climb and hide inside!

Sources