Anxious about how much noise my indoor cats make in our new home

YasTheCatLady

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Me and my husband recently moved into a new flat with our two 13 year old kitties. We have had them since they were 6 years old and they have always been indoor cats, even with their past owner. Both kitties are in great health for their age exepct from heart murmurs.
Before this flat we lived in a 16 in a block flat and we were on the second floor, now we are in a cottage style flat which is four in a block but split up a bit like a house if you know what I mean? We are on the top floor and have one person below us and one beside us.

We moved in around 3 weeks ago almost and the cats settled within a few days with very little trouble or accidents. I have spoken to the downstairs neighbour a couple of times and he hasn't ever mentioned noise from us but I can't help but be paranoid about how loud my cats are, especially at night/early morning during their 'crazy hour' or jump down from a height. The entire flat is carpeted except for bathroom and kitchen which are both tiled. The old flat had solid concrete floors and now we have floorboards and can hear a lot from downstairs which only adds to my anxiety of what they can hear from us!

We are still in the process of unpacking but once its done I hope to get the cats a new cat tree and things like that but the thought of the sound of the jumping off it gives me fear! I know I am probably just being overly cautious and worried. The last thing I ever want to be is a bad neighbour as I have dealt with so many of them before and they made my life an absolute misery but even if we did get complaints about the cats, I would never get rid of them, they are my life. I am just looking for ways to try and keep the noise down if you have any? If any of you have ever lived in a flat with cats it would be great to hear from you :)
 

Furballsmom

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Hello!
What if, (if you are allowed) you put up different levels of shelves, and maybe another cat tree, so that their jumps are more often horizontal than vertically down? Can you add multiple layers of rugs where they typically land on the floor?
 

rubysmama

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Do you own, or rent the flat? If renting, are you allowed to have cats? If so, I think maybe you're over-worrying, as although cats do have energetic spurts, they have to be much quieter than if your neighbour had a family with young kids living above them. Or people having parties and playing loud music. Or dogs barking. Etc.
 
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YasTheCatLady

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Thanks for your replies :)

We rent from our local council authority, same as our last flat and the council have known about our cats for years and they've always been included in the lease so there's no problem about having pets, that's at least one thing that reassures me. I do suffer from anxiety very badly and that's probably why I am so highly strung about things like noise.
 

kittenmittens84

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You gotta let it go, just living your life is always going to make noise for a downstairs neighbor and people understand that. It’s part of living in an apartment building. As long as you’re not deliberately doing things like jump roping at 3 am or dropping heavy stuff on the floor all the time, it’s totally fine.

Previously I lived on the ground floor in an old apartment with one looooong hallway, and my upstairs neighbors had a cat. I could distinctly hear when the cat started his nightly zoomies up and down the hallway which I didn’t really mind, although I did wonder why I could hear them so clearly when I couldn’t really hear the humans in the apartment. A few months later I finally caught a glimpse of the cat on the fire escape and realized why - this cat must’ve weighed AT LEAST 20 lbs, he was huge :lol:
 

She's a witch

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My neighbors above me have a small dog that runs around the apartment rather a lot. And yet I can't help but smile every time when I hear his tiny paws making running noises like elephant would do. So breathe in and out and imagine that your downstairs neighbor is like me!
 
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