A lot is going to depend on how much the cats stay in the room. My experience is that they don't linger around their litter boxes very long. And in fact, and I know you didn't ask about this, some of them might not like having their food and water in close proximity to the litter boxes.

Do you need to protect the entire carpet or just the area around the litter boxes? It would be much less expensive to protect the area around the boxes.

I've seen some ingenious solutions to this problem. Building a wooden tray significantly larger than the litter box, to help catch stray litter, for example. You could waterproof it with plastic, if you wanted to.

But again, to be honest. I'd look at putting the litter boxes in a rarely used bathroom or in the basement if you have one, or a mudroom or the like. It's not just the carpet. Some cats spray--and cats that have newly been introduced to other cats have more reasons to spray than most. You could get urine on the walls near the litter boxes, or the couch, as the cats are starting to get to know each other, if any of them have territorial issues.

I don't know if it is possible to remove the carpet and store it to be put down again at a later date. You might check with a carpet layer about that. Because I think that would be the best solution. You could then put down a vinyl flooring that could withstand the cat pee. You really don't want cat pee getting into the subflooring--it is one of the hardest smells to eradicate.

Check out rubber flooring on the Home Depot site.

I've used rolls of remnant vinyl flooring with puppies and elderly dogs before. That would be waterproof, cheap, and easy-to-clean. The only thing that would give me pause is covering your carpet for an extended period of time. It might be easier just to remove the carpeting and install some vinyl flooring. Good luck! And enjoy the chaos. :)

I am a foster Mom for a cat rescue and we use our spare bedroom for kittens who are too young to have been fully vaccinated and therefore can't be introduced to mine yet. We get them in pairs, so they are not in the room alone :) The bedroom is large enough for a daybed, 2 litterboxes, plenty of toys, a cat tree, and their food/water. For us a laminate floor was the answer. It is easy to mop and sweep up any stray litter. We have been using this room for our fosters for over a year and cant imagine what carpet would have been like ! Although we have never had anyone who did not use the litterbox, we have had the occasional hairball or "upset tummy" and the little "footprint" messes that can come with that ! The flooring has made the room very easy to keep clean.

I would remove the carpeting. Keep in mind that some cats don't like to drink water that is near their litter box or their food. So plan on having some water else where.

If it's really nice carpet and you want to keep it (keep in mind it might be 10 yrs or more before you may use it again),could you find a way to roll it up (cut it out).
Even laying cheap plywood with a sealed nice paint job would work.
Another side bar....
Have at least one really high cat tower for the dominant cat.
They will display their dominance by assuming the highest spot in the room.
Much more peaceful display.

Wow great suggestions, thanks!

If we had a basement or unused bathrooms, I would definitely prefer to keep the litter boxes there. With 5 cats, I want at least 4, and I really don't want them scattered all over the house if I can avoid it.

I imagine they won't spend a lot of time in there. I don't think the food being near the boxes will be an issue - they are all super dramatic and claim to be starving 24/7 so I don't think anything would keep them from their food. :) What I want to avoid is them associating the kitchen with their food because I really don't want 5 cats underfoot whenever I am in there! I will definitely keep water downstairs though.

Thanks again for the suggestions, I will run them by the new homeowner (he's a first time buyer so he's very nervous about changing anything.)

Flooring is one of the easiest things to change so tell DBF not to worry. : )
If these cats already know each other then you shouldn't have any major problems with leaving the carpet in the room since, as you said, they probably won't be in there that often.
But, if they will be going thru an introduction then you may see a drastic change in their overall behavior so there's no telling what they may do during the adjustment.

If you decide to remove the carpet, then head on down to a carpet outlet store and check out their vinyl or laminate flooring. They'll remove your carpet as part of the install.

We have not yet introduced them so I anticipate a lot of fun there, ha. The cat room probably won't be a reality for a bit as we'll have to keep them separated.

Currently the plan is to let his explore the house for a day or two, then put them in a room together and let mine explore the house together for a day or so. Then we will gradually introduce them.

From my experience, exploring a new place is a big deal so combining that with new cats right away seems especially overwhelming. But we don't want either group to be there significantly longer than the other or have some sort of advantage. I anticipate a lot of fights but we'll have some Feliway and take it slowly. :)

That sounds like an excellent plan - I had to check because sometimes people just don't realize what a big deal exploring a new house is - and meeting other cats!

My only concern was one cat whisperer program, there was issues with an insecure cat who became very territorial over the entrance to the room where the kitty box was and it led to a lot of fights which was solved by having multiple kitty boxes around the house. And that was a different room from where the food was....if they are both in there, I would think it might trigger even more territorial behavior....

Are these to be "inside-outside" cats or all insiders? Either way, in my experience you'll have a lot of territorial issues. Don't forget to collar them with your new address and phone number. I agree with camlan that the odor of cat urine in a subfloor is just about impossible to get out, so thiis is another vote for a vinyl floor. It's easy to do, and taking up the rug isn't a big deal either. You and DBF will be very glad you did. I also think the cats might like the "privacy" of the rubbermaid totes tinan suggests, and agree that multiple cat trees are important. Good luck!

