Has Rover’s bed become a trip hazard in the RV? Does Kitty need a quiet place of her own inside your RV? Here are some suggestions on how to create a special place, a pet nook, for your furry friend.
Begin by taking a look around your RV’s interior. Identify unused places or spaces. Think: areas behind or inside existing furniture, infrequently used cabinets, currently used storage areas, and panels that you might remove to expose unused space. Once you’ve identified potential places, see if one of the following ideas could work for you and your pet.
Welcome spot
Many RV dinette benches are simply wooden boxes topped with a cushion. You can remove one end of the “box” to make a great pet space. (Hint: You may need to add reinforcement boards to maintain the integrity of the dining bench.)
Step right up!
Most kitties enjoy viewing their world from above. You can make this happen! A friend discovered that her cat’s climbing pole just fit between the side of the sofa and the RV wall. Positioned above the climbing pole is a rarely used cabinet. (I’ll bet you can see where this is going.) By removing the cabinet doors, and inserting a comfy bed, kitty now has a private place of her own. She enjoys spying on her humans from her elevated spot, too!
Come on in!
Use the previous idea for base cabinets, as well. We have a drawer beneath our refrigerator. It stores pizza pans and cookie sheets. I’ve found that these items can easily stand on end inside an adjoining cabinet space. This frees up the drawer! By removing the drawer front and inserting a kitty bed in the space, we’ve got the perfect place for a cat’s nap.
The same can be done with larger base cabinets if your pet requires more space. Simply remove the cupboard doors (and possibly an inside shelf), insert your pet’s bed, and you’re all set.
Remove or replace
Evaluate each piece of furniture in your RV. Consider replacing lesser-used pieces with pet-potential furniture like this, for example.
Have you modified your RV to accommodate a pet? Tell us about it!
Related:
Here’s how to better organize your RV. It’ll make a huge difference
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First modification to our 23′ Jayco TT was to cut an entrance hole to the space under one of the dinette seats. Locating the hole halfway back on the long dimension made space for a litter pan up against 3 walls to help contain spillage. This also left a nice sized piece of carpet as a private hidey hole for 2 cats. Oders are negligible due to being trapped and the frequent addition of baking soda to the litter. 2 cats and 2 adults spent 5+ months in the TT while relocating between houses without pet issues.
They also have multiple places to sit and look out the windows.
We have their small water fountain sitting on an absorbent mat near a cabinet that is not every day opened with a duplicate mat drying out in the sun as needed.
People are amazed to find out we travel fulltime in a motorhome with two Great Danes whose combined weights are 300 pounds. But we did our homework and gave them their own space by turning the booth dinette into a giant dog bed. They are able to spend their time on that instead of underfoot, and we are all comfortable.
We took our large couch out (we didn’t like it anyway) and put two recliners and put a table (dog crate underneath). Works great. Did this in our Class A and she like it there, so we replicated it in our 5th wheel.
The only trip free floor space in our TT for the litter box was at the end of the bed, under the overhang. To keep bedding from sliding off the end of the bed, we purchased one of the sturdy arm sets that are meant for the side of a bed to assist the infirm to stand/sit at the bedside. It is secured by the mattress between it and the platform at the foot and rises above the mattress.The mesh storage pocket holds plastic shopping bags for cleaning the litter box. While I haven’t yet done so, I am tempted to strap the unit to the platform. That way we could lift the platform for the underbed storage area without having to reach below the mattress.