My question is - the room currently has nice carpeting.

Resign yourself to not having nice carpeting in a few months.

Having litter boxes located so no cat can guard them all minimizes hassles. They get territorial and you end up with "accidents" all over the house.

During the introductory period, consider giving them Valerian tincture (water-based tincture) to reduce anxiety. Get the kind with 1000mg/ml and give them 1 drop per pound of body weight in the smelliest cat food they will eat. Start before you move them in, and keep it up for a couple of weeks, then taper off the dose.

What about laying these on top of carpet.
Like the kids use.

Here is a link that might be useful: Look here

Hmm, good points. I can plan all I want but I won't know for sure what will work until I see how they behave. I will probably put litter boxes all throughout the house in the beginning to limit the chance for accidents but ideally I'd like to move them all into a room as the cats get used to each other.

Lyban, I think that might be a great alternative. Inexpensive and water-resistant.

Thanks for all of the suggestions!

I haven't read all the responses but having a multiple cat household I would like to mention that you should consider having multiple locations for cat boxes. Otherwise you may experience more out of box behaviors. There can be problems when you have multiple cats with some cats deciding to bully other cats. They may prevent some from coming into the room to use a box.

The more cats you have in your home the more likely you will have out of box accidents or even spraying due to territorial issues.

In addition, some cats like to pee in one place and poo in another.

The good part is that you will be moving them all to a new home, so there is no cat that will feel his territory is threatened right away.

In addition, you will need to separate food and water from their box locations. Cats tend to not to like to eat or drink where they go to the bathroom.

I have three boxes for three cats. I would suggest that you at the minimum have three cat boxes located around your home. And clean them daily or twice daily.

In order to keep them from scratching areas you don't want you can either block them from those areas or be sure to provide suitable scratching posts around your home... many cats scratch horizontally and vertically. So provide multiple surfaces particularly in areas where you don't want them to scratch other areas. Sprinkling cat nip on the perches helps to attract them there. DO THIS FIRST before you allow them in the home and show them where these are.

And be sure to supply enough perches and/or beds around your home so each one of your cats will have its own place to call his own.

If you really want to have a bedroom they can call their own consider installing cat climbing runs and tunnels all over the room. Places where they can curl up and hide or just to look out the window. And let the fun begin!

Oh my gosh, I was so excited to see this post! I read the decorating forum daily but never post. I am constantly in awe of the talent displayed here and the help so generously given. But I still can't figure out where to even start decorating my house. Been there two years, not a single picture on the wall.

But cats? Cats, I know! And you smartie-pants still beat me to all the best advise lol!

Honestly Chi, all the most important stuff has been covered. The most important thing is to not be dissapointed if "The Cat Room" doesn't turn out quite like you planned. You have to accept the true nature of cats, the good with the not so good, and be realistic. You may never get to put all the litter boxes in one room. But it sounds like the two of you really love your kitties and are willing to be patient with them and make it work.

I used to foster kitties. The main reason kitties end up needing homes is when their humans change living situations and have unrealistic expectations of cats' adaptability.

Good luck!

Decorating for cats is perhaps its own "genre" - take a look at some of these fun ideas!

With 5 cats making use of some other spaces in the home might help them have their own territories. We have 3 cats, and they don't get n each-other's way, but it will depend on the personalities.

But you don't need to hide all the cat stuff away, since they will want to hang out with their people, too!

San Diego Cat House

Japanese Cat Friendly House

Details for pets

Katwalks

Singapore Cat Apartment

This whole site has tons of wonderful ideas!

Cube Cat "Habitat"

Environmental enrichment

http://www.katwallks.com/

Maybe you and your BF could make several of these around the room out of shelving and carpet remnants.

Yes the cat walks are easy to make! Ikea Lack shelves work very well for this purpose and the self stick carpet tiles (they are necessary to prevent the shelves from being slippery).

When our cats were young and athletic I had some cat walkways. Now they are older and don't climb much.

Replace the carpet when you can. Remove all cloth and permeable surfaces that would tend to retain odors.

Buy Feliway diffusers! Soooo worth it!

What if you have a ginormous litter box? My brother, who has TEN indoor cats uses a large plastic bin as a litter box, the sides about six inches high. If you don't want to use it for the litter itself, how about keeping a couple of litter pans in the bin? He's lucky to have a basement for the very large "box".

With so many felines, if you don't have at least one marker in the bunch, you're darn lucky, especially when you're putting two cat families together. I only have two cats, and one is a "marker". I watch him like a hawk, as well as give him extra attention, he's jealous of the dog and other cat.

I've actually been toying with the idea of trying one of those kiddie pools for a giant litter box but I have no idea how that would work. Chances are I'll buy four or five regular boxes and they will all use the same one or two. :)

None of ours are markers at all, and we'll have to see if the stress of combining the house does anything to change that behavior. I'm crossing my fingers it will be ok. They all came from cat rooms with 30+ cats in the shelters we adopted them from so at least they aren't completely sheltered, but that was a long time ago.

If you are looking for a large litter box ... underbed storage bins might work.

If you are looking for a large litter box ... underbed storage bins might work.